[SIGCIS-Members] CfP HSS/ESHS 2026 panel: Histories of Computational Scientific Practices: Rolling out the Software Millefeuille

[Alexandre Hocquet]

**Histories of Computational Scientific Practices: Rolling out the 
Software Millefeuille**
2026 ESHS/HSS Joint Meeting - Edinburgh, Scotland - 13–16 July 2026
rsvp : 25 November 2025

Computational scientific practices have been sparking renewed interest. 
The aim of our call is to gather a community of Historians interested in 
reconstructing the development and uses of programs, libraries, 
algorithms and scientific software in different historical and cultural 
contexts ([Hocquet et al., 
2024](https://www.nature.com/articles/s43588-024-00651-2)). The uses, 
sharing, maintenance, evolution of such scientific research artefacts 
are key elements in their life cycle and for the scientific communities 
that bring them to life.

In this panel, we wish to focus on these life cycles. We welcome 
contributions that will present case studies addressing these 
computational practices and artefacts in all scientific fields, from 
punched cards to cloud services, whether these programs, libraries, 
algorithms and software are used for theorizing, modeling, simulating, 
predicting ([Johnson & Lenhard, 
2024](https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5771/Cultures-of-PredictionHow-Engineering-and-Science)), 
or within scientific instruments. What forms of recognition were 
associated with the actors developing these scientific artefacts? What 
was the interplay between scientific computational practices and their 
broader economical, political and sociocultural environments? What 
infrastructure was built and maintained? How were models, codes, 
programs, libraries, software packages, licensing policies layers 
intertwined? How were communities organized around the sharing, uses and 
reuses of such a millefeuille? What can we learn from contrasting and 
comparing situated computational practices across disciplinary 
perspectives, cultural premises and agendas of different communities? 
What kind of sources can we make use of for investigating computational 
scientific practices from the 1950s to the 2020s?

We look forward to your contribution. Please submit your proposal 
consisting of a title and an abstract (up to 2000 characters) by 
replying to this email before **25 November 2025**.  

In alphabetical order : Arianna Borrelli, Alexandre Hocquet, Johannes 
Lenhard, Frédéric Wieber.
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Alexandre Hocquet
Archives Henri Poincaré
https://poincare.univ-lorraine.fr/fr/membre-titulaire/alexandre-hocquet
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