This Department was set up in 2010. There are 24 researchers, among whom there are 7 Professors, 12 Associate Professors and 5 Assistant Professors in the charge of Prof. HAN Qi at present. Before it was formed in 2010, the Department of History of Modern Science had conducted some research into the history of S&T in the West in the 20th century, with books published on Einstein, as well as on modern scientific institutions and laboratories. Based on the perspectives of science and culture, comparative history of S&T and strategy studies, the Department now studies disciplinary history in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, high technology and other disciplines. Researchers explore the development of S&T in developed countries to understand the modes of thinking, organizational patterns and practices in the creation of scientific and technological knowledge, elaborate the interaction among modern S&T and the economy, society, culture and religion, and analyze the cross-cultural transmission of knowledge. They have already published several significant works in such fields as history of modern science in Germany, organizational history of the Royal Society and of the French Royal Academy of Sciences, transmission of S&T between China and other countries (transmission of mathematics, astronomy, mechanics and natural philosophy), and comparative studies of S&T in China and other countries. Most of the researchers are also members of the following three research centers: the Culture Center, the Comparative Studies Center and the Strategy Center.