Tag: henry oldenburg

Written by Craig Aaen-Stockdale

Entente Cordiale: France and England invent scholarly publishing

The first systematised form of scientific dissemination was the writing of personal correspondence which, as I have explained previously, was decidedly not up to the task. Realising the shortcomings of this method of scholarly communication, several of these nascent scientists hit upon the same solution: the scholarly journal. The first periodical publication that could be […]

Written by Craig Aaen-Stockdale

Inbox management

When they first arose in the seventeenth century, the first “learned societies” held regular meetings at which members and their guests performed experiments and demonstrated their findings for an enthusiastic and educated audience. The meetings were often held in secret, due to the potential for conflict between the new scientific approach and the strictures of organised […]