Legacy

Abstract

The posthumous recognition of scholars has a long history. The Paris Academy of Sciences traditionally honored its deceased members with eulogies, establishing thereby a ritual adopted subsequently by virtually every scientific society. Although both the hero worship of antiquity and the hagiography of the Middle Ages live on in this tradition, these eulogies, biographical memorials, commemorative speeches, and obituaries of academics are valuable sources for the history of science, for they reveal what the immediately following generation of an esteemed scientist regards as his most significant contributions. When the work of a scholar continues to be influential years after his death, hagiographical presentation makes way for another form of recognition. His textbooks are revised by his students and published in ever newer editions. Publication of his collected writings facilitates access to his work by new generations of scientists. Congresses at 10-year anniversaries serve to illuminate one or another pioneering accomplishment in light of developments that followed it. In few cases does interest in a scholar spread past this phase and reach circles outside his own sphere of influence. This does happen in the case of exceptional figures such as Einstein and Bohr, who achieved world renown even during their lifetimes, as well as of those whose influence spreads beyond their particular fields to other disciplines. Finally, there is yet another sort of scientific afterlife, when a law, a formula, or a natural phenomenon has been named for the scientist who postulated or discovered it.