The Nineteenth Century was a period of tremendous change in the daily lives of the average Americans. Never before had such change occurred so rapidly or and had affected such a broad range of people. And these changes were primarily a result of tremendous advances in science and technology. Many of the technologies that play such an central role in our daily life today were first invented during this great period of innovation--everything from the railroad to the telephone. These inventions were instrumental in the social and cultural developments of the time. The Civil War, Westward Expansion, the expansion and fall of slave culture, the rise of the working and middle classes and changes in gender roles--none of these would have occurred as they did had it not been for the science and technology of the time. Science and Technology in Nineteenth-Century America chronicles this relationship between science and technology and the revolutions in the lives of everyday Americans. The volume includes a discussion of:

• Transportation--from the railroad and steamship to the first automobiles appearing near the end of the century.
• Communication--including the telegraph, the telephone, and the photograph
• Industrialization-- how the growing factory system impacted the lives of working men and women
• Agriculture--how mechanical devices such as the McCormick reaper and applications of science forever altered how farming was done in the United States
• Exploration and navigations--the science and technology of the age was crucial to the expansion of the country that took place in the century, and

Non-scientists often perceive science as a dry, boring vocation pursued by dry, boring people. Contrary to popular perception, science has actually been the product of fascinating people seeking to explain the world around them. From Galileo's difficulties with the Inquisition, to the quirkiness of Newton, to the iconic figure that was Einstein, this innovative volume chronicles the history of science using extensive passages from the works of the scientists themselves. Who better to appeal to our common sense concerning the truth of a sun-centered universe than Copernicus himself? Kepler expresses in his own words the way in which he awoke to the revelation of elliptical orbits, and Darwin shares his slowly evolving ideas leading to the theory of natural selection. Part biography, part history, this work reveals the personalities behind the world's most significant scientific discoveries, providing a fascinating new perspective on the human endeavor we call science.

The first third of the nineteenth century was the formative period for American mathematics: Nathaniel Bowditch emerged as a leader with an international reputation; American scientific journals began publishing mathematical papers; and American mathematicians began to turn away from the British-dominated mathematical philosophy of their past and to turn towards the modern mathematical approach as represented by the French textbook authors. Each of these factors contributed to a work-in-progress as American mathematicians struggled to build a foundation upon which a research community would form. This book traces the development of that that foundation.