The dissertation locates the start of the institutionalization of the discipline of the history of science in Germany during the Empire. Primarily using examples of scientific historical exhibitions and displays, history of science scholarship at conferences, and memorials to scientists, I trace how Germany led other nations in the discipline's early, or proto-, institutionalization, according to five criteria for institutionalization I define at the outset. In addition, the dissertation explores the social and political circumstances during which these developments transpired. It emphasizes the centrality of exhibitions presenting the history of science to the wider German public as a unifying element to help build a new national German identity. It also argues that Germany's leading role in starting to form the discipline of the history of science can in part be explained by the strong historical consciousness of nineteenth century Germany, the strength of contemporary German science, and the desire of members of the bourgeoisie to make science history one of the cultural goods it provided the nation.
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