Development of the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science during 65 years since its foundation in 1960

Introduction: The paper presents the history and development of the Institute for History and Philosophy of Science of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts on the occasion of 65 years of its existence. Material and Methodes: The startigpoint of this work were the Academy’s yearbooks from the 1950s onwards, especially in tracking the sequence of employees in the title from assistant to academician of the Institute, which we organized in a table. Results: The Institute for the History of Natural, Mathematical and Medical Sciences, a new multidisciplinary institution, was established in 1960 consisting of four different foundations: the Department for the History of Medicine of the Academy’s Institute for Medical Research, the Ruđer Bošković Memorial Museum in Lokrum, the Institute for the History of Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb, the Institute for the History of Pharmacy with its collection, and the Museum for the History of Healthcare of the Croatian Medical Association. The founder and first director of the Institute was Mirko Dražen Grmek, who was also the initiator of the publishing series Debates and material for the history of science, lounched in 1963. From the very beginning, the Institute established the methodology of work in the field of history of science in Croatia, its content and the profile of researchers. Its organization fell under the leadership of three Academy’s departments: Department for Mathematical, Physical and Technical Sciences, later on Department for Mathematical, Physical and Chemical Sciences (heads: Željko Marković, Mihovil Proštenik and Žarko Dadić), the Department of Natural Sciences (head: Slavko Krvavica) and the Department of Medical Sciences (heads: Branko Kesić, Sergej Forenbacher and Vjekoslav Jerolimov). In 1992, on the initiative of academician Ivan Supek, the Department of Philosophy of Science joined the Institute, and the institution was renamed the Institute for History and Philosophy of Science. The Divisions of the Institute initially had individual directors (Žarko Dadić and Snježana Paušek-Baždar - Division for History of Natural and Mathematical Sciences; Biserka Belicza and Stella Fatović-Ferenčić – Division of Medical Sciences; Jasmina Lelas - Division for Philosophy of Science), and since 2020 Stella Fatović-Ferenčić has been appointed director of the entire Institute. The Institute was the driving force behind the establishment of the Croatian Museum of Medicine and Pharmacy HAZU, founded in 2014 by the Ministery of Culture. Conclusions: Although with reduced personnel potential, the Institute for History and Philosophy of Science continues to monitor the development of scientific theories and their influence on the creation of knowledge in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, biomedicine and philosophy of science. It is a unique institution in Croatia that, by researching, presenting and preserving the national scientific heritage, values the achievements of national development, harmonizing its activities with the fundamental mission of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.