Digital History of Science: Integrating Texts with Artefacts

The digital revolution has given an extraordinary impulse to the formation of a comprehensive reassessment of the historiography of science and the treatment of its sources. Until a few years ago the historian of science primarily dealt with the written records but the recent emphasis on the importance of the experimental practice, its instruments and visual aids has revealed the central role of the material culture as a source of inspiration for new creative ideas. However, this growing awareness faces the difficulty of relating objects which are often hosted in different institutions. Thanks to the possibilities provided by the application of information technologies, the sources of the history of science can be investigated within a wider perspective which both encompasses and enhances its exceptional variety. Through the presentation of different projects developed at the Institute and Museum of History of Science in Florence, I shall illustrate the main direction of research we have undertaken to achieve an integration between the literary and the material records of science