The Institute for the History of Science was established in 1954 as an institution of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Poland.
The Institute is located in the Staszic Palace in the center of Warsaw, near the Copernicus monument. Among its founders were professors: Bogdan Suchodolski and Aleksander Birkenmajer. In the mid 1970s, it was renamed to the Institute for the History of Science, Education and Technology. Since 1994, the name has been shortened to the Institute for the History of Science, but with its previous research scope. The head of its present Academic Council is Leszek Zasztowt.Since 2011 the Institute has taken the official name of Ludwik Birkenmajer and Aleksander Birkenmajer: L & A Birkenmajer Institute for the History of Science (Polish: Instytut Historii Nauki PAN imienia Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów).
The Institute consists of two departments: the Department of the History of Social Sciences, History of Education and Scholarly Institutions (Sections: History of Social Sciences, History of Education, History of Scientific Organizations), and the Department of the History of Exact Sciences, Natural Sciences and Technology (Sections: History of Exact Sciences and Technology, History of Medicine, History of Chemistry and Pharmacy, History of Mathematics).
The Institute conducts research focused on the history of science, both humanities and social sciences as well as natural and exact sciences, and the history of technology. The history of culture and history of education and pedagogical thought are also main research fields, equally with the history of ideas and its philosophical milieu.