Determinants of the emergence of modern scientific knowledge in mineralogy (Mexico, 1975–1849): a geohistoriometric approach

Abstract

There is increasing interest in rethinking the history of science according to the geographical locations in which production of scientific knowledge occurs. This movement is identified as a spatial-turn and implies an interdisciplinary dialogue between sociology, geography, anthropology, and historiography of science. Scientometric studies developed as part of this movement we have characterized as “geohistoriometrics”. The present paper is an example of this approach. The aim is to study the emergence of the scientific text and the formation of the author’s profile in America, to provide arguments to support an alternative narrative of the history of science than the Eurocentric. We use the Historical Atlas of Mexican Science, complemented by a critical analysis of text contents, the development of bibliometric networks, geographical locations of the study objects and identification of knowledge flows. For this we use the Pajek-Networking and Quantum Geographical Information System softwares. We found, with a geohistoriometric approach, the improvement of early modern science practices and the integration of authorship with local capacity and independence to produce early knowledge claims as contributions to experimental knowledge. These results are part of a distinct narrative in the history of science in comparison to Eurocentric and Center-Periphery theories.