Applied Science

Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-1-009-36523-9
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 342 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 626 g

Reihe: Science in History

For almost two centuries, the category of 'applied science' was widely taken to be both real and important. Then, its use faded. How could an entire category of science appear and disappear? By taking a longue durée approach to British attitudes across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Robert Bud explores the scientific and cultural trends that led to such a dramatic rise and fall. He traces the prospects and consequences that gave the term meaning, from its origins to its heyday as an elixir to cure many of the economic, cultural, and political ills of the UK, eventually overtaken by its competitor, 'technology'. Bud examines how 'applied science' was shaped by educational and research institutions, sociotechnical imaginaries, and political ideologies and explores the extent to which non-scientific lay opinion, mediated by politicians and newspapers, could become a driver in the classification of science.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bud, Robert

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: the biography of a concept; Stage 1. Origins and Pedagogy in the Nineteenth Century; 1. Applied science conceived: the early nineteenth century; 2. Applied science Institutionalised: the Liberal Science College; 3. Competing concepts of applied science and technology; Stage 2. Research in the Early Twentieth Century; 4. The dawn of the twentieth century; 5. From the magi to industrial function; 6. 'Western civilisation' and applied science; Stage 3. After World War Two; 7. Co-existence through growth; 8. From applied science to technological innovation; Conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Bud, Robert
Robert Bud is Emeritus Keeper at London's Science Museum. He has led science, medicine, and curatorial research at the Museum, writing and editing books across chemical, biotechnological, and scientific instrument history.