History of Science @Lisbon 1-6|Sep|2014

The Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon and the city of Lisbon just hosted two major European conferences in the History of Science and Technology: STEP and ESHS. Six days dedicated to broad theoretical issues and specific case studies brought to Lisbon more than five-hundred delegates.
The STEP group, celebrating it's 15th anniversary since its creation in 1999, has its foundational manifesto in the paper "SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE EUROPEAN PERIPHERY: SOME HISTORIOGRAPHICAL REFLECTIONS", a historiographical must for all of those in the community that wish to address and criticize the dichotomy Centre-Periphery.
In this conference, the participants heard about many topics ranging from the history of disciplinary practices and ideas, to more theoretical approaches in the session «Critical Points».
The European Society meeting opened its program with a very interesting lecture by José Luís Cardoso in the fantastic room «Sala de Portugal» at the Society of Geography of Lisbon, one turn-of-the-century building charged with symbolism. The second day started with two key-note speeches and a prize, awarded to the international scholar Jürgen Renn. This very international congress proposed thematic sessions, some of them lasting for a whole day, concentrated in topics as the recent «Iberian Science» or, other more familiar as, «Popularization», «Education», «Correspondence», «Museums and Collections», etc. All in all, a concentrated occasion for the show-case of Portuguese participation in the community. Hopefully all our colleagues left Lisbon with a more familiar feeling and with the wish to come back!