Research on China's National Academic Conference on the History of Natural Sciences and the Founding Conference of Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology in 1980

China's National Academic Conference on the History of Natural Sciences and the Founding Conference of Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology (Zhongguo Kexue Jishu Shi Xuehui 中国科学技术史学会), organized by the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences in October 1980, were grand conferences of unprecedented scale in the circle of the history of science and technology in China. The convening of the conferences was influenced by the political changes, policies and plans regarding science and technology from the end of the “Cultural Revolution” in 1976 to 1978, as well as Li Chang, Vice President and Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The conferences were the crystallization of re-preparation by the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences and external forces after the abeyance of the preparatory work. The conferences resumed China's national comprehensive academic exchange activities in the history of science and technology that had been interrupted for 24 years, demonstrated the high-quality status of academic exchanges, followed rigorous procedures to establish the Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology, laying an important organizational foundation for future domestic and international exchange activities in the field of the history of science and technology in China. The conferences are an important symbol of the prosperity of the cause of history of science and technology in China, reflecting the historic transformation of the cause in 1980, had a profound impact on the cause's development, and were a milestone in the historiography of science and technology in China.