Progress and Milestones in Scientific Communication – a 150 years perspective

Abstract

Science expands knowledge not only through understanding but also through communication. Words form ideas, and words are tools for thoughts. The world looked very different 150 years ago. Scientific communication had a completely different language than now, and we were more strictly dependent on the spoken and printed word. The dissemination of new ideas wasmuch slower than today, leading to a lower tempo in the questioning of new as well as older thoughts. A scientific journal published in Uppsala, Sweden, and most often in Swedish, had difficulties in the nineteenth century in reaching the wider scientific community.