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Books > Professional & Technical > Technology: general issues > History of engineering & technology
A self-taught authority on electromagnetic theory, telegraphy and telephony, Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925) dedicated his adult life to the improvement of electrical technologies. Inspired by James Clerk Maxwell's field theory, he spent the 1880s presenting his ideas as a regular contributor to the weekly journal, The Electrician. The publication of Electrical Papers, a year after his election to the Royal Society in 1891, established his fame beyond the scientific community. An eccentric figure with an impish sense of humour, Heaviside's accessible style enabled him to educate an entire generation in the importance and application of electricity. In so doing he helped to establish that very British phenomenon, the garden-shed inventor. Illustrated with practical examples, the subjects covered in Volume 1 include voltaic constants, duplex telegraphy, microphones and electromagnets.
A self-taught authority on electromagnetic theory, telegraphy and telephony, Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925) dedicated his adult life to the improvement of electrical technologies. Inspired by James Clerk Maxwell's field theory, he spent the 1880s presenting his ideas as a regular contributor to the weekly journal, The Electrician. The publication of Electrical Papers, a year after his election to the Royal Society in 1891, established his fame beyond the scientific community. An eccentric figure with an impish sense of humour, Heaviside's accessible style enabled him to educate an entire generation in the importance and application of electricity. In so doing he helped to establish that very British phenomenon, the garden-shed inventor. Combining articles on the electromagnetic wave surface and electromagnetic induction with notes on nomenclature and the self-induction of wires, Volume 2 serves as an excellent source for both electrical engineers and historians of science.
The third volume of Margaret W. Rossiter's landmark survey of the history of American women scientists focuses on their pioneering efforts and contributions from 1972 to the present. Central to this story are the struggles and successes of women scientists in the era of affirmative action. Scores of previously isolated women scientists were suddenly energized to do things they had rarely, if ever, done before--form organizations and recruit new members, start rosters and projects, put out newsletters, confront authorities, and even fight (and win) lawsuits. Rossiter follows the major activities of these groups in several fields--from engineering to the physical, biological, and social sciences--and their campaigns to raise consciousness, see legislation enforced, lobby for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, and serve as watchdogs of the media. This comprehensive volume also covers the changing employment circumstances in the federal government, academia, industry, and the nonprofit sector and discusses contemporary battles to increase the number of women members of the National Academy of Science and women presidents of scientific societies. In writing this book, Rossiter mined nearly one hundred previously unexamined archival collections and more than fifty oral histories. With the thoroughness and resourcefulness that characterize the earlier volumes, she recounts the rich history of the courageous and resolute women determined to realize their scientific ambitions.
In 1866, William Howard Russell (1820 1907) published this work, the official account of the July 1865 expedition on board the Great Eastern to lay a cable along the Atlantic Ocean floor between Valentia, Ireland, and Foilhummerum Bay in Newfoundland. It is illustrated with 26 lithographs of watercolours by Robert Dudley, who also travelled with the expedition. The cable, constructed by the Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Company, was designed to create a communications bridge between North America and Europe, enabling telegrams to be sent and received within minutes, when previously messages could be sent only by ship. The 1865 expedition was the fourth attempt to lay the cable, and although after 1200 miles the cable broke and was lost in the ocean, an expedition the following year was finally successful. This lively account of a pioneering attempt will appeal to anyone with an interest in the history of technology.
This work by William Scoresby (1789 1857) was edited by Archibald Smith (1813 1872) and published posthumously in 1859. It is the account of Scoresby's final voyage and last scientific study, which took place between February and August 1856. Scoresby made his Australian voyage on board the Royal Charter, owned by the Liverpool and Australia Steam Navigation Company. He wished to observe the changes that take place in the magnetic state of iron ships travelling on a north-to-south magnetic latitude, and to assess how magnetic changes affect the working of a compass so that he could discover the most reliable location for it on board ship. The first part of the work is an exposition of magnetic principles, followed by the results and conclusions of Scoresby's experiments. The second part contains a travel account of the actual voyage. It is a key work of nineteenth-century navigation science.
A renowned chemist, photographer and scholar, Robert Hunt was a passionate advocate of popular education and the ideal choice to author an accessible and informative handbook to the greatest educational event of the nineteenth century. Published in 1851, while the Great Exhibition was still welcoming visitors in Hyde Park, Hunt's Hand-Book is an encyclopaedia of Victorian material science, chemistry, engineering and design. While an array of catalogues, pamphlets and guides told the story of the exhibition's conception and construction, Hunt reserved his pages for a detailed and comprehensive account of the exhibits themselves. Consequently, this two-volume work quickly established itself as the authoritative guide to the exhibits, their manner of manufacture and practical application in the modern world. Aided by a series of meticulous plans, Volume 1 leads readers through the celebrated Medieval Court and spectacular and varied displays of agricultural produce, weaponry, and porcelain.
A renowned chemist, photographer and scholar, Robert Hunt was a passionate advocate of popular education and the ideal choice to write an accessible but informative handbook to the Great Exhibition of 1851. Published while the event was still welcoming visitors in Hyde Park, Hunt's Hand-Book is an encyclopaedia of Victorian material science, chemistry, engineering and design. Aided by small sectional plans of the building and tables of classification, in Volume 2 readers continue their vicarious journey through the Crystal Palace, while receiving clear and lucid lessons on the physics, mechanics and chemistry that enable such innovations as the hydro-pneumatic elevator and the railway system. Including exhibits as varied as enamelled glassware, woven flax, upholstery, diamonds and cement, Hunt's work constitutes one of the most valuable sources available on an age defined by innovation, industry and empire.
First published in 1875, this book describes the history and science of photography, with an emphasis on the practical processes involved and their relation to the physical and chemical properties of light. Hermann Vogel (1834 1898), who pioneered the technology for colour photography, was Professor of Photography at the Royal Industrial Academy of Berlin. Here he explains the science of photography simply and concisely for a popular readership. The book has 100 illustrations, including both woodcuts and 'specimens of the latest discoveries in photography', intended to demonstrate the value of the technology to society. It traces the history of photography from its beginnings in experiments conducted by Davy and Wedgwood and the invention of the Daguerreotype to the most recent developments of Vogel's day. It was regarded as the most comprehensive guide to photography then available, and ran to several editions. This reissue is of the fourth edition of 1883.
The discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand hills and the Transvaal region of South Africa sparked a rush in the late 1880s. Competition between the British and Boer settlers for access and control of this valuable commodity was one of the underlying causes of the second Anglo-Boer war (1899 1902) in which the British eventually won control of the territory. In this work, published in 1898, the mining engineer and Fellow of the Geological Society of London John Yates outlines the state of the booming industry on the eve of war. He discusses the work of key companies and includes technical specifications and illustrations of the equipment used in the new gold mines, such as the shafts, mills and cyanide works. An appendix by his fellow engineer Hennen Jennings addresses the question of government assistance in subsidising the huge start-up costs of these mining projects.
Written in 1844 by Henry Hutchinson, this book, as the title suggests, focuses on the practical aspects of land drainage, advising readers to first consider the plan, cost, and mode of draining carefully. The treatise begins with a general address to the public which offers advice to landlords for dealing with tenant farmers, information on valuing land for fair rent, and ways of improving substandard soil. Lamenting that 'a great deal has been written by parties who really know nothing of the practical working of a system', Hutchinson, a land agent, valuer and 'professor of draining', writes from a zealous desire to educate the public correctly on the art of land drainage. Hutchinson's approach is scrupulously thorough, with separate chapters on shallow draining, deep draining, bastard draining, boring, and impediments to draining, as well as the history of land drainage in England.
Stephen Michell's 1881 work covers the full range of engines and steam-pumps available for draining mines in the nineteenth century. An expert on contemporary mining technology, Michell co-authored the essays 'The Best Mining Machinery' and 'The Cornish System of Mine Drainage' prior to writing this comprehensive survey. Mine Drainage represents the first attempt to gather in one book information previously located in various journals (and therefore difficult to find), and documentation about engines by their (possibly biased) manufacturers. The book also contains almost 140 illustrations of the diverse pumps and engines discussed. After a short introduction, the material is organised into two main sections, focusing on horizontal and vertical engines. Within those categories it discusses rotary and non-rotary engines, and simple and compound steam-pumps. The book will interest historians of technology, science, engineering, and mining in the Victorian period.
James Erskine-Murray (1868 1927) was a Scots expert in wireless technology who studied under Lord Kelvin for six years at Glasgow University before arriving at Trinity College, Cambridge as a research student. He eventually became a telegraphy consultant and published this work in 1907. Its aim was to inform engineers, students, and radio operators about many aspects of a rapidly changing technology. The book covers recent developments of the time, and a whole chapter is dedicated to the issue of transmission. Erskine-Murray also provided a chapter of tables containing data which he calculated himself and which had not appeared in print before. The work stands as a classic in the field of early engineering texts, and offers contemporary students and radio enthusiasts a useful guide to early wireless technology.
Frederick Overman (1810 1852) was a German-born engineer who emigrated to Pennsylvania in the United States and worked in the booming field of iron manufacturing. He wrote that his book, first published in Philadelphia and then in London in 1850, was designed to be of 'practical utility' to engineers working in the industry. It includes 150 woodcuts to illustrate fully the many different aspects of making iron. Overman covers every part of the process, from the mining of iron ore to the variety of forges that were used, and also includes a chapter about the related steel industry. Today this historic engineering text sheds light on nineteenth-century industrial processes on both sides of the Atlantic during the height of Victorian innovation, making it essential reading for scholars, students, and enthusiasts of this period.
First published in 1891, this memoir describes the life of the metallurgist and inventor Sidney Gilchrist Thomas (1850 1885), best-known for discovering the method of eliminating phosphorus from pig iron which revolutionised the commercial production of steel. Professing a desire to give a 'true' account of a life in contrast to the somewhat hagiographic approach of some contemporary writers, Thomas' biographer, R. W. Burnie, sets out to construct 'a brief history of a very striking and individual character'. The details of Thomas' short life are narrated in 22 chapters, beginning with his early education, his work as a schoolmaster and police clerk whilst studying law and chemistry at night, his career, and his work-related travels, which took him everywhere from central Europe to New Zealand. The memoir also includes a postscript which reveals that Thomas left his considerable fortune to workers in steel production.
William Tulloch Jeans (1848 1907) was a parliamentary journalist with an interest in economics and technology. This book was first published in 1884, and comprises biographies of six men whom Jeans believed to have made significant contributions to the development of modern steel technology. The Bessemer process revolutionised steel-making, reducing the cost and allowing steel to replace the much more brittle iron in civil engineering projects such as bridges. Siemens' regenerative furnace allowed much more fuel-efficient manufacture of steel. Sir Joseph Whitworth developed a method of producing stronger steel by removing blowholes in the ingots. Sir John Brown's rolled steel was used in almost all the British navy's armour-plated ships. The work of Sidney Gilchrist Thomas and George Snelus on reducing phosphorus content in steel meant low-grade ores could be used. The combined researches of these men transformed modern industrial and engineering methods.
How did the popularity of underwear in the twelfth century lead to
the invention of the printing press?
The French diplomat and engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805 1894) was instrumental in the successful completion of the Suez Canal, which reduced by 3000 miles the distance by sea between Bombay and London. This two-volume memoir, written towards the end of his life and dedicated to his children, was published in this English translation in 1887. In it, de Lesseps describes his experiences in Europe and North Africa. He includes reflections on European and colonial history and politics, a chapter on steam power, and a report on the 1879 Paris conference that led to a controversial and abortive early attempt to build the Panama Canal. Volume 1 focuses on de Lesseps' diplomatic missions to Rome and Madrid in the late 1840s during a period of political and social unrest in Italy, Spain and France, and the early stages of the Suez canal project.
The French diplomat and engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805 1894) was instrumental in the successful completion of the Suez Canal, which reduced by 3000 miles the distance by sea between Bombay and London. This two-volume memoir, written towards the end of his life and dedicated to his children, was published in this English translation in 1887. In it, de Lesseps describes his experiences in Europe and North Africa. He includes reflections on European and colonial history and politics, an essay on steam power, and a report on the 1879 Paris conference that led to a controversial and abortive early attempt by a French company to build the Panama Canal. Volume 2 focuses on the Suez project, quoting extensively from de Lesseps' correspondence, and also contains facts and figures relating to the 'interoceanic canal', political essays, and the speeches for his inauguration into the Acad mie fran aise.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 1894), novelist and poet, was descended from a famous Scottish engineering family. His grandfather Robert, his father Thomas, two uncles and a cousin were all noted engineers, particularly known for their lighthouses. This family history, focusing particularly on his grandfather, was written while R. L. Stevenson was living in Samoa, and was published posthumously in 1912. It first outlines the history of the name 'Stevenson' from the thirteenth century. Chapter 1 begins in the mid-eighteenth century, and records Robert Stevenson's birth in 1772, and his father's death. The young Robert worked with his stepfather for the Northern Lighthouse Board and was its sole Engineer from 1808 to 1843. Chapter 2 describes his experiences in that role. Chapter 3 reproduces substantial extracts from Robert's own diary of the construction (1807 1811) of his most famous structure, the Bell Rock lighthouse off Arbroath, which revolutionised lighthouse design.
James Bond's amazing gadgets reveal both enthusiasm about technology and fear of its potential ramifications. The popularity of the 007 franchise depends on a seductive formula of sex, violence, and snobbery. Much of its appeal, too, lies in its gadgets: slick, somewhat improbable technological devices that give everyone's favorite secret agent the edge over his adversaries. In Equipping James Bond, Andre Millard chronicles a hundred-year history of espionage technology through the lens of Ian Fleming's infamous character and his ingenious spyware. Beginning with the creation of MI6, the British secret service, Millard traces the development of espionage technology from the advanced weaponry of the nineteenth century to the evolving threat of computer hacking and surveillance. Arguing that the gadgets in the books and films articulate the leading edge of technological awareness at the time, Millard describes how Bond goes from protecting 1950s England from criminal activity to saving a world threatened by nuclear bombs, poison gas, and attacks from space. As a modern and modernizing hero, Bond has to keep up with the times. His film franchise is committed to equipping both Bond and his adversaries with the latest technological gadgets. Simultaneously, Millard stresses, the villains and threats that Bond faces embody contemporary fears about the downside of technological change. Taking a wide-ranging look at factual (and fictional) technology, Millard views the James Bond universe as evidence for popular perceptions of technological development as both inevitably progressive and apocalyptically threatening.
Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744 1817) was a noted Irish educationalist, engineer and inventor. This two-volume autobiography, begun in 1808, was completed by his novelist daughter Maria, and published in 1820. Edgeworth's interest in education is evidenced by his reflections about how his childhood shaped his character and later life. Volume 1, written by Edgeworth himself and covering the period to 1781, reveals that his interest in science began early; he was shown an orrery (a moving model of the solar system) at the age of seven. As a young man, Edgeworth attended university in Dublin and Oxford, studied law, and eloped while still in his teens. He experimented with vehicle design, winning several awards, and was introduced by Erasmus Darwin to the circle of scientists, innovators and industrialists later known as the Lunar Society of Birmingham. In 1781 Sir Joseph Banks sponsored his election to the Royal Society.
Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744 1817) was a noted Irish educationalist, engineer and inventor. This two-volume autobiography, begun in 1808, was published in 1820. Edgeworth had abandoned the project in 1809, having covered the period to 1781, and it was completed after his death by his eldest daughter, a successful novelist. Maria Edgeworth and her father had co-authored educational works, and the experience of helping her father run their estate during her teens had provided material for her novels. Volume 2 of these memoirs was wholly written by her, though it contains excerpts from Richard's correspondence. It recounts how, after his third marriage, the growing family returned to Ireland, and focused first on domestic and educational concerns. Richard became involved in Irish politics and the newly founded Royal Irish Academy but continued to publish essays on scientific and mechanical topics, as well as influential (though controversial) works on education.
Sir Edward James Reed (1830 1906) was an innovative naval architect who, after attending the Central School of Mathematics and Naval Architecture in Portsmouth, was appointed chief constructor of the Navy in 1863. This was a crucial time for the navy, as traditional wooden sailing ships began to be armoured or rebuilt in iron in response to more powerful weaponry. Reed pioneered the methodical use of scientific calculations to determine a ship's weight, strength and stability, and was responsible for a number of revolutionary designs. He later founded his own consultancy and designed ships for other countries including Germany, Chile and Brazil. This textbook, first published in 1869, contains a comprehensive overview of the design and construction of the various classes of iron ships of the time, and the new features they incorporated. It also includes descriptions of procedures in Royal Dockyards and various civilian shipyards.
Cornishman Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) was one of the pioneering engineers of the Industrial Revolution. Best remembered today for his early railway locomotive, Trevithick worked on a wide range of projects, including mines, mills, dredging machinery, a tunnel under the Thames, military engineering, and prospecting in South America. However, his difficult personality and financial failures caused him to be overshadowed by contemporaries such as Robert Stephenson and James Watt. This two-volume study by his son Francis, chief engineer with the London and North-Western Railway, was published in 1872, and helped to revive his neglected reputation. It places its subject in his historical and technical context, building on the work of his father, Richard Trevithick Senior, and the Cornish mining industry. It contains much technical detail, but is still of interest to the general reader. Volume 1 covers his predecessors, and early life, before examining his work thematically. |
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