The History of Science Society was founded in 1924 by
George Sarton,
David Eugene Smith, and
Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publication of
Isis, a journal of the history of science Sarton had started in 1912 in Belgium. George Sarton edited the journal
Isis from 1913 until 1952, when he retired.
Bernard Cohen served as managing editor of
Isis from 1947 to 1952 and took over as editor from 1952 to 1958. Subsequent editors of
Isis include
Harry Woolf, 1959–1963;
Robert P. Multhauf, 1964–1978;
Arnold Thackray (1979–1985);
Charles E. Rosenberg, 1986–1988;
Ronald Numbers, 1989–1993;
Margaret W. Rossiter, 1994–2003;
Bernard Lightman, 2004–2014;
H. Floris Cohen, 2014–2019; co-editors
Alexandra Hui and
Matthew Lavine, 2019–2024; and Projit Bihari Mukharji and Elise K. Burton 2024–present. Thackray also served as editor of
Osiris from 1984 to 1994 and was responsible to returning it to activity. During its early years in America, the journal was published by the Harvard Printing Office. The History of Science Society's "Forum for the History of the Human Sciences", in 1989, is considered to mark the inclusion of psychology and other social sciences in the history of science. As of June 16, 2022, the
University of Pennsylvania and the
Science History Institute in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, announced that they would become co-hosts of the History of Science Society, which had been located at
Notre Dame University since 2010. ==Awards and recognition==