the sociolinguistic study of pidgins, to characterize how such groups learn to interact. Other historians have postulated many "precursors" to Big Science in earlier times: the Uraniborg of Tycho Brahe (in which massive astronomical instruments were made, often with little practical purpose) and the large cryogenics laboratory established by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in 1904 have been cited as early examples of Big Science. References Further reading History of science Politics of science Criticism of science