This volume on the history of science in medieval Jewish cultures has its own history. My first attempt, in 2000, to produce a volume on “Science in Medieval Jewish Cultures” did not bear fruit. I then joined forces with Prof. Mark Geller of the Institute of Jewish Studies, University College, London, in organizing an international conference on “Science in Medieval Jewish Thought,” held at the Institute of Jewish Studies in London on June 16–19, 2003. This conference brought together eighteen scholars, most of whom subsequently wrote papers that are included here. I am grateful to Prof. Geller for his very friendly collaboration and to the Institute of Jewish Studies for its partial support for the preparation of this volume.

Other scholars joined the venture later, some of them through a study group on the “Transmission and Appropriation of the Secular Sciences and Philosophy in Medieval Judaism: Comparative Perspectives, Universal and National Aspects,” led by Prof. Ruth Glasner of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and by me at the Jerusalem Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) from March to August 2007. It was in the particularly agreeable ambiance of IAS that the enterprise finally neared completion. IAS also partly supported the publication of this volume, and its help is gratefully acknowledged.