Our History

The roots of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology go back to 1928, when a small group of historians of science, led by the Italian Aldo Mieli and the Belgian-American George Sarton, founded the International Academy of History of Science.

Over the years, the Academy evolved from a society of individual members into an organization largely made up of national committees. In 1947, the group reorganized as the International Union of History of Science and joined the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), the world’s leading non-governmental organization in the field of science and an affiliate of UNESCO.

In 1956, at the urging of ICSU, the historians of science merged with the International Union of Philosophy of Science to form the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS), which comprises two distinct units: the Division of History of Science and Technology (DHST) and the Division of Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science (DLMPS). In 1971 the DHST amicably separated from the Academy, which became an association of distinguished scholars. Since 2015, the Union has been called the International Union for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IUPHST).

Composed of about 45 national committees and over twenty commissions and sections, the DHST leads the world in promoting the history of science and technology. It will hold its 26th international congress in Prague, Czech Republic, in July 2021.