Historiographical Section: History of Science in Central and Eastern Europe

GUEST EDITOR: Mitchell G. Ash

Spotlight section: Silvanus P. Thompson: Quaker polymath and public scientist-engineer

GUEST EDITORS: Stathis Arapostathis and Graeme Gooday

This spotlight section focuses on the work and life of Silvanus Phillips Thompson, covering his scientific, engineering, biographical and religious contributions to Victorian and Edwardian Britain, and showing the relevance of his Quaker beliefs for his cultural authority as a public servant of science.

Special issue: The Material Culture and Politics of Artifacts in Nuclear Diplomacy

GUEST EDITORS: Maria Rentetzi and Kenji Ito

Objects are considered powerful tokens of complexity in diplomatic encounters and of asymmetry in international relations. Focusing on the nuclear history of the second half of the twentieth century, this special issue stresses the importance of material culture in Diplomatic Studies of Science and Technology, a new research strand in Science and Technology Studies. We collectively theorize the role of objects in diplomatic exchanges and that of diplomacy in constituting the materiality of nuclear things.