Author: Rodney Carlisle
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 0470306920
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 711
Book Description
A unique A-to-Z reference of brilliance in innovation and invention Combining engagingly written, well-researched history with the respected imprimatur of Scientific American magazine, this authoritative, accessible reference provides a wide-ranging overview of the inventions, technological advances, and discoveries that have transformed human society throughout our history. More than 400 entertaining entries explain the details and significance of such varied breakthroughs as the development of agriculture, the "invention" of algebra, and the birth of the computer. Special chronological sections divide the entries, providing a unique focus on the intersection of science and technology from early human history to the present. In addition, each section is supplemented by primary source sidebars, which feature excerpts from scientists' diaries, contemporary accounts of new inventions, and various "In Their Own Words" sources. Comprehensive and thoroughly readable, Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries is an indispensable resource for anyone fascinated by the history of science and technology. Topics include: aerosol spray * algebra * Archimedes' Principle * barbed wire * canned food * carburetor * circulation of blood * condom * encryption machine * fork * fuel cell * latitude * music synthesizer * positron * radar * steel * television * traffic lights * Heisenberg's uncertainty principle
Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries
Author: Rodney Carlisle
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 0470306920
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 711
Book Description
A unique A-to-Z reference of brilliance in innovation and invention Combining engagingly written, well-researched history with the respected imprimatur of Scientific American magazine, this authoritative, accessible reference provides a wide-ranging overview of the inventions, technological advances, and discoveries that have transformed human society throughout our history. More than 400 entertaining entries explain the details and significance of such varied breakthroughs as the development of agriculture, the "invention" of algebra, and the birth of the computer. Special chronological sections divide the entries, providing a unique focus on the intersection of science and technology from early human history to the present. In addition, each section is supplemented by primary source sidebars, which feature excerpts from scientists' diaries, contemporary accounts of new inventions, and various "In Their Own Words" sources. Comprehensive and thoroughly readable, Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries is an indispensable resource for anyone fascinated by the history of science and technology. Topics include: aerosol spray * algebra * Archimedes' Principle * barbed wire * canned food * carburetor * circulation of blood * condom * encryption machine * fork * fuel cell * latitude * music synthesizer * positron * radar * steel * television * traffic lights * Heisenberg's uncertainty principle
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 0470306920
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 711
Book Description
A unique A-to-Z reference of brilliance in innovation and invention Combining engagingly written, well-researched history with the respected imprimatur of Scientific American magazine, this authoritative, accessible reference provides a wide-ranging overview of the inventions, technological advances, and discoveries that have transformed human society throughout our history. More than 400 entertaining entries explain the details and significance of such varied breakthroughs as the development of agriculture, the "invention" of algebra, and the birth of the computer. Special chronological sections divide the entries, providing a unique focus on the intersection of science and technology from early human history to the present. In addition, each section is supplemented by primary source sidebars, which feature excerpts from scientists' diaries, contemporary accounts of new inventions, and various "In Their Own Words" sources. Comprehensive and thoroughly readable, Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries is an indispensable resource for anyone fascinated by the history of science and technology. Topics include: aerosol spray * algebra * Archimedes' Principle * barbed wire * canned food * carburetor * circulation of blood * condom * encryption machine * fork * fuel cell * latitude * music synthesizer * positron * radar * steel * television * traffic lights * Heisenberg's uncertainty principle
The Alchemy of Us
Author: Ainissa Ramirez
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262542269
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
A “timely, informative, and fascinating” study of 8 inventions—and how they shaped our world—with “totally compelling” insights on little-known inventors throughout history (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction) In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines 8 inventions and reveals how they shaped the human experience: • Clocks • Steel rails • Copper communication cables • Photographic film • Light bulbs • Hard disks • Scientific labware • Silicon chips Ramirez tells the stories of the woman who sold time, the inventor who inspired Edison, and the hotheaded undertaker whose invention pointed the way to the computer. She describes how our pursuit of precision in timepieces changed how we sleep; how the railroad helped commercialize Christmas; how the necessary brevity of the telegram influenced Hemingway’s writing style; and how a young chemist exposed the use of Polaroid’s cameras to create passbooks to track black citizens in apartheid South Africa. These fascinating and inspiring stories offer new perspectives on our relationships with technologies. Ramirez shows not only how materials were shaped by inventors but also how those materials shaped culture, chronicling each invention and its consequences—intended and unintended. Filling in the gaps left by other books about technology, Ramirez showcases little-known inventors—particularly people of color and women—who had a significant impact but whose accomplishments have been hidden by mythmaking, bias, and convention. Doing so, she shows us the power of telling inclusive stories about technology. She also shows that innovation is universal—whether it's splicing beats with two turntables and a microphone or splicing genes with two test tubes and CRISPR.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262542269
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
A “timely, informative, and fascinating” study of 8 inventions—and how they shaped our world—with “totally compelling” insights on little-known inventors throughout history (Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction) In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines 8 inventions and reveals how they shaped the human experience: • Clocks • Steel rails • Copper communication cables • Photographic film • Light bulbs • Hard disks • Scientific labware • Silicon chips Ramirez tells the stories of the woman who sold time, the inventor who inspired Edison, and the hotheaded undertaker whose invention pointed the way to the computer. She describes how our pursuit of precision in timepieces changed how we sleep; how the railroad helped commercialize Christmas; how the necessary brevity of the telegram influenced Hemingway’s writing style; and how a young chemist exposed the use of Polaroid’s cameras to create passbooks to track black citizens in apartheid South Africa. These fascinating and inspiring stories offer new perspectives on our relationships with technologies. Ramirez shows not only how materials were shaped by inventors but also how those materials shaped culture, chronicling each invention and its consequences—intended and unintended. Filling in the gaps left by other books about technology, Ramirez showcases little-known inventors—particularly people of color and women—who had a significant impact but whose accomplishments have been hidden by mythmaking, bias, and convention. Doing so, she shows us the power of telling inclusive stories about technology. She also shows that innovation is universal—whether it's splicing beats with two turntables and a microphone or splicing genes with two test tubes and CRISPR.
Great Inventions of the 20th Century
Author: Peter Jedicke
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 0791090485
Category : Inventions
Languages : en
Pages : 73
Book Description
Presents inventions from the twentieth-century including the microwave, cellophane, assembly lines, and more.
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 0791090485
Category : Inventions
Languages : en
Pages : 73
Book Description
Presents inventions from the twentieth-century including the microwave, cellophane, assembly lines, and more.
Scientific American Supplement
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mechanics
Languages : en
Pages : 430
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mechanics
Languages : en
Pages : 430
Book Description
The First Scientific American
Author: Joyce Chaplin
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465008852
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
Famous, fascinating Benjamin Franklin -- he would be neither without his accomplishments in science. Joyce Chaplin's authoritative biography considers all of Franklin's work in the sciences, showing how, during the rise and fall of the first British empire, science became central to public culture and therefore to Franklin's success. Having demonstrated in his earliest experiments and observations that he could master nature, Franklin showed the world that he was uniquely suited to solve problems in every realm. In the famous adage, Franklin "snatched lightning from the sky and the scepter from the tyrants" -- in that order. The famous kite and other experiments with electricity were only part of Franklin's accomplishments. He charted the Gulf Stream, made important observations on meteorology, and used the burgeoning science of "political arithmetic" to make unprecedented statements about America's power. Even as he stepped onto the world stage as an illustrious statesman and diplomat in the years leading up to the American Revolution, his fascination with nature was unrelenting. Franklin was the first American whose "genius" for science qualified him as a genius in political affairs. It is only through understanding Franklin's full engagement with the sciences that we can understand this great Founding Father and the world he shaped.
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465008852
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
Famous, fascinating Benjamin Franklin -- he would be neither without his accomplishments in science. Joyce Chaplin's authoritative biography considers all of Franklin's work in the sciences, showing how, during the rise and fall of the first British empire, science became central to public culture and therefore to Franklin's success. Having demonstrated in his earliest experiments and observations that he could master nature, Franklin showed the world that he was uniquely suited to solve problems in every realm. In the famous adage, Franklin "snatched lightning from the sky and the scepter from the tyrants" -- in that order. The famous kite and other experiments with electricity were only part of Franklin's accomplishments. He charted the Gulf Stream, made important observations on meteorology, and used the burgeoning science of "political arithmetic" to make unprecedented statements about America's power. Even as he stepped onto the world stage as an illustrious statesman and diplomat in the years leading up to the American Revolution, his fascination with nature was unrelenting. Franklin was the first American whose "genius" for science qualified him as a genius in political affairs. It is only through understanding Franklin's full engagement with the sciences that we can understand this great Founding Father and the world he shaped.
Scientific Americans
Author: Susan Branson
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501760939
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271
Book Description
In Scientific Americans, Susan Branson explores the place of science and technology in American efforts to achieve cultural independence from Europe and America's nation building in the early republic and antebellum eras. This engaging tour of scientific education and practices among ordinary citizens charts the development of nationalism and national identity alongside roads, rails, and machines. Scientific Americans shows how informal scientific education provided by almanacs, public lectures, and demonstrations, along with the financial encouragement of early scientific societies, generated an enthusiasm for the application of science and technology to civic, commercial, and domestic improvements. Not only that: Americans were excited, awed, and intrigued with the practicality of inventions. Bringing together scientific research and popular wonder, Branson charts how everything from mechanical clocks to steam engines informed the creation and expansion of the American nation. From the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations to the fate of the Amistad captives, Scientific Americans shows how the promotion and celebration of discoveries, inventions, and technologies articulated Americans' earliest ambitions, as well as prejudices, throughout the first American century.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501760939
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271
Book Description
In Scientific Americans, Susan Branson explores the place of science and technology in American efforts to achieve cultural independence from Europe and America's nation building in the early republic and antebellum eras. This engaging tour of scientific education and practices among ordinary citizens charts the development of nationalism and national identity alongside roads, rails, and machines. Scientific Americans shows how informal scientific education provided by almanacs, public lectures, and demonstrations, along with the financial encouragement of early scientific societies, generated an enthusiasm for the application of science and technology to civic, commercial, and domestic improvements. Not only that: Americans were excited, awed, and intrigued with the practicality of inventions. Bringing together scientific research and popular wonder, Branson charts how everything from mechanical clocks to steam engines informed the creation and expansion of the American nation. From the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations to the fate of the Amistad captives, Scientific Americans shows how the promotion and celebration of discoveries, inventions, and technologies articulated Americans' earliest ambitions, as well as prejudices, throughout the first American century.
Quantum Steampunk
Author: Nicole Yunger Halpern
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421443724
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
"The science-fiction genre known as steampunk juxtaposes futuristic technologies with Victorian settings. This fantasy is becoming reality at the intersection of two scientific fields-twenty-first-century quantum physics and nineteenth-century thermodynamics, or the study of energy-in a discipline known as quantum steampunk"--
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421443724
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
"The science-fiction genre known as steampunk juxtaposes futuristic technologies with Victorian settings. This fantasy is becoming reality at the intersection of two scientific fields-twenty-first-century quantum physics and nineteenth-century thermodynamics, or the study of energy-in a discipline known as quantum steampunk"--
Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries
Author: Jonathan Eisen
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780399527357
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 566
Book Description
A scientist with a revolutionary cure for AIDS is incarcerated without explanation. Valuable artifacts are mysteriously misplaced by a prominent archaeological institution. Three celebrated astronauts perish in a suspicious fire after voicing their criticism of the US space program. Yet our world’s most powerful agencies hastily dispel these alarming reports as conspiracy theories, and bury them in padlocked archives. The fact is that a suppression syndrome exists in our society. Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries exposes the startling degree of truth behind the rumors. Jonathan Eisen has collected over forty intriguing stories of scientific cover-ups and programs of misinformation concocted to conceal some of the most phenomenal innovations in mankind’s history. These no-holds-barred accounts force us to confront the naiveté—and danger—of trusting our academic and political leaders to act always for the common good. Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries presents documented evidence that corporate self-interest, scientific arrogance, and political savvy have contrived to keep us in the dark about technological breakthroughs or interplanetary contact that may shift the current balance of power. Prepare yourself for a revealing look at the research and development to which we’ve been denied access. Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries begins by examining the ties that bind the medical establishment to powerful pharmaceutical corporations. Then it details the struggle of the independent research against Orthodox Science and its code of conduct, the Scientific Method. Next, the book investigates the cover-up of information concerning UFOs and extraterrestrial life that’s certain to make you reconsider what you thought was science fiction. The final section discusses just a few of the numerous alternate energy resources and fuel savers that, if put on the market today, would soon run the fossil fuel monopolies out of business.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780399527357
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 566
Book Description
A scientist with a revolutionary cure for AIDS is incarcerated without explanation. Valuable artifacts are mysteriously misplaced by a prominent archaeological institution. Three celebrated astronauts perish in a suspicious fire after voicing their criticism of the US space program. Yet our world’s most powerful agencies hastily dispel these alarming reports as conspiracy theories, and bury them in padlocked archives. The fact is that a suppression syndrome exists in our society. Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries exposes the startling degree of truth behind the rumors. Jonathan Eisen has collected over forty intriguing stories of scientific cover-ups and programs of misinformation concocted to conceal some of the most phenomenal innovations in mankind’s history. These no-holds-barred accounts force us to confront the naiveté—and danger—of trusting our academic and political leaders to act always for the common good. Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries presents documented evidence that corporate self-interest, scientific arrogance, and political savvy have contrived to keep us in the dark about technological breakthroughs or interplanetary contact that may shift the current balance of power. Prepare yourself for a revealing look at the research and development to which we’ve been denied access. Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries begins by examining the ties that bind the medical establishment to powerful pharmaceutical corporations. Then it details the struggle of the independent research against Orthodox Science and its code of conduct, the Scientific Method. Next, the book investigates the cover-up of information concerning UFOs and extraterrestrial life that’s certain to make you reconsider what you thought was science fiction. The final section discusses just a few of the numerous alternate energy resources and fuel savers that, if put on the market today, would soon run the fossil fuel monopolies out of business.
Rufus Porter's Curious World
Author: Laura Fecych Sprague
Publisher: Penn State University Press
ISBN: 9780271084954
Category : Inventions
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
An examination of Rufus Porter, an enigmatic but astonishingly productive American artist, inventor, and publisher. Presents his life and work in the context of the cultural, social, and technological networks that shaped innovation and democracy during the antebellum era.
Publisher: Penn State University Press
ISBN: 9780271084954
Category : Inventions
Languages : en
Pages : 152
Book Description
An examination of Rufus Porter, an enigmatic but astonishingly productive American artist, inventor, and publisher. Presents his life and work in the context of the cultural, social, and technological networks that shaped innovation and democracy during the antebellum era.
A Century of Nature
Author: Laura Garwin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226284166
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 381
Book Description
Many of the scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century were first reported in the journal Nature. A Century of Nature brings together in one volume Nature's greatest hits—reproductions of seminal contributions that changed science and the world, accompanied by essays written by leading scientists (including four Nobel laureates) that provide historical context for each article, explain its insights in graceful, accessible prose, and celebrate the serendipity of discovery and the rewards of searching for needles in haystacks.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226284166
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 381
Book Description
Many of the scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century were first reported in the journal Nature. A Century of Nature brings together in one volume Nature's greatest hits—reproductions of seminal contributions that changed science and the world, accompanied by essays written by leading scientists (including four Nobel laureates) that provide historical context for each article, explain its insights in graceful, accessible prose, and celebrate the serendipity of discovery and the rewards of searching for needles in haystacks.