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Books > Professional & Technical > Technology: general issues > History of engineering & technology
In September 1969, several months after the Apollo 11 lunar
landing, President Richard M. Nixon established the Space Task
Force to chart NASA's path for the decades to come. This
imaginative vision was shattered less than six months later when,
on January 13, 1970, NASA Administrator Dr. Thomas Paine announced
that, owing to funding cuts, only the reusable Space Shuttle could
be afforded -- there would be no space station, no return to the
Moon, and no missions to Mars. This is a story never before told
about the missions and technologies that NASA had begun to plan but
never fully realized. The book is a companion to the author's
previous two works on the Space Shuttle. Whereas the first two
books showed how the Space Shuttle flew in space and what the
program accomplished, this book explains what more the Space
Shuttle could have achieved and how the space transportation system
could have further matured if circumstances had been otherwise. A
final chapter also discusses how some of these plans might be
resurrected in future programs.
This book describes the inventions and designs of ancient engineers
who are the precursors of the present. The period ranges mainly
from 300 B.C. to 1600 A.D. with several exceptions. Many of the
oldest inventions are documented by archaeological finds, often
very little known, mainly from Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae and
reveal a surprising modernity in their conception. Most of the
inventions presented in the first four parts of this book were
conceived up to the late Roman Empire and may be considered as
milestones, each in their respective field. The fifth part
concentrates on more recent centuries. The sixth part deals with
some building construction techniques. Generally, for each of the
presented inventions, three elements of research and reference are
provided: written documents (the classics), iconic references
(coins, bas-reliefs, etc.) and archaeological findings. The authors
did not write this book for engineers only; hence they describe all
the devices without assuming wide technical knowledge. The authors'
main aim is to try to communicate their enthusiasm for the
inventions and the inventors of the past and to contribute to the
fascinating study of the History of Engineering. This second
edition includes new topics and chapters that are of special
interest to engineers.
In the first cultural and political history of the Russian nuclear
age, Paul Josephson describes the rise of nuclear physics in the
USSR, the enthusiastic pursuit of military and peaceful nuclear
programs through the Chernobyl disaster and the collapse of the
Soviet Union, and the ongoing, self-proclaimed 'renaissance' of
nuclear power in Russia in the 21st century. At the height of their
power, the Soviets commanded 39,000 nuclear warheads, yet claimed
to be servants of the 'peaceful atom' - which they also pursued
avidly. This book examines both military and peaceful Soviet and
post-Soviet nuclear programs for the long duree - before the war,
during the Cold War, and in Russia to the present - whilst also
grappling with the political and ideological importance of nuclear
technologies, the associated economic goals, the social and
environmental costs, and the cultural embrace of nuclear power.
Nuclear Russia probes the juncture of history of science and
technology, political and cultural history, and environmental
history. It considers the atom in Russian society as a reflection
of Leninist technological utopianism, Cold War imperatives,
scientific hubris, public acceptance, and a state desire to conquer
nature. Furthermore the book examines the vital - and perhaps
unexpected - significance of ethnicity and gender in nuclear
history by looking at how Kazakhs and Nenets lost their homelands
and their health in Russia in the wake of nuclear testing, as well
as the surprising sexualization of the taming of the female atom in
the Russian 'Miss Atom' contests that commenced in the 21st
century.
Fusion: The Search For Endless Energy is the story of the
international race to build an atomic fusion reactor and of the
fraternity of scientists whose mission to create safe, clean,
inexhaustible energy from the elements of seawater, transcended
political boundaries. These scientists included such greats as
Andrei Sakharov and Edward Teller. The book abounds with
fascinating anecdotes about fusion's rocky path: the spurious claim
by Argentine dictator Juan Peron in 1951 that his nation had built
a working fusion reactor; the rush by the United States to drop
secrecy and publicize its fusion work as a propaganda offensive
after the Russian success with Sputnik; the fortune the Penthouse
magazine publisher Bob Guccione sank into an unconventional fusion
device; the skepticism that met an assertion by two University of
Utah chemists in 1989 that they had created "cold fusion" in a
bottle. Aimed at a general audience, the book describes the
scientific basis of controlled fusion--the fusing of atomic nuclei,
under conditions hotter than the sun, to release energy. Using
personal recollections of scientists involved, the book traces the
history of this little known international race that began during
the Cold War in secret laboratories in the U.S., Great Britain, and
the Soviet Union, and evolved into an astonishingly open
collaboration between East and West.
A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 How did we end up in a
world where humans coexist with technologies we can no longer fully
control or understand? George Dyson plots an unexpected course
through the past 300 years to reveal the hidden connections that
underpin our digital age, ending with a premonition of what lies
ahead. From an eighteenth-century Russian voyage across the North
Pacific, to the mirror signals that heralded the age of digital
telecommunications and the invention of the vacuum tube, Analogia
interweaves historical adventure with scientific insight in a
deeply personal story that frames the pursuit - and cost - of the
digital revolution in a captivating new light.
Electrical Engineering The Story of Electrical and Magnetic
Measurements From 500 BC to the 1940s Joseph F. Keithley, a modern
pioneer of instrumentation, brings you a fascinating history of
electrical measurement from the ancient Greeks to the inventors of
the 20th century. Written in a direct and fluent style, the book
illuminates the lives of the most significant inventors in the
field, including Georg Simon Ohm, Andre Marie Ampere, and Jean
Baptiste Fourier. Chapter by chapter, meet the inventors in their
youth and discover the origins of their lifelong pursuits of
electrical measurement. Not only will you find highlights of
important technological contributions, you will also learn about
the tribulations and excitement that accompanied the discoveries of
these early masters. Included are nearly 100 rare photographs from
museums around the world. The Story of Electrical and Magnetic
Measurements is a "must read" for students and practitioners of
physics, electrical engineering, and instrumentation and metrology
who want to understand the history behind modern-day instruments.
The printed book is one of life's most frequently encountered
technologies. Historian Nicole Howard provides a comprehensive
survey of the evolution of this technology, tracing its development
across many centuries and cultures. No other technology in human
history, declares Howard, has had the impact of this invention. By
examining the book as a technology, Howard reveals how profoundly
information and media have shaped history and how vital the
technology of the book has been to cultural and intellectual
change. This engaging study extends from clay tablets and rolls of
papyrus to bound folio sheets, from inks and scripts to lead type
and printing presses, from the Linotype machine to the laptop.
Cross-cultural in scope, it examines innovations in the production
and manufacture of books from the Middle and Far East, Europe, and
the Americas. Howard recounts printing techniques from Gutenberg's
first press to 21st-century electronic publishing. Howard's broad
overview and accessible writing style make this book ideal for
students and bibliophiles alike. The volume includes a glossary of
terms, a timeline of important events, and a selected bibliography
of useful resources for further information.
First published in 1879, this book has been identified as a lost
publication by Peter Waterman, who is writing the introduction to
the reprint.The book, which was published in the year of the Tay
Bridge Disaster and the Zulu War in South Africa, looks in to the
history and development of the steam Locomotive, from 1804-1879. It
shows examples of famous types of machines, from the past and the
then most up to date pieces of railway Locomotive technology. With
a Selection of quality drawings and engineering diagrams, as well
as rare photographs of locomotives from this remarkable period of
industial change, The Victorian Steam Locomotive is a timely and
long-overdue insight into the thinking of Victorian Engineers,
written as a contemporary text.
Covering almost every line in the country, this acclaimed series of
books juxtaposes photographs of the same railway location separated
in time by just a few years, or maybe a century or more. Sometimes
the result is dereliction or disappearance, in others a
transformation into a modern high-speed railway. In both cases, the
contrasts are intriguing and informative. This volume includes: the
Great Western main line over the South Devon banks; Great Western
lines in North Devon; the Exeter and Plymouth areas; the Southern
in East Devon; the Southern's 'Withered Arm' route to Plymouth;
and, preserved lines: the Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway,
Dart Valley Railway and Seaton Tramway.
A revised and updated edition of Professor Duncan Dowson's classic
"History of Tribology" which has been unavailable for a number of
years.
The scope of Professor Dowson's survey is broad in time, place,
and subject. All the major periods in the history of science and
technology are covered, including the much-neglected Middle Ages,
the Renaissance and other recognised eras of scientific
development. For each period the author puts tribology in its
social, environmental, and historical context, to show that the
science and technology of tribology developed from the need to
solve the practical problems of the day.
Lavishly illustrated with photographs, diagrams and line
drawings, this edition contains much new material dealing with
recent developments in tribology. This immense historical survey
has been written for all those concerned with tribology in the
belief that future developments can benefit greatly from lessons
learnt from the achievements and problems of the past.
An illuminating profile of the San Francisco Bay Area, and its
regional and global influence, as seen from the focal point of San
Francisco International Airport (SFO). A People's History of SFO
uses the history of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to
tell a multifaceted story of development, encounter, and power in
the surrounding region from the eighteenth century to the present.
In lively, engaging stories, Eric Porter reveals SFO's unique role
in the San Francisco Bay Area's growth as a globally connected hub
of commerce, technology innovation, and political, economic, and
social influence. Starting with the very land SFO was built on, A
People's History of SFO sees the airport as a microcosm of the
forces at work in the Bay Area-from its colonial history and early
role in trade, mining, and agriculture to the economic growth,
social sanctuary, and environmental transformations of the
twentieth century. In ways both material and symbolic, small human
acts have overlapped with evolving systems of power to create this
bustling metropolis. A People's History of SFO ends by addressing
the climate crisis, as sea levels rise and threaten SFO itself on
the edge of San Francisco Bay.
Concluding the Commodore trilogy, this book takes a look at
Commodore's resurgence in the late 1980's and then ultimate demise.
This was a period of immense creativity from engineers within the
company, who began “moonshot” projects using emerging CD-ROM
technology. Get to know the people behind Commodore's successes and
failures as they battle to stay relevant amidst blistering
competition from Nintendo, Apple, and the onslaught of IBM PC
clones. Told through interviews with company insiders, this
examination of the now defunct company traces the engineering
breakthroughs and baffling decisions that led to the demise of
Commodore.
Soaring Gothic cathedrals, violent crusades, the Black Death: these
are the dramatic forces that shaped the medieval era. But the
so-called Dark Ages also gave us the first universities,
eyeglasses, and mechanical clocks. As medieval thinkers sought to
understand the world around them, from the passing of the seasons
to the stars in the sky, they came to develop a vibrant scientific
culture. In The Light Ages, Cambridge science historian Seb Falk
takes us on a tour of medieval science through the eyes of one
fourteenth-century monk, John of Westwyk. Born in a rural manor,
educated in England's grandest monastery, and then exiled to a
clifftop priory, Westwyk was an intrepid crusader, inventor, and
astrologer. From multiplying Roman numerals to navigating by the
stars, curing disease, and telling time with an ancient astrolabe,
we learn emerging science alongside Westwyk and travel with him
through the length and breadth of England and beyond its shores. On
our way, we encounter a remarkable cast of characters: the
clock-building English abbot with leprosy, the French
craftsman-turned-spy, and the Persian polymath who founded the
world's most advanced observatory. The Light Ages offers a gripping
story of the struggles and successes of an ordinary man in a
precarious world and conjures a vivid picture of medieval life as
we have never seen it before. An enlightening history that argues
that these times weren't so dark after all, The Light Ages shows
how medieval ideas continue to color how we see the world today.
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