As a computer science graduate student, I am always surprised by how rarely my peers seem to know or care about the history of our field. I doubt many of them would write papers about computer science history even if the incentives were better.
I think it is somehow related to the power of computer science to change the human condition. Everyone is thinking about the future. Mathematicians also crave novelty, but I don't think they feel "my work could change the world" in the same way as CS researchers.
Learning about CS history would make us better researchers, and thus more likely to change the world, but that line of motivation is not direct enough to excite people. There is still so much low-hanging fruit that can be plucked with only shallow knowledge of the field.
I think it is somehow related to the power of computer science to change the human condition. Everyone is thinking about the future. Mathematicians also crave novelty, but I don't think they feel "my work could change the world" in the same way as CS researchers.
Learning about CS history would make us better researchers, and thus more likely to change the world, but that line of motivation is not direct enough to excite people. There is still so much low-hanging fruit that can be plucked with only shallow knowledge of the field.