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Showing 1 - 7 of 7 matches in All Departments
Precursors of the modern chemical industry began to emerge in Northern Europe in the middle of the eighteenth century. The Industrial Revolution boosted activities such as soap-making, glassmaking and textiles production, which required increasing quantities of chemical products. The Lead Chamber process for the manufacture of sulphuric acid, required for the production of dye, was developed in the 1740s by John Roebuck then based in Birmingham. Production of this key commodity rose steadily. By the 1820s, British annual production had reached 10 000 tons of 100% acid. By 1900, Britain was producing one quarter of the world's output with an annual production approaching one million tons. Demand for alkalis for glassmaking and soap-making, for textile dyes and for bleach was also growing rapidly in the second half of the eighteenth century, and it became clear that existing sources of these materials would not be sufficient. In response to a prize established by the Academie des Sciences, Nicholas Leblanc had devised by 1791 a method for converting common salt into soda ash, which was to become the central operation of the world alkali industry for about one hundred years.
The first nuclear engineers emerged from the Manhattan Project in the USA, UK and Canada, but remained hidden behind security for a further decade. Cosseted and cloistered by their governments, they worked to explore applications of atomic energy at a handful of national labs. This unique bottom-up history traces how the identities of these unusually voiceless experts - forming a uniquely state-managed discipline - were shaped in the context of pre-war nuclear physics, wartime industrial management, post-war politics and utopian energy programmes. Even after their eventual emergence at universities and companies, nuclear workers carried the enduring legacy of their origins. Their shared experiences shaped not only their identities, but our collective memories of the late twentieth century. And as illustrated by the Fukushima accident seven decades after the Manhattan project began, this book explains why they are still seen conflictingly as selfless heroes or as mistrusted guardians of a malevolent genie.
This is the story of a seductive idea. Over the past century, the potential of new technology to solve social dilemmas has captivated modern culture. From apps that encourage physical activity to airport scanners meant to prevent terrorism, the concept that clever innovation can improve society is irresistible, but faith in such technological fixes is seldom questioned. Where did this idea come from, what makes it so appealing, and how does it endanger our future? Techno-Fixers traces the source of modern confidence in technology to engineering hubris, radical utopian movements, science fiction fanzines, policy-makers' soundbites, corporate marketing, and optimistic consumer culture from the turn of the twentieth century until today. Sean Johnston demonstrates that, through the promotion of prominent government scientists, technocrats, entrepreneurs, and popular media, modern invention became the favourite tool for addressing human problems and society's ills. Nonetheless, when it comes to assessing the success of cigarette filters as the solution to safe smoking, or DDT as the answer for agricultural productivity, the evidence is sobering. Cautioning that the rhetoric of technological fixes seldom matches reality, Johnston examines how employing innovation to bypass traditional methods can foster as many problems as it solves. A critical examination of modern faith in technology, Techno-Fixers evaluates past mistakes, present implications, and future opportunities for innovating societies.
From GMOs to WMD, science is controversial and unavoidable. This book charts its progress since prehistory and reveals its role in shaping our future. Drawing on intellectual history, philosophy, and social studies, Johnston offers a unique appraisal of both the history of science and the nature of the evolving discipline. Science has become a driving force of the modern world. Based on its changeable past, where might it take us in the twenty-first century?
Holograms have been in the public eye for over a half-century, but their influences have deeper cultural roots. No other visual experience is quite like interacting with holograms; no other cultural product melds the technological sublime with magic and optimism in quite the same way. As holograms have evolved, they have left their audiences alternately fascinated, bemused, inspired or indifferent. From expressions of high science to countercultural art to consumer security, holograms have represented modernity, magic and materialism. Their most pervasive impact has been to galvanise hopeful technological dreams. Engineers, artists, hippies and hobbyists have played with, and dreamed about, holograms. This book explores how holograms found a place in distinct cultural settings. It is aimed at readers attracted to pop culture, visual studies and cultural history, scholars concerned with media history, fine art and material studies and, most of all, cross-disciplinary audiences intrigued about how this ubiquitous but still-mysterious visual medium grew up in our midst and became entangled in our culture. This book explores the technical attractions and cultural uses of the hologram, how they were shaped by what came before them, and how they have matured to shape our notional futures. Today, holograms are in our pockets (as identity documents) and in our minds (as gaming fantasies and 'faux hologram' performers). Why aren't they more often in front of our eyes?
Holography exploded on the scientific world in 1964, but its slow
fuse had been burning much longer. Over the next four decades, the
echoes of that explosion reached scientists, engineers, artists and
popular culture. Emerging from classified military research,
holography evolved to represent the power of post-war physics, an
aesthetic union of art and science, the countercultural meanderings
of holism, a cottage industry for waves of would-be entrepreneurs
and a fertile plot device for science fiction.
2003 Paul Bunge Prize of the Hans R. Jenemann Foundation for the
History of Scientific Instruments
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