History of Technology

The Accademia del Cimento, organized in Florence under Medici patronage, devoted itself for ten years (1657-1667) to the experimental investigation of a broad range of scientific matters, and provided a model and inspiration for many subsequent scientific societies. Despite its crucial position in the history of science, the Cimento’s work and diverse membership has remained [...]

Winner of the 2007 Ferguson Prize. All other volumes in the series are still available. Click here for contents, prices and description information. Additional information is available from The Joseph Henry Papers Project: http://www.siarchives.si.edu/history/jhp/jhenry.html

The four nordic countries-Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden-although different in character share a common history. During some period two or three of them were joined politically. Today, they are all independent states but with close economic and cultural ties. They are modern, industrialized countries, depending to an ever-increasing degree on ties to the rest of [...]

The steam engine came to Sweden as something of a paradox: both as a solution and at the same time a threat. It promised to meet industry’s need for mechanical energy, but it also threatened the limited resources of thermal energy. Part 1 is a study of this issue in Sweden as a whole during [...]

In the second half of the twentieth century, chemistry underwent a profound transformation. Its object of examination, the chemical substance, was transmuted into abstract structure; its most important method, the chemical reaction, was supplemented by physical methods; and its practitioner, the chemist, was partially displaced by technical instruments. At the center of this transformation were [...]

“The list of sources for the history of fire fighting in the seventeenth century is frustratingly short. What information there is largely comes from doleful accounts of the conflagrations of the day. Their authors pay only fleeting attention to the tactics, organizations, or types of fire equipment used, concentrating isntread on the number of buildings [...]