C8984 - STORIA E STORIOGRAFIA DELLA SCIENZA (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will acquire knowledge of the main historiographical currents of science in the modern and contemporary age. Through a critical reading of sources, the course will provide the methodological tools to approach the history and historiography of science in order to understand its multiple ideological, material, and socio-cultural implications that have characterized it over time.

Course contents

Fascisms and the History of Science. During the Mussolini ventennio the history of science underwent an enormous expansion: partly through legislative measures designed, for instance, to introduce the subject into the liceo scientifico or to establish museums and institutions expressly conceived to promote its diffusion, partly through international events of considerable political significance. This massive propaganda effort — which culminated in the publication of the Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani directed by Giovanni Gentile, and which was dominated by nationalist rhetoric — met with the opposition of a number of intellectuals who, while granting the history of science a fundamental cultural role, proposed for it an identity wholly contrary to the one the regime promoted. Taking this as its starting point, the course will examine the (op)positions of Aldo Mieli and Ludovico Geymonat, and the reasons why, in the postwar years, it was the latter's historiography that prevailed.

Beginning of the course Monday 14 seprember 2026. Time schedule: Mon 11-13. AULA FORTI, via Zamboni 32; Tues. 11-13 AULA GUGLIELMI. via Zamboni 32; Wed, 11-13 AULA C, via Zamboni 32.

Calendar examinations: November 2 2026; December 14-15 2026; January 19  2027; February 16 2027; May 4 2027; July 6 2027; September 21 2027

Readings/Bibliography

Aldo Mieli, Scritti di storia della scienza (Milano: Mimesis, 2026); A selection of text by Geymonat will be made available at the beginning of the course. For those who do not attend the course the following book has to be added to the bibliography: Gabriele Turi, Il fascismo e il consenso degli intellettuali (Bologna: il Mulino 1984).

Teaching methods

Presentation (in Italian) of the classical texts through powerpoint slides

Assessment methods

The exam consists in an oral interview during which the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student will be evaluated . The student will be invited to discuss the texts covered during the course and to contextualise them in their historical epoch. The achievement of a systematic knowlege of the issues addressed during the classes and a critical approach to the sources combined with precision of language will be assessed with marks of excellence (28-30). Mechanical and / or mnemonic knowledge of the texts combined with scholastic exposé will be assessed by good marking (23-27); training gaps and superficial contextualization and knoledge of the texts will be assessed with sufficient markings (18-22). Lacks of any of the above requirements will lead to a negative marking.

People with disabilities or specific learning disorders have the right to special accommodations based on their condition, following an assessment by the university's service for students with disabilities and specific learning disorders. Please do not contact the professor directly; instead, reach out to the Service to schedule an appointment. The Service will determine which accommodations are appropriate. For more information, visit the page http://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it/per-studenti

Teaching tools

People with disabilities or specific learning disorders have the right to special accommodations based on their condition, following an assessment by the university's service for students with disabilities and specific learning disorders. Please do not contact the professor directly; instead, reach out to the Service to schedule an appointment. The Service will determine which accommodations are appropriate. For more information, visit the page http://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it/per-studenti

Office hours

See the website of Marco Beretta