The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanity's understanding of science and technology has changed over the millennia. Without this understanding, development of new technologies would have been improbable. This field of history also studies the cultural, economic, and political impacts of scientific innovation.

The historiography of science was originally written by practicing and retired scientists, starting primarily with William Whewell, as a way to communicate the perceived virtues of science to the public. In the early 1930s, after a famous paper given by the Soviet historian Boris Hessen, effort was focused into looking at the ways in which scientific practices were allied with the needs and motivations of their context. After World War II, extensive resources were put into teaching and researching the discipline, with the hopes that it would help the public better understand both science and technology as they came to play an exceedingly prominent role in the world eye. In the 1960s, especially in the wake of the work done by Thomas Kuhn, the discipline began to serve a very different function, and began to be used as a way to problematize scientific enterprise. At the present time it is often closely aligned with the field of Science studies.

Modern mathematical science and physical engineering as it is understood today took form in the scientific revolution, but this math and science was built on the work of the Greek civilization; the Greeks had in turn interacted with the civilizations of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. See the main articles History of science and History of technology for these respective topics.