Science on the Move: Recent Trends in the History of Early Modern Science*
O ne of the most important developments of the period ca. 1400-1750, which I will call early modern, was the rise of a new philosophy, the new experimental science.' This used to be understood as a history of European achievement from the Renaissance forward, a universe-changing paradigm shift that defmed the modern world. There is no doubt that the growth of modern science forms one of the most significant phenomena of the modern age, affirmed today in the massive public and private funding for research into natural science and medicine. But the question for the historian is. What does this modern phenomenon have to do with the early modern period? The last generation has been an exciting time to come of age in the history of science: the field has definitively emerged from its beginnings in the history of philosophy, intellectual history, and the discrete histories of sciences written by and for their practitioners, to offer answers to