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Books > Professional & Technical > Technology: general issues > History of engineering & technology
John Smeaton, the greatest civil engineer of the 18th century, was
principal founder of the profession in Britain and an engineering
scientist of international repute. Professor Skempton's definitive
biography of Smeaton has been out of print for some years and to
celebrate the bi-centenary of his death in 1992, a special edition
of this book has been produced.
A "beautifully written" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)
memoir-manifesto from the first female director of the National
Science Foundation about the entrenched sexism in science, the
elaborate detours women have take to bypass the problem, and how to
fix the system. If you think sexism thrives only on Wall Street or
Hollywood, you haven't visited a lab, a science department, a
research foundation, or a biotech firm. Rita Colwell is one of the
top scientists in America: the groundbreaking microbiologist who
discovered how cholera survives between epidemics and the former
head of the National Science Foundation. But when she first applied
for a graduate fellowship in bacteriology, she was told, "We don't
waste fellowships on women." A lack of support from some male
superiors would lead her to change her area of study six times
before completing her PhD. A Lab of One's Own is an "engaging"
(Booklist) book that documents all Colwell has seen and heard over
her six decades in science, from sexual harassment in the lab to
obscure systems blocking women from leading professional
organizations or publishing their work. Along the way, she
encounters other women pushing back against the status quo,
including a group at MIT who revolt when they discover their labs
are a fraction of the size of their male colleagues. Resistance
gave female scientists special gifts: forced to change specialties
so many times, they came to see things in a more interdisciplinary
way, which turned out to be key to making new discoveries in the
20th and 21st centuries. Colwell would also witness the advances
that could be made when men and women worked together--often under
her direction, such as when she headed a team that helped to
uncover the source of anthrax used in the 2001 letter attacks. A
Lab of One's Own is "an inspiring read for women embarking on a
career or experiencing career challenges" (Library Journal, starred
review) that shares the sheer joy a scientist feels when moving
toward a breakthrough, and the thrill of uncovering a whole new
generation of female pioneers. It is the science book for the
#MeToo era, offering an astute diagnosis of how to fix the problem
of sexism in science--and a celebration of women pushing back.
Sherwood recounts the story of American Air Force pilots in the
Korean War and the development of a lasting fighter-pilot culture
The United States Air Force fought as a truly independent service
for the first time during the Korean War. Ruling the skies in many
celebrated aerial battles, even against the advanced Soviet MiG-15,
American fighter pilots reigned supreme. Yet they also destroyed
virtually every major town and city in North Korea, demolished its
entire crop irrigation system and killed close to one million
civilians. The self-confidence and willingness to take risks which
defined the lives of these men became a trademark of the fighter
pilot culture, what author John Darrell Sherwood here refers to as
the flight suit attitude. In Officers in Flight Suits, John Darrell
Sherwood takes a closer look at the flight suit officer's life by
drawing on memoirs, diaries, letters, novels, unit records, and
personal papers as well as interviews with over fifty veterans who
served in the Air Force in Korea. Tracing their lives from their
training to the flight suit culture they developed, the author
demonstrates how their unique lifestyle affected their performance
in battle and their attitudes toward others, particularly women, in
their off-duty activities.
This book tells the story of the scientific talent and
technological prowess of two nations that joined forces to connect
themselves with a communications cable that would change the world.
In 1855 an American visionary named Cyrus West Field, who knew
nothing about telegraphy, sought to establish a monopoly on
telegraphic revenues between North America and Europe. Field and
the wealthy New Yorkers who formed the first Atlantic cable-laying
company never suspected that spanning the vast and stormy Atlantic
would require 11 years of frustration and horrific financial
sacrifice. The enterprise would eventually engage some of the most
brilliant minds in England, Scotland, and the United States,
attracting men of science, men of wealth, and men of curiosity.
Message time would be cut from more than four weeks to about two
minutes. Such a feat would not have been possible without the
massive ship the Great Eastern, designed by Isambard Kingdom
Brunel, Britain's foremost engineer, or the financial backing of
Thomas Brassey, the era's greatest builder of railroads. Despite
four failed attempts and the enmity that developed between the
Union and Great Britain during America's Civil War, Field never
stopped urging his British friends to perfect a cable that could
function in water as deep as two and a half miles. Without the
unified effort of this small cadre of determined engineers, decades
may have passed before submarine cables became reliable. This is
the story of these men, their ships, and the technology that made
it all possible. Behind the scenes were tough and worthy
competitors who tried to beat them to the punch, adding a sense of
urgency to their monumental task. Some called theAtlantic cable the
greatest feat of the 19th century--with good reason. It perfected
transoceanic communications and connected the world with circuits
in the sea.
This book, the first in this new field of materials science, aims
to present a coherent picture of the design principles and
resulting properties of self healing materials over all material
classes, and to offset them to the current design principles for
structural materials with improved mechanical properties. Where
appropriate a comparison to natural materials is made. As such it
will be a landmark and a reference work in the coming years. The
book consists of a number of invited contributions from leading
experts in the field. While each chapter describes a separate
approach or a different aspect of self healing materials, the
common structure of each chapter creates a coherent and consistent
picture of this emerging and challenging field. Hence the book is
not only a valuable asset for professional materials scientists but
it is also suitable as a text book for courses at MSc level.
For better or worse, television has been the dominant medium of
communication for 50 years. Almost all American households have a
television set; many have more than one. Transmitting images and
sounds electronically is a relatively recent invention, one that
required passionate inventors, determined businessmen, government
regulators, and willing consumers. This volume in the Greenwood
Technographies series covers the history of television from
19th-century European conceptions of transmitting moving images
electrically to the death of TV as a discrete system in a digital
age. Magoun also discusses the changing face of television in the
displays that people watch around the globe. Television: The Life
Story of a Technology discusses significant developments in the
technological and social lives of people during the history of the
television. It appeals to students and lay readers alike by
highlighting key events and people: BLthe American engineers and
entrepreneurs such as Vladimir Zworykin and David Sarnoff who
ignited the television industry; BLthe bloom of programming choices
in tandem with the Baby Boom generation; BLthe developmetn of cable
and satellite TV; BLthe Asians who innovated American inventions in
videorecording and flat-panel displays; BLthe use of TV in wartime;
BLand the new worlds of digital and high-definition television.
Based on the latest research, this crisply written, sometimes
provocative survey includes a glossary, timeline, and bibliography
for further information. Vladimir Zworykin -- whose work ignited
the entire television industry BLHow the television industry and
commercial programming bloomed in tandem with the Baby Boom
generation The late-twentiethcentury expansion of cable television
and the decline of the broadcast networks, and the new world of
high-definition television. The volume includes a glossary of
terms, a timeline of important events, and a selected bibliography
of resources for further information.
This book provides a comprehensive review of China's Internet
development in the past 23 years since the country's first access
to the Internet, especially since the 18th National Congress of the
Communist Party of China. It offers a systematic account of China's
experience in Internet development and governance, and establishes
and presents China's Internet Development Index System, covering
network infrastructure, information technology, digital economy,
e-governance, cyber security, and international cyberspace
governance.
More than a decade has passed since IBM's Deep Blue computer
stunned the world by defeating Garry Kasparov, the world chess
champion at that time. "Beyond Deep Blue" tells the continuing
story of the chess engine and its steady improvement. The book
provides analysis of the games alongside a detailed examination of
the remarkable technological progress made by the engines - asking
which one is best, how good is it, and how much better can it get.
Features: presents a total of 118 games, played by 17 different
chess engines, collected together for the first time in a single
reference; details the processor speeds, memory sizes, and the
number of processors used by each chess engine; includes games from
10 World Computer Chess Championships, and three computer chess
tournaments of the Internet Chess Club; covers the man-machine
matches between Fritz and Kramnik, and Kasparov and Deep Junior;
describes three historical matches between leading engines - Hydra
vs. Shredder, Junior vs. Fritz, and Zappa vs. Rybka.
A leading voice in technology studies shares a collection of
essential essays on the preservation of software and history of
games. Since the early 2000s, Henry Lowood has led or had a key
role in numerous initiatives devoted to the preservation and
documentation of virtual worlds, digital games, and interactive
simulations, establishing himself as a major scholar in the field
of game studies. His voluminous writings have tackled subject
matter spanning the history of game design and development,
military simulation, table-top games, machinima, e-sports,
wargaming, and historical software archives and collection
development. Replayed consolidates Lowood's far-flung and
significant publications on these subjects into a single volume.
Learn why NASA astronaut Mike Collins calls this extraordinary
space race story "the best book on Apollo" this inspiring and
intimate ode to ingenuity celebrates one of the most daring feats
in human history. When the alarm went off forty thousand feet above
the moon's surface, both astronauts looked down at the computer to
see 1202 flashing on the readout. Neither of them knew what it
meant, and time was running out . . . On July 20, 1969, Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the
moon. One of the world's greatest technological achievements -- and
a triumph of the American spirit -- the Apollo 11 mission was a
mammoth undertaking involving more than 410,000 men and women
dedicated to winning the space race against the Soviets. Set amid
the tensions and upheaval of the sixties and the Cold War, Shoot
for the Moon is a gripping account of the dangers, the challenges,
and the sheer determination that defined not only Apollo 11, but
also the Mercury and Gemini missions that came before it. From the
shock of Sputnik and the heart-stopping final minutes of John
Glenn's Mercury flight to the deadly whirligig of Gemini 8, the
doomed Apollo 1 mission, and that perilous landing on the Sea of
Tranquility -- when the entire world held its breath while
Armstrong and Aldrin battled computer alarms, low fuel, and other
problems -- James Donovan tells the whole story. Both sweeping and
intimate, Shoot for the Moon is "a powerfully written and
irresistible celebration" of one of humankind's most extraordinary
accomplishments (Booklist, starred review).
Understanding the complex history of US fossil fuel use can help us
build a sustainable future. In Hydrocarbon Nation, Thor Hogan looks
at how four technological revolutions-industrial, agricultural,
transportation, and electrification-drew upon the enormous
hydrocarbon wealth of the United States, transforming the young
country into a nation with unparalleled economic and military
potential. Each of these advances engendered new government
policies aimed at strengthening national and economic security. The
result was unprecedented energy security and the creation of a
nation nearly impervious to outside threats. However, when this
position weakened in the decades after the peaking of domestic
conventional oil supplies in 1970, the American political and
economic systems were severely debilitated. At the same time,
climate change was becoming a major concern. Fossil fuels created
the modern world, yet burning them created a climate crisis. Hogan
argues that everyday Americans and policymakers alike must embrace
the complexity of this contradiction in order to help society chart
a path forward. Doing so, Hogan explains, will allow us to launch a
critically important sustainability revolution capable of providing
energy and climate security in the future. Hydrocarbon Nation
provides reasons to believe that we can succeed in expanding on the
benefits of the Hydrocarbon Age in order to build a sustainable
future.
This work describes the historical evolution of a critical aspect
of aerospace technology—avionics and navigation systems. This
history is important to understanding current and future issues
associated with aeronautics, space-flight development, and flight
management, because avionics is crucial to commerical air traffic
control and space flight. Samuel Fishbein provides a historical
overview of aviation electronics and instrumentation, the evolution
of automated systems and their integration, and the role of the
pilot in this environment. In addition, he reviews the major
elements comprising the flight management system and the evolution
and operation of these instruments, discussing why the instrument
panel is configured the way it is, and how ground and space-based
components of the systems have influenced the design of airplane
components.
Nikola Tesla was one of the 20th century's great pioneers; his role
in advancing electrical energy through the use of alternating
current, and his stupendous engineering finesse, make this
biography by journalist John J. O'Neill a fine read. Born in a
Serbian village to a religious family, Nikola demonstrated an early
interest in physics. The nascent science behind electricity - in
the 1870s a mysterious, unharnessed force - became his passion.
Though the young man's engineering aspirations were almost derailed
when he contracted cholera, and later by Austro-Hungarian
conscription, Tesla managed to enrol to study in Graz, Austria. A
top-class student, tutors admiration for Tesla's gifts and
boundless curiosity was tempered by concerns over his tendency to
overwork. These attributes marked Tesla's professional life; an
obsessively driven man, Tesla's gifts for invention were amply
demonstrated and rewarded in the United States. As his ambitions
grew in size and scope, Tesla was hailed as a visionary.
This is the first book to tell the incredible true story of the
first use of chlorine to disinfect a city water supply, in Jersey
City, New Jersey, in 1908. This important book also corrects
misinformation long-held in the historical record about who was
responsible for this momentous event, giving overdue recognition to
the true hero of the story-an unflagging champion of public health,
Dr. John L. Leal.
World watch production today is concentrated in three countries:
Switzerland, Japan and China. Former centres such as Great Britain,
France, the United States and Russia saw the industrial manufacture
of watches disappear from their territory during the twentieth
century. How did this situation come about? The business of time
aims to answer this question by presenting the first comprehensive
history of the sector. It traces the evolution and transformation
of the global watch industry from the mid-nineteenth century to the
present day, highlighting the conditions that enabled watch
production to expand across the globe and revealing how
multinational companies gradually emerged to dominate the industry.
-- .
This book contains the proceedings of HMM2012, the 4th
International Symposium on Historical Developments in the field of
Mechanism and Machine Science (MMS). These proceedings cover recent
research concerning all aspects of the development of MMS from
antiquity until the present and its historiography: machines,
mechanisms, kinematics, dynamics, concepts and theories, design
methods, collections of methods, collections of models,
institutions and biographies.
This engaging volume celebrates the life and work of Theodor Holm
"Ted" Nelson, a pioneer and legendary figure from the history of
early computing. Presenting contributions from world-renowned
computer scientists and figures from the media industry, the book
delves into hypertext, the docuverse, Xanadu and other products of
Ted Nelson's unique mind. Features: includes a cartoon and a
sequence of poems created in Nelson's honor, reflecting his
wide-ranging and interdisciplinary intellect; presents peer
histories, providing a sense of the milieu that resulted from
Nelson's ideas; contains personal accounts revealing what it is
like to collaborate directly with Nelson; describes Nelson's legacy
from the perspective of his contemporaries from the computing
world; provides a contribution from Ted Nelson himself. With a
broad appeal spanning computer scientists, science historians and
the general reader, this inspiring collection reveals the
continuing influence of the original visionary of the World Wide
Web.
Since the end of World War II, European airlines have revealed
their own operational style. By analyzing seven European flag
carriers, Dienel and Lyth provide a comparative study of the
airline business, covering government policy, aircraft procurement,
network growth, commercial performance and collaboration with other
airlines and transport modes. This study also seeks to explain why
national flag carriers have survived in an age of globalization and
strategic alliances. A concluding chapter views the contrasting
American air transport industry.
This is an annual collection of essays which explore how technology
is related to other aspects of life - social, cultural and economic
- and show how technological development has shaped, and been
shaped by, the society in which it occurred. Contributions range
widely in subject, period and region, and cover both technical
matters and general papers on the history of technology.
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