Studying regeneration through history as a way of looking forward

Abstract

2024 is a good year for celebrating history of science. First comes the 100th year of the History of Science Society (HSS). Historian of Science George Sarton played a major role in establishing the Society, and he had clear views about what the field should include. He insisted that “the chief requisite for the making of a good chicken pie is chicken; nay, no amount of culinary legerdemain can make up for the lack of chicken. In the same way, the chief requisite for the history of science is intimate scientific knowledge; no amount of philosophic legerdemain can make up for its absence” (Sarton 1918, p. 194). From the beginning of the HSS, then, science played a central role. When one of us (Maienschein) served as HSS president in 2008–2009, she worked to include science and scientists in committees and activities, and the following president Paul Farber did as well. 2024 is also a new beginning for the Journal of the History of Biology (JHB), with editors Betty Smocovitis and Nic Rasmussen at the helm since 2023. This journal, begun by Everett Mendelsohn and supported by Ernst Mayr, was always steeped in science. Mendelsohn explained that he started the journal and remained editor for 31 years to provide a place for historians of biology, with their interests in the ideas and practices of biological sciences, to publish (Mendelsohn 1968). Smocovitis and Rasmussen are carrying on the tradition of embedding the history with the science, so that the historical work the journal publishes is useful to both historians and biologists. Shortly before he died early in 2023, Mendelsohn told Maienschein that he was pleased with the continued emphasis on science along with history. We may also point to the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology (fondly known as Ishkabibble, or ISH for short) as a conjunction for history and science, along with its complementary fields. In 2024, JHB co-editor-in chief Smocovitis has become the president of ISH, MacCord is the program co-chair, and Maienschein is proud to have served as the first president for this organization and its embrace of science and the several fields that study it. At this time when science is under attack politically, and history is often (falsely) considered irrelevant to current pressing issues, it is all the more important that we look at ways that history and science can work together. They can nudge each other to ask new questions, explore new areas, and thereby enhance and enrich both domains. History can be at once for science, with science, about science, and part of science, as we explain in the context of one particular example below. Looking at history and science simultaneously helps us look forward with perspective and reflection.