Methods and Sources for Studying Scientific Dynasties: The Case of Academician and Statistician Petr I. Köppen (1793–1864)

The article examines the methods and sources used to study the history of scientific dynasties in Russia. Using the family of Academician and statistician Petr I. Köppen (1793–1864) as a case study, it explores approaches that make it possible to reconstruct the formation and transmission of scientific values, professional norms, and research practices within a family context. The author draws on the concepts of Pierre Bourdieu, Robert Merton, and Bruno Latour, applying them to the analysis of scientific dynasties. These methodological frameworks open new perspectives for studying various types of sources related to the Köppen family — autobiographical writings, correspondence, memoirs, and materials from personal archival collections. The study focuses on the research potential of combining theoretical and source-based approaches to the history of scientific families. The research employs historical, biographical, and sociocultural methods in conjunction with source analysis. The author concludes that the study of scientific dynasties requires the integration of theoretical and historiographical approaches. This synthesis makes it possible to view the scientific family not merely as a set of individual biographies but as a social institution in which professional norms, research skills, and academic values are formed and transmitted. The case of the Köppen family demonstrates how science became part of everyday life and how education and family interaction contributed to the preservation and development of research traditions. This approach broadens our understanding of Russian science in the nineteenth century by emphasizing the human dimension of academic life — the continuity of generations, domestic conditions, and emotional contexts in which scientific interests took shape.

history of science, scientific dynasties, scientific family, history of statistics, Petr Köppen, Fedor Köppen, Vladimir Köppen, Imperial Academy of Sciences, scientific tradition, academic culture