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The study of science in human civilisations has a complex history. In ancient India much was learnt from Greece and new contributions were made. The Islamic civilisation added much to what Greece had contributed in science and medicine. The advances in Europe from fifteenth century onwards left the whole world behind; and science was duly utilised to serve the interests of the colonial regime. Now, there is need to develop a comprehensive History of Science, Technology Environment and Medicine (HISTEM). A combination of these fields does not mean that the distinction between them, for example, between science and technology is overlooked. Nor can HISTEM be divorced from the general history of the country concerned, India in the present case.

The speech introducing the session on the history of science at a 1983 colloquium on the history of ideas in Oxford, England, is presented. The main concerns of scientific thought in the West are outlined, from the time of the ancient Greeks to the present, focusing on landmark ideas such as those of the eighteenth-century French philosophers & of Charles Darwin. The process by which scientific ideas are absorbed by a society & interact with its existing beliefs is examined. C. Waters

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Women in the History of Science brings together primary sources that highlight women's involvement in scientific knowledge production around the world. Drawing on texts, images and objects, each primary source is accompanied by an explanatory text, questions to prompt discussion, and a bibliography to aid further research. Arranged by time period, covering 1200 BCE to the twenty-first century, and across 12 inclusive and far-reaching themes, this book is an invaluable companion to students and lecturers alike in exploring women's history in the fields of science, technology, mathematics, medicine and culture.
While women are too often excluded from traditional narratives of the history of science, this book centres the voices and experiences of women across a range of domains of knowledge. By questioning our understanding of what science is, where it happens, and who produces scientific knowledge, this book is an aid to liberating the curriculum within schools and universities.