Pursuing power and light
Subtitle: technology and physics from James Watt to Albert Einstein
By: Bruce J. Hunt.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 182
ISBN-13: 9780801893582; 9780801893599
Subjects: Technological innovations -- History -- 19th century; Science -- Research -- History -- 19th century; Technological innovations -- History -- 20th century; Science -- Research -- History -- 20th century
Description: 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. The author here explores how the leading technologies of the industrial age helped reshape modern physics. This particular period in history 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. In this book the author 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. This 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.