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13588 results in History of science and technology

Page 197 of 680

History of the Manchester Ship Canal from its Inception to its Completion
  • With Personal Reminiscences
  • Volume 2
  • Bosdin Leech
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014
    First published in:
    1907
  • By the late nineteenth century, charges imposed on Manchester companies for the use of Liverpool's docks and the connecting railway had created an atmosphere of resentment within the business community. The Manchester Ship Canal was to play a major part in the city's regeneration following the depression of the 1870s, but it took a lengthy battle for the scheme to gain the backing of Parliament and for construction to begin in 1887. In this two-volume work of 1907, Sir Bosdin Leech (1836–1912) traces the canal's conception, planning and construction. Volume 2 begins with the project's backers having finally raised the capital necessary to begin construction. The difficult process of building the canal is then detailed. The work includes a large amount of illustrative content, enhancing the light shed on the landscape and notable personalities of Manchester at that time.

History of the Manchester Ship Canal from its Inception to its Completion
  • With Personal Reminiscences
  • Volume 1
  • Bosdin Leech
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014
    First published in:
    1907
  • By the late nineteenth century, charges imposed on Manchester companies for the use of Liverpool's docks and the connecting railway had created an atmosphere of resentment within the business community. The Manchester Ship Canal was to play a major part in the city's regeneration following the depression of the 1870s, but it took a lengthy battle for the scheme to gain the backing of Parliament and for construction to begin in 1887. In this two-volume work of 1907, Sir Bosdin Leech (1836–1912) traces the canal's conception, planning and construction. Volume 1 discusses the historical and economic factors that led to the creation of the waterway, as well as the bitter political fight to make it a reality. The work includes a large amount of illustrative content, enhancing the light shed on the landscape and notable personalities of Manchester at that time.

The Life of Thomas Telford, Civil Engineer
  • With an Introductory History of Roads and Travelling in Great Britain
  • Samuel Smiles
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 July 2014
  • This biography of the civil engineer Thomas Telford (1757–1834) was published in 1867 by Samuel Smiles (1812–1904), the author of Self-Help and of other biographies of engineers and innovators. Smiles had already written about Telford's life and achievements in Volume 2 of his Lives of the Engineers (which is also reissued in this series), but in returning to the topic he adds to this new edition an introductory section (taken from Volume 1 of Lives of the Engineers) on the history of roads in Britain, from prehistoric trackways, via the Romans, to the modern road-building system pioneered by John Metcalf (the extraordinary 'Blind Jack of Knaresborough') and Telford himself. This illustrated work gives engaging accounts from earlier writers of the perils of road travel, and also deals in detail with Telford's own career as a builder of roads, bridges and canals.

The International Exhibition of 1862
  • The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industrial Department
  • Volume 2, British Division 2
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • Replete with detailed engravings, this four-volume catalogue was published to accompany the International Exhibition of 1862. Held in South Kensington from May to November, the exhibition showcased the progress made in a diverse range of crafts, trades and industries since the Great Exhibition of 1851. Over 6 million visitors came to view the wares of more than 28,000 exhibitors from Britain, her empire and beyond. Featuring explanatory notes and covering such fields as mining, engineering, textiles, printing and photography, this remains an instructive resource for social and economic historians. The exhibition's Illustrated Record, its Popular Guide and the industrial department's one-volume Official Catalogue have all been reissued in this series. Volume 2 continues with further illustrated examples of British design and innovation, featuring exhibits that one might find not only at the Victorian factory, workshop or farm, but also in the home.

The International Exhibition of 1862
  • The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industrial Department
  • Volume 3, Colonial and Foreign Divisions
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • Replete with detailed engravings, this four-volume catalogue was published to accompany the International Exhibition of 1862. Held in South Kensington from May to November, the exhibition showcased the progress made in a diverse range of crafts, trades and industries since the Great Exhibition of 1851. Over 6 million visitors came to view the wares of more than 28,000 exhibitors from Britain, her empire and beyond. Featuring explanatory notes and covering such fields as mining, engineering, textiles, printing and photography, this remains an instructive resource for social and economic historians. The exhibition's Illustrated Record, its Popular Guide and the industrial department's one-volume Official Catalogue have all been reissued in this series. Volume 3, given over to the Colonial Division and the Foreign Division, includes copious examples of manufactured and agricultural goods from India, occupying nearly 300 pages. Also featured are 91 exhibitors of Jamaican rum.

Submarine Telegraphs
  • Their History, Construction, and Working
  • Charles Bright
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • An accomplished telegraph engineer in his own right, Sir Charles Bright (1863–1937) was the son of Sir Charles Tilston Bright (1832–88), who had achieved greatness in laying the first transatlantic cable in 1858. The younger Bright worked alongside his father for a time, continued his research, and became an authority on the subject. Examining the history, construction and working of submarine telegraphs, this 1898 treatise traces both technical and commercial developments, looking also at the labour involved. Bright addresses the laying of cables across the globe, giving accounts of projects in India, South America and beyond. Illuminating the many commercial uses for submarine cables, Bright provides an informed survey of the early standardisation of telegraphy systems. Replete with detailed illustrations and technical drawings, this work remains an indispensable resource on the history of telecommunications and electrical engineering.

  • Sinanthropus in Britain: human origins and international science, 1920–1939

  • CHRIS MANIAS
  • Journal:
    The British Journal for the History of Science / Volume 48 / Issue 2 / June 2015
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    03 November 2014, pp. 289-319
    Print publication:
    June 2015

  • The Peking Man fossils discovered at Zhoukoudian in north-east China in the 1920s and 1930s were some of the most extensive palaeoanthropological finds of the twentieth century. This article examines their publicization and discussion in Britain, where they were engaged with by some of the world's leading authorities in human evolution, and a media and public highly interested in human-origins research. This international link – simultaneously promoted by scientists in China and in Britain itself – reflected wider debates on international networks; the role of science in the modern world; and changing definitions of race, progress and human nature. This article illustrates how human-origins research was an important means of binding these areas together and presenting scientific work as simultaneously authoritative and credible, but also evoking mystery and adventurousness. Examining this illustrates important features of contemporary views of both science and human development, showing not only the complexities of contemporary regard for the international and public dynamics of scientific research, but wider concerns over human nature, which oscillated between optimistic notions of unity and progress and pessimistic ones of essential differences and misdirected development.

  • The Arabic original of (ps.) Māshā'allāh's Liber de orbe: its date and authorship

  • TARO MIMURA
  • Journal:
    The British Journal for the History of Science / Volume 48 / Issue 2 / June 2015
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    30 October 2014, pp. 321-352
    Print publication:
    June 2015

  • Liber de orbe, attributed to Māshā'allāh (d. c.815), a court astrologer of the Abbasid dynasty, was one of the earliest Latin sources of Aristotelian physics. Until recently, its Arabic original could not be identified among Arabic works. Through extensive examination of Arabic manuscripts on exact sciences, I found two manuscripts containing the Arabic text of this Latin work, although neither of them is ascribed to Māshā'allāh: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. or. oct. 273, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania University Library, MS LJS 439. In this paper, I describe these two manuscripts in great detail, so that I confirm their originality of the Liber de orbe, and then by analysing the contents of the Arabic text, I deny the attribution to Māshā'allāh, and identify the title and author as Book on the Configuration of the Orb by Dūnash ibn Tamīm, a disciple of Isaac Israeli (c.855–c.955).

Life and Labours of Thomas Brassey
  • 1805–1870
  • Arthur Helps
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • An important figure in British business history, the civil engineering contractor Thomas Brassey (1805–70) stood at the forefront of railway construction across the globe in the nineteenth century. He was also instrumental in the development of the Victoria Dock and part of London's sewer system. Originally published in 1872 and reissued here in its 1888 seventh edition, this first biography of Brassey was written by his personal friend, the public servant and author Sir Arthur Helps (1813–75). It describes Brassey's many remarkable achievements as a prolific contractor working in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. A brilliant businessman, representing the best of British skill, leadership and organisation, Brassey employed tens of thousands of men around the world at the peak of his career. Having collaborated with prominent engineers such as Joseph Locke and Robert Stephenson, he secured for himself a long-lasting reputation for integrity and dedication.

The Life of Robert Stephenson, F.R.S.
  • With Descriptive Chapters on Some of his Most Important Professional Works
  • Volume 1
  • John Cordy Jeaffreson, William Pole
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
    First published in:
    1864
  • Relying on incremental experiment rather than leaps into the unknown, Robert Stephenson (1803–59) forged an influential career as a highly respected railway and civil engineer. From the steam locomotive Rocket to the London and Birmingham Railway and the Britannia Bridge, his work helped to consolidate the foundations of the modern engineering profession. Based on the first-hand testimony of relatives and contemporaries as well as correspondence and official records, this 1864 biography by John Cordy Jeaffreson (1831–1901), published only five years after Stephenson's death, tells the story of this quiet industrial innovator. Five chapters by engineer William Pole (1814–1900) provide a more technical insight, examining some of Stephenson's most significant railway bridges and his involvement with the atmospheric system. Volume 1 traces Robert's early life, carefully moulded by his father George, and also covers the building of the London and Birmingham Railway.

Official Catalogue of the Industrial Department
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
  • This official catalogue, reissued here in its updated third edition, appeared in 1862 to accompany London's International Exhibition of that year. Held from May to November in South Kensington, on a site now occupied by the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, the exhibition served to showcase the progress that had been made in a diverse range of crafts, trades and industries since the Great Exhibition of 1851. Over 6 million visitors came to view the wares of more than 28,000 exhibitors from Britain, her empire and beyond. The catalogue contains brief entries for participants, giving details of their name, location and products. The coverage includes mining, engineering, textiles, ceramics, metals, printing, photography, musical instruments, and pharmaceuticals. Containing a ground plan of the exhibition space as well as many contemporary advertisements, this publication remains an instructive resource for social and economic historians.

Papers, Literary, Scientific, Etc.
  • Volume 2
  • Fleeming Jenkin
  • Edited by Sidney Colvin, J. A. Ewing
  • Introduction by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • An electrical engineer, university teacher and wide-ranging writer, Fleeming Jenkin (1833–85) filed thirty-five British patents in the course of his career. Edited by Sidney Colvin (1845–1927) and J. A. Ewing (1855–1935) and first published in 1887, this two-volume work brings together a selection of Jenkin's varied and engaging papers. The collection ranges from notes on his voyages as a marine telegraph engineer, to a critical review of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, essays on literature, and thoughts on technical education. A memoir written by Robert Louis Stevenson, his former student, provides biographical context and attests to Jenkin's many interests and talents across the arts and sciences. Volume 2 includes Jenkin's papers on political economy, scientific education, and applied science, notably marine telegraphy. Abstracts of his scientific papers, along with a list of his patents, form an appendix to the volume.

A Compendium of British Mining
  • With Statistical Notices of the Principal Mines in Cornwall
  • Joseph Yelloly Watson
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    21 November 2013
  • Joseph Yelloly Watson (1817–88) produced this short work for private circulation in 1843. For many years a mining agent with the London firm of Watson and Cuell, he became a fellow of the Geological Society and wrote on mining and historical subjects. Drawing chiefly on data from Cornwall, the present work gives details of mining processes, the layout of mines, the working conditions of miners (including figures for wages and working hours), and the typical management structure of a mine, with information on shareholders, profits and accounting. The work includes coverage of individual mining districts, including Gwennap, Camborne, Illogan, St Just, St Ives and Marazion in Cornwall, along with discussion of mines in Devon, Cumberland and elsewhere. Concluding with notes on the history of metal mining, followed by a useful glossary of mining terms, this remains a concise and instructive resource on a significant economic sector in the nineteenth century.

The Severn Tunnel
  • Its Construction and Difficulties, 1872–1887
  • Thomas A. Walker
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    27 June 2013
  • Costing at the time £1.8 million to complete, the Severn Tunnel was a Victorian engineering triumph, and for over a century it remained the longest rail tunnel in Britain. Construction had begun in 1873 but came to a standstill after the workings were inundated by water in 1879. An accomplished civil engineering contractor, Thomas Andrew Walker (1828–89) had worked on railways in Canada, Russia and Africa as well as on London's new underground lines; he was therefore well qualified to complete the Severn Tunnel, which was achieved in 1886. First published in 1888, Walker's first-hand account of the problematic project remains an engaging source for railway and engineering historians, and its detailed account of the ground encountered will also interest geologists. Replete with plans and maps, reissued here is the second edition of 1890, the year following Walker's death, which is likely to have been hastened by overwork.

Biometric State
  • The Global Politics of Identification and Surveillance in South Africa, 1850 to the Present
  • Keith Breckenridge
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 October 2014
  • Biometric identification and registration systems are being proposed by governments and businesses across the world. Surprisingly they are under most rapid, and systematic, development in countries in Africa and Asia. In this groundbreaking book, Keith Breckenridge traces how the origins of the systems being developed in places like India, Mexico, Nigeria and Ghana can be found in a century-long history of biometric government in South Africa, with the South African experience of centralized fingerprint identification unparalleled in its chronological depth and demographic scope. He shows how empire, and particularly the triangular relationship between India, the Witwatersrand and Britain, established the special South African obsession with biometric government, and shaped the international politics that developed around it for the length of the twentieth century. He also examines the political effects of biometric registration systems, revealing their consequences for the basic workings of the institutions of democracy and authoritarianism.

The Life of Sir William Crookes, O.M., F.R.S.
  • Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe
  • Foreword by Oliver Lodge
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    13 June 2013
    First published in:
    1923
  • In 1870, Sir William Crookes (1832–1919) travelled to Gibraltar to observe the solar eclipse. He kept a diary and produced beautiful accounts of the expedition - alongside altogether more specific observations, including the 656 steps down a local cliff face, and every item in his luggage. It is with the same meticulous approach and cheerful prose that he records, in letters, journal articles and reports, the successes and failures of the vast range of projects in which he was involved. Although initially trained as a chemist, Crookes worked across the spectrum of the sciences, from consulting on preventative measures against cattle plague through to investigating spiritualism. Opening with a foreword by the physicist Sir Oliver Lodge, this biography by Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe (1868–1933), first published in 1923, explores a remarkable life of enquiry through a host of first-hand sources.

Papers, Literary, Scientific, Etc.
  • Volume 1
  • Fleeming Jenkin
  • Edited by Sidney Colvin, J. A. Ewing
  • Introduction by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    02 January 2014
  • An electrical engineer, university teacher and wide-ranging writer, Fleeming Jenkin (1833–85) filed thirty-five British patents in the course of his career. Edited by Sidney Colvin (1845–1927) and J. A. Ewing (1855–1935) and first published in 1887, this two-volume work brings together a selection of Jenkin's varied and engaging papers. The collection ranges from notes on his voyages as a marine telegraph engineer, to a critical review of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, essays on literature, and thoughts on technical education. A memoir written by Robert Louis Stevenson, his former student, provides biographical context and attests to Jenkin's many interests and talents across the arts and sciences. Volume 1 begins with Stevenson's memoir, incorporating Jenkin's records of his voyages. This is followed by writings on literature and drama. Three pieces on scientific subjects, including the review of Darwin, conclude the volume.

Memoir of the Life of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel
  • Richard Beamish
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    22 August 2013
  • Abandoning a military career, Richard Beamish (1798–1873) decided to become a civil engineer. His suitability as a biographer of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (1769–1849) stems from the period he spent working closely with the Brunels on the Thames Tunnel. Published in 1862, this memoir recounts the elder Brunel's eventful life and work, including his youth in France, his flight to America in the aftermath of the French Revolution, his lesser-known ventures in the early nineteenth century, and the tunnelling project which would consume much of the second half of his life. An informed portrait of a figure who has since been outshone by his more famous son, this book includes first-hand accounts of the ill-fated early attempt to build the Thames Tunnel, which was abandoned in 1828 due to flooding and lack of funds, and of Brunel's vindication upon its eventual completion in 1843.

Caxton Celebration, 1877
  • Catalogue of the Loan Collection of Antiquities, Curiosities, and Appliances Connected with the Art of Printing, South Kensington
  • Edited by George Bullen
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
    First published in:
    1877
  • The Caxton Celebration of 1877 commemorated the 400th anniversary of William Caxton's production of the first book printed in England. It centred on an exhibition in the South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria and Albert Museum) of Caxton's and other incunabula, together with significant artefacts in the later history of typography, printing and binding. The organisation of the celebration involved many of the great and good of Britain, Europe and the United States, from librarians and bibliographers to writers, musicians and statesmen. A leading light was William Blades (1824–90), whose two-volume biography of Caxton is also reissued in this series, and this catalogue was compiled by the librarian George Bullen (1816?–94). It is arranged in sections, from the start of printing in Britain to the most recent technological innovations, including stereotyping, electrotyping and photography, and provides a fascinating survey of the development of the art of printing.

Page 197 of 680