Download or read book The Launching of Modern American Science 1846 1876 written by Robert V. Bruce and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2022-05-01 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in History “For readers born since the 1930’s, who have grown up assuming the United States leads the world in science, The Launching of Modern American Science 1846-1876 will come as something of a shock. It shows that little over a century ago the American scientific community was small, mediocre and unpromising... Mr. Bruce has performed an invaluable service in retrieving from numerous archives the letters and diaries of mid-19th-century American scientists, in which both the well-known ones and the obscure describe their assimilation of the scientific ethos — their discovery of the fascination of lab work, their contempt for charlatanism, their dreams for the future of American science... he has done extensive archival research as well as detailed analyses of scientists and technologists listed in the Dictionary of American Biography... he has provided a wealth of information on the people and institutions of mid-19th-century American science.” — The New York Times “[A] superb study of the dawn of science and technology in the United States... [Bruce’s] premier focus in this and earlier books is mid- to late- 19th-century America, and one feels in the presence of a master who creates a reality of time and place that is breathtaking... Bruce meticulously documents the text with names, numbers, dates and places, with vignettes and personality sketches, noting that it was the American style of science to develop technique, to observe, describe and catalogue, rather than theorize... A scholarly gem.” — Kirkus “If I had to recommend only one book on the critical period of development of nineteenth-century science in America, it would be this one. Bruce’s book, a social history of science and the scientific community, is about launching the American ship of science on its course to professionalization, modernity, and international competitiveness. His goal is to tell how American scientists and engineers established new national patterns and organizations in science and technology, still prevalent today... For a most critical period in the history of science in America, Bruce has produced a thorough and well written historical demography of scientists, their institutions (societies, journals, jobs, colleges, schools, laboratories, museums, lectures, agencies, expeditions, surveys), and public relations.” — Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences “Drawing upon an enormous number of primary sources and scores of secondary works, Bruce has produced a truly important book. His incisive analyses, his exemplary style of writing, and his graceful touches of humor make it a fascinating one... [a] splendid book [which] fills a gap in our knowledge of the history of science in the United States and deserves the attention of everyone who desires to know when and how modern science fledged in America.” — Science “[A] book not just to be looked through, but looked at... Bruce displays a remarkable grasp of its sources — primary and secondary, in manuscript and print, statistical studies of his own and others — and it will be the well-informed historian indeed who fails to make discoveries here... Bruce writes a proprietary prose that... is both eloquent and playful. A magisterial study of the development of science under the peculiar constraints of democratic culture, The Launching belongs with the half dozen or so classics that have appeared since the history of American science came out of drydock four decades ago.” — Isis “[A]n exceptionally fine and eminently readable piece of historical scholarship... The book is a major contribution the scientific community in nineteenth-century America.” — Bulletin of the History of Medicine “This will be the definitive account for a long time indeed.” — American Scientist “[I]t is difficult to say too much good about The Launching of Modern American Science, which [is] a major interpretation of the period... a book so altogether excellent... [it] gives a view of that period that is both convincing and illuminating. As a very welcome extra, it is so well written that it is a joy to read.” — History of Education Quarterly “[A]n ample, thoughtful, scholarly, and well-written survey.” — The New England Quarterly “[A] rich and well-documented account. This is a readable book that should find a broad audience.” — The British Journal for the History of Science

Download or read book An Anthology of Nineteenth Century American Science Writing written by C. R. Resetarits and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a brief anthology of the most influential writing by American scientists between 1800 and 1900. Arranged thematically and chronologically to highlight the progression of American science throughout the nineteenth century – from its beginnings in self-taught classification and exploration to the movement towards university education and specialization – it is the first collection of its kind. Each section begins with a biography, putting human faces to each time period, and introducing such notable figures as Thomas Jefferson and Louis Agassiz.

Download or read book How We Teach Science written by John L. Rudolph and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A former Wisconsin high school science teacher makes the case that how and why we teach science matters, especially now that its legitimacy is under attack. Why teach science? The answer to that question will determine how it is taught. Yet despite the enduring belief in this country that science should be taught, there has been no enduring consensus about how or why. This is especially true when it comes to teaching scientific process. Nearly all of the basic knowledge we have about the world is rock solid. The science we teach in high schools in particular—laws of motion, the structure of the atom, cell division, DNA replication, the universal speed limit of light—is accepted as the way nature works. Everyone also agrees that students and the public more generally should understand the methods used to gain this knowledge. But what exactly is the scientific method? Ever since the late 1800s, scientists and science educators have grappled with that question. Through the years, they’ve advanced an assortment of strategies, ranging from “the laboratory method” to the “five-step method” to “science as inquiry” to no method at all. How We Teach Science reveals that each strategy was influenced by the intellectual, cultural, and political circumstances of the time. In some eras, learning about experimentation and scientific inquiry was seen to contribute to an individual’s intellectual and moral improvement, while in others it was viewed as a way to minimize public interference in institutional science. John Rudolph shows that how we think about and teach science will either sustain or thwart future innovation, and ultimately determine how science is perceived and received by the public.

Download or read book The Routledge History of American Science written by Timothy W. Kneeland and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-01 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge History of American Science provides an essential companion to the most significant themes within the subject area. The field of the history of science continues to grow and expand into new areas and to adopt new theories to explain the role of science and its connections to politics, economics, religion, social structures, intellectual history, and art. This book takes North America as its focus and explores the history of science in the region both nationally and internationally with 27 chapters from a range of disciplines. Part I takes a chronological look at the history of science in America, from its origins in the Atlantic World, through to the American Revolution, the Civil War, the World Wars, and ending in the postmodern era. Part II discusses American science in practice, from scientists as practitioners, laboratories and field experiences, to science and religion. Part III examines the relationship between science and power. The chapters touch on the intersection of science and imperialism, environmental science in U.S. politics, as well as capitalism and science. Finally, Part IV explores how science is embedded in the culture of the United States with topics such as the growing importance of climate science, the role of scientific racism, the construction of gender, and how science and disability studies converge. The final chapter reviews the way in which society has embraced or rejected science, with reflections on the recent pandemic and what it may mean for the future of American science. This book fills a much-needed gap in the history and historiography of American science studies and will be an invaluable guide for any student or researcher in the history of science in America.

Download or read book Barry Commoner and the Science of Survival written by Michael Egan and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2009-01-23 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicles the activist career of Barry Commoner, one of the most influential American environmental thinkers, and his role in recasting the environmental movement after World War II. For over half a century, the biologist Barry Commoner has been one of the most prominent and charismatic defenders of the American environment, appearing on the cover of Time magazine in 1970 as the standard-bearer of "the emerging science of survival." In Barry Commoner and the Science of Survival, Michael Egan examines Commoner's social and scientific activism and charts an important shift in American environmental values since World War II.Throughout his career, Commoner believed that scientists had a social responsibility, and that one of their most important obligations was to provide citizens with accessible scientific information so they could be included in public debates that concerned them. Egan shows how Commoner moved naturally from calling attention to the hazards of nuclear fallout to raising public awareness of the environmental dangers posed by the petrochemical industry. He argues that Commoner's belief in the importance of dissent, the dissemination of scientific information, and the need for citizen empowerment were critical planks in the remaking of American environmentalism. Commoner's activist career can be defined as an attempt to weave together a larger vision of social justice. Since the 1960s, he has called attention to parallels between the environmental, civil rights, labor, and peace movements, and connected environmental decline with poverty, injustice, exploitation, and war, arguing that the root cause of environmental problems was the American economic system and its manifestations. He was instrumental in pointing out that there was a direct association between socioeconomic standing and exposure to environmental pollutants and that economics, not social responsibility, was guiding technological decision making. Egan argues that careful study of Commoner's career could help reinvigorate the contemporary environmental movement at a point when the environmental stakes have never been so high.

Download or read book A Companion to the History of American Science written by Georgina M. Montgomery and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-10-07 with total page 712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to the History of American Science offers a collection of essays that give an authoritative overview of the most recent scholarship on the history of American science. Covers topics including astronomy, agriculture, chemistry, eugenics, Big Science, military technology, and more Features contributions by the most accomplished scholars in the field of science history Covers pivotal events in U.S. history that shaped the development of science and science policy such as WWII, the Cold War, and the Women’s Rights movement

Download or read book Sins Against Science written by Lynda Walsh and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2006-09-14 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recounts the fake news stories, written from 1830 to 1880, about scientific and technological discoveries, and the effect these hoaxes had on readers and their trust in science.

Download or read book Scientists and Swindlers written by Paul Lucier and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2008-12-22 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “insightful” account of the early fossil fuel industry, the rise of the professional consultant, and the nexus between science and money (Technology and Culture). In this impressively researched, highly original work, Paul Lucier explains how science became an integral part of American technology and industry in the nineteenth century. Scientists and Swindlers introduces us to a new service of professionals: the consulting scientists. Lucier follows these entrepreneurial men of science on their wide-ranging commercial engagements from the shores of Nova Scotia to the coast of California and shows how their innovative work fueled the rapid growth of the American coal and oil industries and the rise of American geology and chemistry. Along the way, he explores the decisive battles over expertise and authority, the high-stakes court cases over patenting research, the intriguing and often humorous exploits of swindlers, and the profound ethical challenges of doing science for money. Starting with the small surveying businesses of the 1830s and reaching to the origins of applied science in the 1880s, Lucier recounts the complex and curious relations that evolved as geologists, chemists, capitalists, and politicians worked to establish scientific research as a legitimate, regularly compensated, and respected enterprise. This sweeping narrative enriches our understanding of how the rocks beneath our feet became invaluable resources for science, technology, and industry.

Download or read book The Doomsday Lobby written by James T. Bennett and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-09-11 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Federal patronage of science was never contemplated by the framers of the Constitution, but they did seek to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Art” by granting inventors patent rights. However, direct subvention to scientists and scientific organizations was not considered appropriate activity of the central government. In the 19th Century, American science was funded almost entirely through private investors. Since WWII, however, the federal government has become the primary patron of American science. From the race-to-space in the 1950s to current furor over global warming, Bennett traces the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which government has co-opted scientific research and reinforced a culture in which challengers to proscribed wisdom are frozen out. Citing original documents and media reports, Bennett offers a compelling, entertaining, and thought-provoking perspective on political influence on scientific research and its implications for a democratic society. "During the Nineteenth Century, almost entirely on private funding, American science grew from practically nothing to world class. Now, however, over fifty percent of American science is funded by the federal government. Dr. Bennett traces the path, "crisis" after "crisis," by which American science became practically an arm of the federal government. His tale is a cautionary one, warning against future "crisis mongers" who would extend the government's already majority control of American science even further. His warning is a timely one, and it should be heeded." Joseph P. Martino, author of Science Funding: Politics and Porkbarrel "Bennett's latest book offers a challenging interpretation of the rise of the American federal science establishment since World War II. Focusing primarily on the growth of the space program, Bennett argues that crisis, real or imagined, is the source of state power and state funding for science. The Doomsday Lobby offers what no doubt will be viewed as a controversial contribution to the history of American science policy, and more broadly to an understanding of the role of the state in society." James D. Savage, Professor of Politics, University of Virginia, and author of Funding Science in America

Download or read book Reader s Guide to the History of Science written by Arne Hessenbruch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-16 with total page 986 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Reader's Guide to the History of Science looks at the literature of science in some 550 entries on individuals (Einstein), institutions and disciplines (Mathematics), general themes (Romantic Science) and central concepts (Paradigm and Fact). The history of science is construed widely to include the history of medicine and technology as is reflected in the range of disciplines from which the international team of 200 contributors are drawn.

Download or read book Patronage Practice and the Culture of American Science written by Hugh Richard Slotten and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1994-06-24 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book Hugh Richard Slotten explores the institutional and cultural history of science in the United States. The main focus is on the activities of Alexander Dallas Bache - great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin and the acknowledged "chief" of the American scientific community during the second third of the nineteenth century. Bache played a central role in the organization and management of a number of key scientific institutions, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Academy of Sciences. But his dominance in these institutions was made possible through his control of an organization less well known today, the United States Coast Survey, which he superintended from 1843 until his death in 1867. Under Bache's command the Coast Survey became the central scientific institution in antebellum America. Using richly detailed archival records, Slotten pursues an analysis of Bache and the Coast Survey that illuminates important historiographic themes. We gain a better understanding of the particular style of nineteenth-century American science by examining the role of the Coast Survey as a source of patronage. Perhaps most important, this study explores the ways in which scientific knowledge and practice are embedded within local contexts. Although Bache sought to use the Coast Survey to raise the status of American science partly by emulating European scientific elites, his efforts also reflected the cultural and political values of antebellum America. Slotten thus analyzes the interrelationship between political culture, patterns of patronage, and the institutional practice of science in the United States.

Download or read book Globalizing Polar Science written by R. Launius and published by Springer. This book was released on 2010-11-22 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The International Polar Years and the International Geophysical Year represented a remarkable international collaborative scientific effort that has been largely neglected by historians. This groundbreaking collection seeks to redress that neglect and illuminate critical aspects of the last 150 years of international scientific endeavour.

Download or read book From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences written by David Cahan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2003-09-15 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the nineteenth century, much of the modern scientific enterprise took shape: scientific disciplines were formed, institutions and communities were founded, and unprecedented applications to and interactions with other aspects of society and culture occurred. In this book, eleven leading historians of science assess what their field has taught us about this exciting time and identify issues that remain unexamined or require reconsideration. They treat both scientific disciplines—biology, physics, chemistry, the earth sciences, mathematics, and the social sciences—in their specific intellectual and sociocultural contexts as well as the broader topics of science and medicine; science and religion; scientific institutions and communities; and science, technology, and industry. Providing a much-needed overview and analysis of a rapidly expanding field, From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences will be essential for historians of science, but also of great interest to scholars of all aspects of nineteenth-century life and culture. Contributors: Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Jed Z. Buchwald, David Cahan, Joseph Dauben, Frederick Gregory, Michael Hagner, Sungook Hong, David R. Oldroyd, Theodore M. Porter, Robert J. Richards, Ulrich Wengenroth

Download or read book The Origins of the American High School written by William J. Reese and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An analysis of the social changes and political debates that shaped 19th-century American high schools. It reveals what students studied and how they behaved, what teachers expected of them and how they taught, and how boys and girls, whites and blacks, experienced high school.

Download or read book To Foster the Spirit of Professionalism written by Nancy Smith Midgette and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Details the struggle of Southern scientists to maintain professional status and organizations after the Civil War. Explores the role of academies of science in helping maintain a presence, research activity, and communication.

Download or read book History of Science in United States written by Marc Rothenberg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-10-12 with total page 637 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Encyclopedia examines all aspects of the history of science in the United States, with a special emphasis placed on the historiography of science in America. It can be used by students, general readers, scientists, or anyone interested in the facts relating to the development of science in the United States. Special emphasis is placed in the history of medicine and technology and on the relationship between science and technology and science and medicine.

Download or read book Alexander Dallas Bache written by Axel Jansen and published by Campus Verlag. This book was released on 2023-08-03 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alexander Dallas Bache war der Architekt des amerikanischen Wissenschaftssystems im 19. Jahrhundert, ein amerikanischer Wilhelm von Humboldt. Als die USA im Bürgerkrieg zu zerbrechen drohten, gelang Bache 1863 die Gründung der »National Academy of Sciences«. Im Namen der Wissenschaft schuf Bache damit ein Zeichen für den Fortbestand der Nation. Auf originelle Weise verknüpft Axel Jansen Biografieanalyse mit Wissenschafts- und Politikgeschichte. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/