A Most Damnable Invention

A Most Damnable Invention PDF Author: Stephen R. Bown
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 031232913X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
"A Most Damnable Invention is a human tale of scientific obsession, shadowy immorality, and historical irony, and a testament to the capacity for human ingenuity during times of war. It is also a cautionary reminder of the cyclical nature of history, showing how the solutions of yesterday eventually give rise to the problems of today."--BOOK JACKET.

A Most Damnable Invention

A Most Damnable Invention PDF Author: Stephen R. Bown
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 031232913X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book Here

Book Description
"A Most Damnable Invention is a human tale of scientific obsession, shadowy immorality, and historical irony, and a testament to the capacity for human ingenuity during times of war. It is also a cautionary reminder of the cyclical nature of history, showing how the solutions of yesterday eventually give rise to the problems of today."--BOOK JACKET.

A Most Damnable Invention

A Most Damnable Invention PDF Author: Stephen R. Bown
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466817054
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel's discovery of dynamite made possible the famous industrial megaprojects that transformed the countryside and defined the era, including the St. Gothard rail tunnel through the Alps, the clearing of New York harbor, the Panama Canal, and countless others. Dynamite also caused terrible injuries and great loss of life, and, in some cases, incalculable and irreparable environmental damage. Nobel was one of the richest men in a society rapidly transforming under the power of his invention, but with a troubled conscience, he left his estate to the establishment of the world-famous prizes that bear his name. As the use of explosives soared and growing populations consumed more food, nations scrambled for the scarce yet vital organic ingredient needed for both. The quest for nitrates takes us from the rural stables and privies of preindustrial Europe to the monopoly trading plantations in India and to the Atacama Desert in South America. Nitrates were as valuable in the nineteenth century as oil is in the twenty-first and were the cause of similar international jockeying and power politics. The "nitrogen problem" of creating inorganic nitrates was solved by an enigmatic German scientist named Fritz Haber. His breakthrough not only prolonged the First World War but became the foundation of the green revolution and the tripling of world population since then. Haber is also known as the "father of gas warfare" for his work on poison gas. When he was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work in chemistry, it sparked international outrage and condemnation. A Most Damnable Invention is a human tale of scientific obsession, shadowy immorality, and historical irony, and a testament to the capacity for human ingenuity during times of war.

Global Food Value Chains and Competition Law

Global Food Value Chains and Competition Law PDF Author: Ioannis Lianos
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108632858
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 661

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Book Description
The food industry is a notoriously complex economic sector that has not received the attention it deserves within legal scholarship. Production and distribution of food is complex because of its polycentric character (as it operates at the intersection of different public policies) and its dynamic evolution and transformation in the last few decades (from technological and governance perspectives). This volume introduces the global value chain approach as a useful way to analyse competition law and applies it to the operations of food chains and the challenges of their regulation. Together, the chapters not only provide a comprehensive mapping of a vast comparative field, but also shed light on the intricacies of the various policies and legal fields in operation. The book offers a conceptual and theoretical framework for competition authorities, companies and academics, and fills a massive gap in the competition policy literature dealing with global value chains and food.

Modern Hungers

Modern Hungers PDF Author: Alice Weinreb
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190605103
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
During World War I and II, modern states for the first time experimented with feeding--and starving--entire populations. Within the new globalizing economy, food became intimately intertwined with waging war, and starvation claimed more lives than any other weapon. As Alice Weinreb shows in Modern Hungers, nowhere was this new reality more significant than in Germany, which struggled through food blockades, agricultural crises, economic depressions, and wartime destruction and occupation at the same time that it asserted itself as a military, cultural, and economic powerhouse of Europe. The end of armed conflict in 1945 did not mean the end of these military strategies involving food. Fears of hunger and fantasies of abundance were instead reframed within a new Cold War world. During the postwar decades, Europeans lived longer, possessed more goods, and were healthier than ever before. This shift was signaled most clearly by the disappearance of famine from the continent. So powerful was the experience of post-1945 abundance that it is hard today to imagine a time when the specter of hunger haunted Europe, demographers feared that malnutrition would mean the end of whole nations, and the primary targets for American food aid were Belgium and Germany rather than Africa. Yet under both capitalism and communism, economic growth as well as social and political priorities proved inseparable from the modern food system. Drawing on sources ranging from military records to cookbooks to economic and nutritional studies from a multitude of archives, Modern Hungers reveals similarities and striking ruptures in popular experience and state policy relating to the industrial food economy. In so doing, it offers historical perspective on contemporary concerns ranging from humanitarian food aid to the gender-wage gap to the obesity epidemic.

Twisted True Tales From Science

Twisted True Tales From Science PDF Author: Stephanie Bearce
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000490130
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
Two thousand years ago, Chinese scientists were looking for a medicine that would make them live forever. Instead, they blew up their lab and discovered gunpowder. Alfred Nobel blew up his laboratory twice before he discovered the formula for dynamite. Learn about the Apollo 13 and Challenger explosions and the strange space explosions caused by top secret Starfish Prime. These stories may sound twisted, but they're all true tales from science! Ages 9-12

10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything

10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything PDF Author: Mark Jacob
Publisher: Agate Publishing
ISBN: 1572847999
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 469

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Book Description
A compendium of outrageous, hilarious or just plain shocking trivia about everything from history and politics to arts, religion, technology and much more. For years, the Chicago Tribune’s “10 Things You Might Not Know” column has been informing and entertaining readers on a diverse range of subjects. This volume collects the best of these columns, offering readers obscure, fascinating facts on universal topics that will appeal to everyone from sports fans to history buffs, foodies, and more. Expertly researched and thoroughly entertaining, 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything contains a plethora of surprising trivia on numerous topics, with an especially close look into Chicago-area history and facts. For example, in Zion, Illinois it was once illegal to spit, eat oysters, wear tan-colored shoes, or whistle on Sundays. 10 Things You Might Not Know About Nearly Everything will leave readers brighter, wittier, and curious to learn more about myriad subjects and stories they will never forget.

Opening the East River

Opening the East River PDF Author: Thomas Barthel
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476643261
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
After the Civil War, the New York City's East River was a massive unsolved and dangerous navigation problem. A major waterway into and out of the Harbor--where customs revenue equaled 42 percent of the U.S. Government's income--the river's many hindrances, centered around Hell Gate, included whirlpools, rocks and reefs. These, combined with swirling currents and powerful tides, led to deaths, cargo losses and destruction of vessels. Charged with clearing the river, General John Newton of the Army Corps of Engineers went to work with the most rudimentary tools for diving, mining, lighting, pumping and drilling. His crews worked for 20 years, using a steam-drilling scow of his own design and a new and perilous explosive--nitroglycerine. In 1885, Newton destroyed the nine-acre Flood Rock with 282,730 pounds of high explosives. The demolition was watched by tens of thousands. This book chronicles the clearing of the East River and the ingenuity of the Army engineer whose work was praised by the National Academy of Sciences.

The Literary Digest

The Literary Digest PDF Author: Edward Jewitt Wheeler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literature
Languages : en
Pages : 1592

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Book Description


Design and Heritage

Design and Heritage PDF Author: Grace Lees-Maffei
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000528790
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Design and Heritage provides the first extended study of heritage from the point of view of design history. Exploring the material objects and spaces that contribute to our experience of heritage, the volume also examines the processes and practices that shape them. Bringing together 18 case studies, written by authors from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Norway, India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, the book questions how design functions to produce heritage. Including provocative case studies of objects that reinterpret visual symbols of cultural identity and buildings and monuments that evoke feelings of national pride and historical memory, as well as landscapes embedded with trauma, contributors consider how we can work to develop adequate shared conceptual models of heritage and apply them to design and its histories. Exploring the distinction between tangible and intangible heritages, the chapters consider what these categories mean for design history and heritage. Finally, the book questions whether it might be possible to promote a truly equitable understanding of heritage that illuminates the social, cultural and economic roles of design. Design and Heritage demonstrates that design historical methods of inquiry contribute significantly to critical heritage studies. Academics, researchers and students engaged in the study of heritage, design history, material culture, folklore, art history, architectural history and social and cultural history will find much to interest them within the pages of the book.

Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World

Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World PDF Author: Gregory T. Cushman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107004136
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
This book traces the history of bird guano, demonstrating how this unique commodity helped unite the Pacific Basin with the industrialized world.