Centre Alexandre Koyré (CAK) for the history of science and technology

Research and teaching at the CAK include the history of mathematics ; physical sciences and technoscience ; the human sciences and medicine ; science, knowledge and globalisation ; the environment, climate and development ; actors, institutions and governance ; biology and natural history ; and the earth sciences. It also focuses on sources and archives in the history of science.

The Centre’s research stretches mainly from the early modern period to the present. Broadly, two major approaches or perspectives guide its work : the one seeks to grasp the past in its singularity, while the other strives to give historical depth to the present. Regardless of the period in which the researchers specialize or of the speciality to which they belong, e.g. history, sociology, or epistemology, the research done at the CAK-CRHST aims to increase our understanding of science, knowledge and technology in society in historical perspective. This gives the Centre its thematic and methodological coherence.