Abstract

Traditional historiography of science has constructed secrecy in opposition to openness. It is demonstrated that openness and secrecy are often interlocked. Focusing on the early modern period, two cases are introduced that are difficult to analyze with a simple oppositional understanding of openness and secrecy: 1) Isaac Newton’s refusal to publish his method of series and fluxions, and 2) the tensions within the Royal Society, between the ideal of openness and the practical need for secrecy. In these cases the dynamic of access and control cannot straightforwardly be classified in a dichotomy «open - secretive».