Draw the Lightning Down - Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Tecnology in the Age of Enlightenment

1. Auflage 2006
ISBN: 978-0-520-24829-8
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 397 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 151 mm x 227 mm, Gewicht: 531 g

Most of us know—at least we've heard—that Benjamin Franklin conducted some kind of electrical experiment with a kite. What few of us realize—and what this book makes powerfully clear—is that Franklin played a major role in laying the foundations of modern electrical science and technology. This fast-paced book, rich with historical details and anecdotes, brings to life Franklin, the large international network of scientists and inventors in which he played a key role, and their amazing inventions. We learn what these early electrical devices—from lights and motors to musical and medical instruments—looked like, how they worked, and what their utilitarian and symbolic meanings were for those who invented and used them. Against the fascinating panorama of life in the eighteenth century, Michael Brian Schiffer tells the story of the very beginnings of our modern electrical world.

The earliest electrical technologies were conceived in the laboratory apparatus of physicists; because of their surprising and diverse effects, however, these technologies rapidly made their way into many other communities and activities. Schiffer conducts us from community to community, showing how these technologies worked as they were put to use in public lectures, revolutionary experiments in chemistry and biology, and medical therapy. This story brings to light the arcane and long-forgotten inventions that made way for many modern technologies—including lightning rods (Franklin's invention), cardiac stimulation, xerography, and the internal combustion engine—and richly conveys the complex relationships among science, technology, and culture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schiffer, Michael Brian

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Physik Elektromagnetismus Elektrizität, Elektrodynamik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Elektromagnetismus Magnetismus
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Elektromagnetismus Halbleiter- und Supraleiterphysik
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Human- und Sozialwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
List of Figures

1. The Franklin Phenomenon
2. In the Beginning
3. A Coming of Age
4. Going Public
5. Power to the People
6. Life and Death
7. First, Do No Harm
8. An Electrical World
9. Property Protectors
10. A New Alchemy
11. Visionary Inventors
12. Technology Transfer: A Behavioral Framework

Notes
References Cited
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Michael Brian Schiffer is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. His many books include The Material Life of Human Beings (1999), Taking Charge: The Electric Automobile in America (1994), Technological Perspectives on Behavioral Change (1992), and The Portable Radio in American Life (1991).