The aim

In a number of scientific fields, European Societies or Federations have been created. Moreover, within the ICSU, the proposal to coordinate structures on the European scale is currently gaining momentum. However, there are fields in which a European organization is still missing. Regarding the history of science, recommendations have been issued by Allea and the European Union in 1998 in order to foster the intellectual cooperation in Europe. Time has come now to try to implement these recommendations. It is proposed to create a Society of individual and institutional members. A Committee has been established to promote the initiative and to take the first steps.The Founding Committee has discussed a number of initiatives. These include: establishing relationships with European funding bodies; establishing relationships with relevant national Academies and societies; organizing scientific congresses at regular intervals; publishing a newsletter; mounting a website; integrating available bibliographies in History of Science to pay more attention to the variety of national traditions active in Europe, and initiating enquiries into the state of History of Science in Europe, and further consolidating attempts to integrate the History of Science in education in Europe.