Pursuing Power and Light

Technology and Physics from James Watt to Albert Einstein

Bruce J. Hunt (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

192 Seiten

2010
Johns Hopkins University Press (Verlag)
978-0-8018-9359-9 (ISBN)

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In the nineteenth century, science and technology developed a close and continuing relationship. The most important advancements in physics-the science of energy and the theory of the electromagnetic field-were deeply rooted in the new technologies of the steam engine, the telegraph, and electric power and light. Bruce J. Hunt here explores how the leading technologies of the industrial age helped reshape modern physics. This period marked a watershed in how human beings exerted power over the world around them. Sweeping changes in manufacturing, transportation, and communications transformed the economy, society, and daily life in ways never before imagined. At the same time, physical scientists made great strides in the study of energy, atoms, and electromagnetism. Hunt shows how technology informed science and vice versa, examining the interaction between steam technology and the formulation of the laws of thermodynamics, for example, and that between telegraphy and the rise of electrical science. Hunt's groundbreaking introduction to the history of physics points to the shift to atomic and quantum physics.
It closes with a brief look at Albert Einstein's work at the Swiss patent office and the part it played in his formulation of relativity theory. Hunt translates his often-demanding material into engaging and accessible language suitable for undergraduate students of the history of science and technology.

Bruce J. Hunt is an associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin and author of The Maxwellians.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: A World Transformed
1. Steam and Work
2. Energy and Entropy
3. The Kinetic Theory: Chaos and Order
4. Electricity: Currents and Networks
5. Electromagnetism: Ether and Field
6. Electric Power and Light
7. Into a New Century
Epilogue: Einstein at the Patent Office
Suggested Further Reading
Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	3.6.2010
Reihe/Serie	Johns Hopkins Introductory Studies in the History of Science
Zusatzinfo	8 Line drawings, black and white; 16 Halftones, black and white
Verlagsort	Baltimore, MD
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	272 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Technikgeschichte
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie
ISBN-10	0-8018-9359-3 / 0801893593
ISBN-13	978-0-8018-9359-9 / 9780801893599
Zustand	Neuware