Vol. 11, No. 2
May 1999

Kagakugijutsushi

Readers of Antenna will be interested to know that in December 1997, Japanese scholars formed a new society, the Japanese Society for the History of Science and Technology, and began a new journal, Kagakugijutsushi (Japanese Journal for the History of Science and Technology), published twice a year. The journal's editors hope to encourage original scholarly studies based on primary sources, as well as interdisciplinary studies, and to foster cooperation among historians, scientists, engineers, policy makers, sociologists, philosophers, economists, museum specialists, archivists, and individuals outside academia. Kagakugijutsushi also will report on museum exhibits and archives. Although published largely in Japanese, Kagakugijutsushi accepts contributions from scholars outside Japan. For example, the second issue contains articles in English by Bernard Finn on the role of the museum in the history of science and technology, and by Cheryce Kramer on asylum design and the "architecture of the German soul." The first issue has a review of Nikolai Krementsov's Stalinist Science. The appearance of Kagakugijutsushi is a major, and greatly welcomed, step in the development of the history of science and technology in Japan. The editors would be interested in articles dealing with the history of communications, as well as archives and exhibits on the topic. Those interested in contributing or subscribing to the journal, or having their library order it, should contact the editor in chief, Takuji Okamoto, Department of History and Philosophy of science, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan, or via e-mail at <cotakuji@mail.komaba.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp>.