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Books > Professional & Technical > Technology: general issues > Inventions & inventors
This beautifully illustrated book celebrates fifty of the world's sexiest brains-people who have changed the world in big and small ways. What have the world's sexiest people ever really done for the world? We should be crushing big-time on the beautiful brains of the people who make a difference. Elon Musk, swoon-worthy inventor who spends his billions developing sustainable energy sources and space exploration. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, (gavel-)bangin' babe of the US Supreme Court who has spent her life fighting for women's rights. There's the other Tyra, Rupaul: our heroic hunti, the ultimate champion of drag culture. And not to mention our almighty Queen, the modest mogal who came from nothing, the incomparable Oprah Winfrey. These dreamboats are the real pin-ups, the poster people for brilliance, bravery, and giving a damn.
Our world has been transformed beyond recognition, particularly in the twentieth century, and so were our lives and our aspirations. Throughout James May's Magnificent Machines, our Top Gear guide explores the iconic themes of the past hundred years: flight, space travel, television, mechanised war, medicine, computers, electronic music, skyscrapers, electronic espionage and much more. But he also reveals the hidden story behind why some inventions like the Zeppelin, the hovercraft or the Theremin struggled to make their mark. He examines the tipping points - when technologies such as the car or the internet became unstoppable - and gets up close by looking at the nuts and bolts of remarkable inventions. Packed with surprising statistics and intriguing facts, this is the ideal book for anyone who wants to know how stuff works and why some stuff didn't make it.
*Longlisted for the William MB Berger Prize for British Art History, 2022* A spectacular new biography of the great designer, entrepreneur, abolitionist and beacon of the Industrial Revolution, from acclaimed historian and Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tristram Hunt Josiah Wedgwood, perhaps the greatest English potter who ever lived, epitomized the best of his age. From his kilns and workshops in Stoke-on-Trent, he revolutionized the production of ceramics in Georgian Britain by marrying technology with design, manufacturing efficiency and retail flair. He transformed the luxury markets not only of London, Liverpool, Bath and Dublin but of America and the world, and helping to usher in a mass consumer society. Tristram Hunt calls him 'the Steve Jobs of the eighteenth century'. But Wedgwood was radical in his mind and politics as well as in his designs. He campaigned for free trade and religious toleration, read pioneering papers to the Royal Society and was a member of the celebrated Lunar Society of Birmingham. Most significantly, he created the ceramic 'Emancipation Badge', depicting a slave in chains and inscribed 'Am I Not a Man and a Brother?' that became the symbol of the abolitionist movement. Tristram Hunt's hugely enjoyable new biography, strongly based on Wedgwood's notebooks, letters and the words of his contemporaries, brilliantly captures the energy and originality of Wedgwood and his extraordinary contribution to the transformation of eighteenth-century Britain.
Most of the policy discussion about stimulating innovation has focused on the federal level. This study focuses on the significant activity at the state level, with the goal of improving the public's understanding of key policy strategies and exemplary practices. Based on a series of workshops and conferences that brought together policymakers along with leaders of industry and academia in a select number of states, the study highlights a rich variety of policy initiatives underway at the state and regional level to foster knowledge based growth and employment. Perhaps what distinguishes this effort at the state level is most of all the high degree of pragmatism. Operating out of necessity, innovation policies at the state level often involve taking advantage of existing resources and recombining them in new ways, forging innovative partnerships among universities, industry and government organizations, growing the skill base, and investing in the infrastructure to develop new technologies and new industries. Many of these initiatives are being guided by leaders from the private sector and universities. The objective of Best Practices in State and Regional Innovation Initiatives: Competing in the 21st Century is not to do an empirical review of the inputs and outputs of various state programs. Nor is it to evaluate which programs are superior. Indeed, some of the notable successes, such as the Albany nanotechnology cluster, represent a leap of leadership, investment, and sustained commitment that has had remarkable results in an industry that is actively pursued by many countries. The study's goal is to illustrate the approaches taken by a variety of highly diverse states as they confront the increasing challenges of global competition for the industries and jobs of today and tomorrow. Table of Contents Front Matter Executive Summary I: INNOVATION AND PLACE-BASED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 1 Innovation in the States 2 State and Regional Development and Clustering II: THE CATALYTIC ROLE OF PUBLIC PURPOSE ORGANIZATIONS 3 Universities as Innovation Drivers 4 State Strategies for Innovation 5 The Federal Dimension III: REVIEW OF SELECTED STATE AND REGIONAL PRACTICES 6 Rebuilding Ohio's Innovation Economy 7 The New York Nanotechnology Initiative 8 New Initiatives in Illinois and Arkansas IV: BIBLIOGRAPHY Bibliography V: ANNEX A: STANFORD AND SILICON VALLEY Annex A--Stanford and Silicon Valley VI: ANNEX B: NORTH CAROLINA'S RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK Annex B--North Carolina's Research Triangle Park
.Includes works by pre-eminent artists, including Winslow Homer, Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Cole .Features rarely seen prints, survey photographs, zoological and botanical illustrations, patent models, and engineering diagrams .Accompanies the exhibition The Great American Hall of Wonders at Smithsonian American Art Museum from 15th July 2011 to 8th January 2012 The Great American Hall of Wonders is a vividly illustrated survey of the American ingenuity that energized all aspects of 19th-century society, from the painting of landscapes and scenes of everyday life, to the planning of scientific expeditions and the development of new mechanical devices. It focuses on six iconic objects that inspired the American imagination: the buffalo, the giant sequoia, and Niagara Falls (symbolizing vast natural bounty), and the gun, the railroad, and the clock (representing all things mechanical and the purposeful use of time). Each of these served as cultural lightning rods, sparking creativity across a wide swathe of American society. Visions of buffalo herds, railroad trestles, enormous trees, and Winchester rifles engaged not only artists, scientists, and inventors, but also poets, educators, farmers, chaplains, and members of Congress. This new book is a stunning tribute to the pioneering and inventing spirit that symbolizes America.
China has given birth to numerous scientific and technological inventions, and for many centuries led the world in such innovations. Indeed, some of the most important inventions in the history of human civilization originated in China - not least the compass, gunpowder, paper and printing. Ancient Chinese Inventions provides an accessible, illustrated introduction to the many inventions to which China can lay claim, from the aforementioned seminal discoveries to mining technology, the production of silk and ceramics, and brilliant advances in astronomy, mathematics and medicine.
"Inventors and Inventions" takes a refreshing look into the
fascinating history of inventors and inventions. With encyclopaedic
breadth, the book follows a diverse list of inventions from their
earliest manifestations through to their most current incarnations,
whilst also revealing how some of today's greatest inventions came
about by accident or chance.
Engineering transformed the world completely between the 17th and 21st centuries. Remarkable Engineers tells the stories of 51 of the key pioneers in this transformation, from the designers and builders of the world s railways, bridges and aeroplanes, to the founders of the modern electronics and communications revolutions. The focus throughout is on their varied life stories, and engineering and scientific detail is kept to a minimum. Engineer profiles are organized chronologically, inviting readers with an interest in engineering to follow the path by which these remarkable engineers utterly changed our lives.
The real inventor of the steam engine. The creator of the bra. The man who invented modern banking. The creator of the computer operating system. These and scores of others are the characters that populate Harold Evans's rollicking, brilliant history of the men and women who made America great. Vast and beautifully designed with hundreds of duotones and photos throughout (many never before published), the book is itself a creation as grand as those it describes. Evans reveals the surprising truths behind many of the creations that made our modern world, as well as the lessons we can learn by studying the great entrepreneurs and innovators of the past two centuries.
This is the first book ever to chronicle the life and work of Dr.
Hans von Ohain, the brilliant physicist who invented the first
turbojet engine that flew on 27 August 1939. The book follows him
from childhood through his education, the first turbojet
development, and his work at the Heinkel Company, where his dream
of elegance in flight was ultimately realized with the flight of
the Heinkel He 178, powered by the turbojet engine he created. It
also presents his immigration to the United States and his career
with the United States Air Force, whereupon he became one of the
top scientists in the field of advanced propulsion.
The story of how diesel engines and gas turbines, used to power cargo ships and jet airplanes, made today's globally integrated economy possible. The many books on globalization published over the past few years range from claims that the world is flat to an unlikely rehabilitation of Genghis Khan as a pioneer of global commerce. Missing from these accounts is a consideration of the technologies behind the creation of the globalized economy. What makes it possible for us to move billions of tons of raw materials and manufactured goods from continent to continent? Why are we able to fly almost anywhere on the planet within twenty-four hours? In Prime Movers of Globalization, Vaclav Smil offers a history of two key technical developments that have driven globalization: the high-compression non-sparking internal combustion engines invented by Rudolf Diesel in the 1890s and the gas turbines designed by Frank Whittle and Hans-Joachim Pabst von Ohain in the 1930s. The massive diesel engines that power cargo ships and the gas turbines that propel jet engines, Smil argues, are more important to the global economy than any corporate structure or international trade agreement. Smil compares the efficiency and scale of these two technologies to prime movers of the past, including the sail and the steam engine. The lengthy processes of development, commercialization, and diffusion that the diesel engine and the gas turbine went through, he argues, provide perfect examples of gradual technical advances that receive little attention but have resulted in epochal shifts in global affairs and the global economy.
This work features in-depth critical essays on important men and women inventors of all time, from around the world. Plus, free online access to the full content of this remarkable reference set is available. The printed reference includes: four volumes, including 2,048 pages; 409 essays and 409 sidebars; hundreds of photos, illustrations and graphs; and, appendixes, indexes and resource listings. Features of the online subscription include: fully supported; complimentary online access; unlimited users at your library; full access from home or dorm room; immediate access via online registration; a simple, intuitive interface; user profile areas for students and patrons; sophisticated search functions; complete content, including appendixes; and, fully illustrated. ""Great Lives from History: Inventors and Inventions"" features 409 essays covering 413 individual inventors (including 27 women) from all time, worldwide. All essays were written specifically for this new publication. The editors have included in this set those inventors recognized for shaping modern technology and the way we live today - coverage that is essential in any liberal arts curriculum. The editor's criteria for including these individuals in this publication took into account their fame as inventors, the significance of their inventions, the amount of time they spent inventing, their representation of world inventors, their relevance to class curricula, and their interest to high school, undergraduate, and general readers. For purposes of this publication, the term 'invention' was defined to include not only mechanical and other physical devices but also processes (e.g., the Bessemer process for making steel), software (such as Grace Hopper's invention of COBOL), and systems such as those applied to business management. Pure scientific theories (such as laws of physics) were excluded, although rare exceptions were made for such systems and tools that have had an comprehensive influence on our way of interacting with the world, such as Aristotle's invention of the first system of biological taxonomy, Newton's creation of the calculus, and Einstein's theories of relativity.
Industrial Revolutionaries is the second volume in William Gurstelle's unique exploration of history's great inventors. Each chapter revisits the life and times of one of the forward-thinking revolutionaries who helped create the world we live in. You will not only learn about their great inventions, you'll also get step-by-step instructions for recreating them yourself. History will come to life as you have never experienced it before when you build it with your own hands. Inside this volume, you will discover: Joseph McKibben and the Air Muscle Squire Whipple and the Iron Bridge Abe Lincoln and the Campaign Torch Samuel Morse and the Telegraph J.F. Daniell and the Storage Battery Ben Franklin and the Leyden Jar Charles Goodyear and the Vulcanization of Rubber Be sure to also check out ReMaking History, Volume 1: Early Makers and ReMaking History, Volume 3: Makers of the Modern World.
Why did Isaac Newton invent the cat flap? How did the first mousetrap come about? Did Thomas Crapper really invent the flushing toilet? What accident led to the invention of the Microwave oven? Why did it take nearly 20 years to make sliced bread? From the moment the alarm clock wakes us in the morning until the time we switch the light off at night, we are surrounded by things without which our lives would be impossible. Kettles, microwaves, televisions, cars, mobile phones and credit cards - the list is endless. Yet how often do we consider how such miniature wonders of our lives came about, who invented them and why? The answers are so often incredibly interesting. In this delightful volume, best-selling author Harry Oliver reveals the most diverting and amusing stories that lie behind the objects and inventions we take for granted, from household items to the technology that fills our world. Everything around us was born from an idea, and as you read the pages in this book, the ordinary will soon appear rather more extraordinary than it did before.
The people in this book set out to change the world with their brilliant new discovery or design. At best, they failed monumentally; at worse, they changed the world in ways for which no one will thank them. "History's Worst Inventions" is an entertaining look at the failures of celebrated inventors and less well-known (for good reason) pioneers. The book includes the parachute-overcoat (its inventor leapt from the Eiffel Tower to demonstrate it and plunged to his death), Trevethick's locomotive (too heavy for its rails and broke them), Soviet anti-tank dogs (with mines strapped to their backs, they turned on their owners and blew up an entire Red Army division) and TGN1412 (the drug which, in its 2006 clinical trial, nearly killed its test subjects). A compendium of cock-ups, "History's Worst Inventions" provides a clear warning - it's all too easy to go down in history as an idiot!
Thanks to the ICT economy, today's world is witnessing a progressive process of transfer and movement from a society founded on the production of merchandise and material goods made by man to a new society driven by sciences and knowledge. This new society utilises human intelligence in an attempt to solve cultural problems, to support activities, to rationalize performance, to plan, to program, and to elaborate strategies and projects for the future.This book, thus, proposes a multifaceted framework where contemporary art, biology, the digital, geology, technology, physiology, chemistry and philosophy enter into debate and complete one another. It revolves around a number of questions which are logically interconnected, such as, "What is bio-art?" "Can a laboratory artist manipulate living things, make complex hybridizations, and give birth to chimeras that would coexist with human beings?" "Do we have the right to use them?" Should we authorize research that will allow the development of these techniques, prohibit it, or finance it?" "Do we have the right to create embryos for transplantation or injection?"
If necessity is the mother of invention then Kiwi ingenuity is its father. No. 8 Re-wired is a comprehensive, colourful treasury of New Zealand inventions - jam-packed with the stories behind 202 home-grown creations and the crafty people who dreamt them up. From well-known innovations (human flight, the discovery of DNA, the pavlova) to lesser-known feats (instant coffee, the referee's whistle, the electronic petrol pump) to the newest in high-tech world-firsts (robots and jetpacks!), it is the most complete and entertaining book ever on Kiwi ingenuity. And, yes, the pav is definitely ours. A surprising and absorbing account of Kiwi can-do, and a celebration of the No. 8 wire spirit on which New Zealand is built, it's also a revealing look at how innovation can power us into the future. 'No. 8 Re-wired brilliantly celebrates New Zealanders' disrespect for the status quo.' - Sir Ray Avery |
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