The history of applied mathematics and the history of society (Q1868158)

Choosing the history of statistics and operations research as a case study, several ways of setting the development of 20th century applied mathematics into a social context are discussed. It is shown that there is ample common ground between these contextualizations and several recent research programs in general contemporary history. It is argued that a closer cooperation between general historians and historians of mathematics might enhance the integration of the internalist and externalist approaches within the historiography of mathematics.