The group considers that the activity is justified by the fact that the history of translation in Spain has rarely (and never systematically) focused on scientific and technical translations from French into Spanish, a very important area in the transmission of the history of scientific and technical knowledge from France to Spain. The studies carried out so far by the group are both historical-traductological and bibliographical in nature. The material used to develop the activity is of two types: critical historical sources on the periods taken into consideration (18th-19th centuries), computerised catalogues (BNE, Google books, REBIUN, CCPBE, etc.) as well as manual catalogues (library catalogues, in particular university libraries).

At present, we are implementing a double database that collects, on the one hand, the corpus of translations from French into Spanish, mainly published in Spain and France, on scientific and technical subjects between the 18th and 19th centuries. On the other hand, a corpus of the translators responsible for them. With this activity, the foundations are being laid for a future dictionary of translations and translators that offers a thematic classification of translations with their bibliographical characteristics, and also the corpus of translators with their bio-bibliographical characteristics. The group's activities include the regular biennial organisation of meetings between researchers, of which 4 editions have already been published. The first of these meetings, the I Conference on the History of Non-Literary Translation (www.uv.es/tradcyt2012), was held in 2012, the second (www.uv.es/tradcyt2014/index.htm), this time international, in 2014, the III International Conference (https://www.uv.es/uvweb/university-institute-history-medicine-science/en/inter-university-institute-lopez-pinero/iii-jornadas-internacionales-sobre-historia-de-la-traduccion-no-literaria-1285893059754/Novetat.html?id=1285985272606) in 2016 and the IV (https://www.uv.es/histradcyt18/index.htm) in 2018. The research and dissemination activity of the group, whose work in this field dates back to 2011, namely before its registration as a research group of the Universitat de València, has been, to our knowledge, extensive. In addition to numerous articles in national and international journals, five monographic journal issues have been published: Cuadernos de Filología Francesa nº22 (2011); Quaderns de Filología. Estudis lingüístics nº17 (2012), nº 21 (2016), nº24 (2019); Synergies Espagne, nº 12 (2019), online. In addition to the journals, five monographs on the History of Translation (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020) and two books on translators have also been published. The first published in 2017, Essay on a dictionary of Spanish translators of scientific and technical translations. (1750-1900): Medicine (author Julia Pinilla Martínez) http://www5.uva.es/hermeneus/?page_id=2110&lang=es. The second in 2019 Repertoire of Spanish Translators (1750-1900). Translated and own works in the field of the Humanities (edd. Noelia Micó Romero and Natalia Mª Campos Martín).

To sum up, the group's research activity seems to us to be particularly important for future research work both in the field of the history of translation from French into Spanish and in the history of science and technology from Europe, since, as we know, the French language in the 18th and 19th centuries was the vehicle for the transmission of European science. Our working methodology consists, first of all, in considering and studying the history of scientific and technical translation according to thematic axes (sub-areas) by adopting a systematic approach to aspects such as: the date of publication, the place, the printer/publisher. Secondly, we address the question of the translator with his or her social, professional and scientific characteristics. We also took into consideration the textual aspect of the translated works by analysing the paratexts of these works, a method that allows us to hypothesise both the purpose of each of the scientific or technical works translated from French into Spanish and their relationship with untranslated French works, as well as the reception in Spain of the knowledge they convey. The goal is, in addition to the above, to measure, qualitatively and quantitatively, the transmission of French technical and scientific knowledge from France to Spain at the time when the Peninsula was a recipient of this knowledge.

Contributors

• M Cristina González Hernández - Complutense University of Madrid.

Investigation activities