Ten Focal Areas for the History of Scientific Instrumentation in the 21st Century

Abstract This paper discusses ten focal areas which—the author hopes—will continue to engage future historians of instrumentation, science, technology and materials since they are still not adequately covered: global digital documentation of instrument makers in a single database, a deeper social history of instrument makers, an analysis of hierarchies and cooperations, mentality and habitus of instrument makers; new analyses of experimental heuristics in interplay with scientific instruments, a renaissance of the aborted tradition of historically faithful replications of important or characteristic experiments, a better understanding of chains or whole networks of innovation in scientific instrumentation, a better conveyance of our knowledge about materials used in instrument building, experimentation and preservation, a better clarification of the intricate design, functioning and handling of complex instruments, a reflexive meta-analysis of writing about and depicting scientific instruments, and a more effective transfer of all of this to the broader public (museums, films, websites).