This project is a history of the making of physics as a discipline in Europe, built upon a multidisciplinary and cross-national analysis of the status of the physics textbook in education and research. The project spans the period between the pioneering establishment of secondary education in France (1802), and the simultaneous implementation of major educational reforms in France, Britain and Spain (1902), with repercussions lasting to the present day. Current knowledge suggests that textbooks had a major role in the establishment of science education, and the making of disciplines such as physics. However, their status and characteristics changed over time, in tune with dramatic changes in pedagogical and research practices. This project addresses this question through an approach which is innovative on four major grounds: a) Internationality, b) Interdisciplinary approach, c) Textbook and Pedagogy focus, d) Attention to the Material Culture of science and education. By means of six case-studies focused on the work of six major teachers and textbook authors, this project studies the production, distribution and use of physics textbooks and their changing status, through four combined aims: Mapping the pedagogical cultures of physics, and establishing the role of textbooks, the book trade and instrument making, respectively, in the making of physics as a discipline in Europe. Through synchronic and diachronic analysis, this project seeks to yield strong results in global perspective. Its objectives are to produce: 1) A new history of the emergence of physics in Europe based on an original approach and innovative focus. 2) A major contribution to the boost of the study of science pedagogy within history of science, history of education and book history, through the publication of a monograph on "Writing the History of Nineteenth-Century Science Education". 3) A strong historical case able to inform reflection on the design of current science & education policy.