BULLETIN FOR THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY
Volume 50, 2025
Giunta, Carmen J., “Review of The Names of Science, by Helge Kragh,” Bull. Hist. Chem., 2025, 50, 67-69.
https://doi.org/10.70359/bhc2025v050p067
Abstract/Description: For anyone interested in the history of the physical sciences and in words and language, The Names of Science is a substantial buffet of treats. Its pages are replete with answers to questions about the origins of scientific terms and the evolution of their meaning over time. Kragh's aim for the book is to explore the history of science through its language, as he explains in the
preface. He contrasts the historical emphasis with other works on the language of science, most of which come from a philosophical or linguistic orientation. Kragh proposes the study of scientific language as a supplement to the history of science as it is more commonly written,
not a substitute for it. Most of his examples, he tells the reader, are from the “inorganic sciences,” although he does not entirely neglect the life sciences. The book's emphasis on physical science is natural, considering Kragh's distinguished career as a historian of physics, chemistry, and earth and planetary sciences.