In most active and growing fields ( medicine is one example ), the history of the field is generally ignored by students and practitioners.
There are a few pleasant exceptions.
For instance, Neurology Minute have had occassional bits on the history of neurology.
See https://neurologyminute.libsyn.com/
However, when reading something historical ( for instance this interesting podcast on the history of the Inverted Brachioradialis Reflex) https://neurologyminute.libsyn.com/history-of-neurology-3-hx..., there is no expectation that it will actually contribute to practice.
Funny you should mention Neurology in this context - my experience in South Africa has been the same.
South Africa is renowned for grooming some of the world's best doctors (as subjective as this sounds, it is largely owed to the relentless influx of patients in state hospitals and the inevitable hands-on experience that follows).
So practically speaking, you have some very young yet very experienced doctors emerging from the assorted residency programmes and specialisations.
And yet the history is largely overlooked - which is mostly a function of "not enough time to learn this as well" - and I know this because I was fortunate enough to collaborate with a very old and respected Neurologist in Pretoria who has made it his personal mission to collate all the historical tidbits on his field, so that he can pass it on to the next generation.
He has subsequently prepared a rather extensive 2,000+ page archive on the history of Neurology (all manually typed up in his old Word installation), and I'm helping him transpose it onto a an easily searchable website so that his work can live on.
Anyhow your comment reminded me of this, thought I'd share :)
That sounds fascinating. Can't wait for you to finish that. I also live in Pretoria. You know we have the national library here, which I've never visited, but I'm interested in SA history. Cheers, Paul
There are a few pleasant exceptions. For instance, Neurology Minute have had occassional bits on the history of neurology. See https://neurologyminute.libsyn.com/
However, when reading something historical ( for instance this interesting podcast on the history of the Inverted Brachioradialis Reflex) https://neurologyminute.libsyn.com/history-of-neurology-3-hx..., there is no expectation that it will actually contribute to practice.