Mind the Gap! Global Inequality and the History of Science

This paper focuses on the notion of global inequality. It first examines its definition and how inequality has been growing globally, also hindering efforts to bridge the research and development gap between scientifically developed and less developed countries. In turn, the paper considers how historians of science can contribute to improve our understanding of global inequality. The paper is divided into three sections addressing fundamental aspects of this examination. The first explores the reasons why such an investigation may now be necessary and fruitful in fostering the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The second looks back at how historians of science have framed this notion in the past, including through their interactions and exchanges with historians of technology and medicine in the broader study area of the history of science, technology, and medicine (HSTM). The final section looks into current research on global science that places more emphasis on these inequality
aspects, in conjunction with ongoing international debates on science diplomacy. The paper’s conclusions thus recall the importance of “minding the gap” in fostering the European Society for the History of Science’s own agenda.