Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction

by James E. McClellan III, Harold Dorn

Overview

Now in its second edition, this bestselling textbook may be the single most influential study of the historical relationship between science and technology ever published. Tracing this relationship from the dawn of civilization through the twentieth century, James E. McClellan III and Harold Dorn argue that technology as "applied science" emerged relatively recently, as industry and governments began funding scientific research that would lead directly to new or improved technologies.

McClellan and Dorn identify two great scientific traditions: the useful sciences, patronized by the state from the dawn of civilization, and scientific theorizing, initiated by the ancient Greeks. They find that scientific traditions took root in China, India, and Central and South America, as well as in a series of Near Eastern empires, during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. From this comparative perspective, the authors explore the emergence of Europe and the United States as a scientific and technological power.

The new edition reorganizes its treatment of Greek science and significantly expands its coverage of industrial civilization and contemporary science and technology with new and revised chapters devoted to applied science, the sociology and economics of science, globalization, and the technological systems that underpin everyday life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801889394
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	06/20/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	791,116
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James E. McClellan III is a professor of the history of science at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Harold Dorn is professor emeritus of the history of science and technology at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Introduction The Guiding Themes 1

Part I Origins to the End of Antiquity 17

Chapter 1 Humankind Emerges: Tools and Toolmakers 19

Chapter 2 The Reign of the Farmer 32

Chapter 3 Pharaohs and Engineers 46

Chapter 4 Greeks Bearing Gifts 71

Chapter 5 Alexandria and After 95

Part II Thinking and Doing among the World's Peoples 115

Chapter 6 The Enduring East 117

Chapter 7 The Middle Kingdom 135

Chapter 8 Indus, Ganges, and Beyond 160

Chapter 9 The New "World 174

Part III Europe and the Solar System 195

Chapter 10 Plows, Stirrups, Guns, and Plagues 197

Chapter 11 Copernicus Incites a Revolution 223

Chapter 12 The Crime and Punishment of Galileo Galilei 243

Chapter 13 "God said, 'Let Newton be!'" 268

Part IV Science, Technology, and Industrial Civilization 297

Chapter 14 Textiles, Timber, Coal, and Steam 301

Chapter 15 Legacies of Revolution: From Newton to Einstein 320

Chapter 16 Life Itself 349

Chapter 17 Toolmakers Take Command 365

Chapter 18 The New Aristotelians 401

Chapter 19 The Bomb, the Internet, and the Genome 427

Chapter 20 Under Today's Pharaohs 454

Afterword: The Medium of History 481

Guide to Resources 485

Illustration Credits 513

Index 515

Editorial Reviews

The book provides an excellent overview of world science and technology for readers at any level. . .highly recommended.
—Choice

. . . the third edition of Science and Technology in World History is a mellow read, designed for general readers and undergraduate students.
—Isis

If I could attach bells and whistles and flashing lights to this review I would do so because McClellan and Dorn's book deserves to be brought to the attention of all professional historians—and indeed the general reading public—by any means necessary.
—Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d'histoire

This historical account achieves its basic aim of demonstrating that, with the exception of quite recent history, technology has always influenced science, not the other way round.
—Nature

From the Publisher

If I could attach bells and whistles and flashing lights to this review I would do so because McClellan and Dorn's book deserves to be brought to the attention of all professional historians—and indeed the general reading public—by any means necessary.

Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d'histoire

This historical account achieves its basic aim of demonstrating that, with the exception of quite recent history, technology has always influenced science, not the other way round.

Nature Lib

The book provides an excellent overview of world science and technology for readers at any level. . .highly recommended.

Choice

. . . the third edition of Science and Technology in World History is a mellow read, designed for general readers and undergraduate students.

Isis

"This historical account achieves its basic aim of demonstrating that, with the exception of quite recent history, technology has always influenced science, not the other way round."

Nature