第17届国际科学史大会于1986年7月31日至8月8日在美国伯克利市加里福尼亚大学召开。来自50个国家的大约1000名科学家参加了这次大会。从出席的代表团的数目来看,这次大会是历届会议中最具代表性的一次,但就与会者的人数而言,它仅次于1971年在莫斯科举行的第13届大 The 17th International Conference of History of Science was held on July 31, 1986 to August 8, 1986 at the University of California, Berkeley. About 1,000 scientists from 50 countries attended the conference. Judging from the number of delegations present, the conference was the most representative one of the previous sessions but its number of participants was second only to the 13th session held in Moscow in 1971