Founded on January 1, 1957, the predecessor of the Institute for the History of Natural Science (IHNS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was the Research Office on the History of Natural Science of the CAS, which was the first comprehensive organization devoted to research on history of science in China. In August 1975, the office expanded to a institute, the IHNS.

Originally it was directly affiliated with the CAS, but from September 1962 to May 1977, it was managed by the Division of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the CAS, which was detached from the CAS and became the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in May, 1977. On January 1, 1978, the institute returned to the Chinese Academy of Sciences from the CASS.

Currently, the institute's researches mainly concentrate on the four areas: traditional civilization of science and technology in China, history of science and technology in modern China and development strategies of science and technology, comparisons and exchanges between China and other countries, and scientific culture.

In the coming 5 or 10 years, the IHNS plans to shift its focus on history of traditional science and technology in China to that of modern science and technology in China and other countries gradually, to concern more with other relevant disciplines to expand research areas based on the history of science and technology, and to become a important part of the National Science Think Tank, and a research center of national level and a well-known institution in the world for the history of science and technology.