Coulomb and the Evolution of Physics and Engineering in Eighteenth-Century France

Coulomb and the Evolution of Physics and Engineering in Eighteenth-Century France
Author: C. Stewart Gillmor
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2017-03-14
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1400886236

In a period of active scientific innovation and technological change, Charles Augustin Coulomb (1736-1806) made major contributions to the development of physics in the areas of torsion and electricity and magnetism; as one of the great engineering theorists, he produced fundamental studies in strength of materials, soil mechanics, structural design, and friction. Stewart Gillmor gives a full account of Coulomb's life and an assessment of his work in the first biography of this notable scientist. Originally published in 1972. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Bodies/Machines

Bodies/Machines
Author: Iwan Rhys Morus
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2002-12-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1845208765

It is hard to believe that the pursuit of artificial intelligence is not a phenomenon of the twentieth century. For over three hundred years, the boundaries between bodies and machines the natural and the artificial, the animate and the inanimate have been passionately explored. These explorations, beginning in the seventeenth and eighteenth and increasing during the nineteenth century, have been all but forgotten, lost beneath the commotion of the modern day world. This book retrieves these lost histories, giving voice to the hopes, dreams, and fears of philosophers, medical practitioners, engineers, craftsmen and artisans who have all been fascinated by the interface between bodies and machines. The journey back in time unfolds with the mysterious advent of mechanical philosophies, which conceptualized the body and the surrounding world largely in terms of mechanistic interactions. These theories develop in intriguing directions and fuel experiments in such areas as material production and social punishment, spiritualism and mental health. From reanimating dead bodies with electricity, which led to the introduction of the electric chair, through to the use of machines to render hysterics and the insane fit for reintroduction into society, this book conveys the dark truths behind our relationship with machines. This book is not only an exceptional contribution to the history of technology but also to contemporary debates about humans and machines.

Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment

Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment
Author: Michel Delon
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 1512
Release: 2013-12-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135959986

This acclaimed translation of Michel Delon's Dictionnaire Europen des Lumires contains more than 350 signed entries covering the art, economics, science, history, philosophy, and religion of the Enlightenment. Delon's team of more than 200 experts from around the world offers a unique perspective on the period, providing offering not only factual information but also critical opinions that give the reader a deeper level of understanding. An international team of translators, editors, and advisers, under the auspices of the French Ministry of Culture, has brought this collection of scholarship to the English-speaking world for the first time.

Conserving the Enlightenment

Conserving the Enlightenment
Author: Jānis Langins
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 562
Release: 2004
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9780262122580

A study of French military engineers at a crucial point in the evolution of modern engineering.

Treatise on Geomorphology

Treatise on Geomorphology
Author:
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 6392
Release: 2013-02-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0080885225

The changing focus and approach of geomorphic research suggests that the time is opportune for a summary of the state of discipline. The number of peer-reviewed papers published in geomorphic journals has grown steadily for more than two decades and, more importantly, the diversity of authors with respect to geographic location and disciplinary background (geography, geology, ecology, civil engineering, computer science, geographic information science, and others) has expanded dramatically. As more good minds are drawn to geomorphology, and the breadth of the peer-reviewed literature grows, an effective summary of contemporary geomorphic knowledge becomes increasingly difficult. The fourteen volumes of this Treatise on Geomorphology will provide an important reference for users from undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic. Information on the historical development of diverse topics within geomorphology provides context for ongoing research; discussion of research strategies, equipment, and field methods, laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations reflect the multiple approaches to understanding Earth’s surfaces; and summaries of outstanding research questions highlight future challenges and suggest productive new avenues for research. Our future ability to adapt to geomorphic changes in the critical zone very much hinges upon how well landform scientists comprehend the dynamics of Earth’s diverse surfaces. This Treatise on Geomorphology provides a useful synthesis of the state of the discipline, as well as highlighting productive research directions, that Educators and students/researchers will find useful. Geomorphology has advanced greatly in the last 10 years to become a very interdisciplinary field. Undergraduate students looking for term paper topics, to graduate students starting a literature review for their thesis work, and professionals seeking a concise summary of a particular topic will find the answers they need in this broad reference work which has been designed and written to accommodate their diverse backgrounds and levels of understanding Editor-in-Chief, Prof. J. F. Shroder of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, is past president of the QG&G section of the Geological Society of America and present Trustee of the GSA Foundation, while being well respected in the geomorphology research community and having won numerous awards in the field. A host of noted international geomorphologists have contributed state-of-the-art chapters to the work. Readers can be guaranteed that every chapter in this extensive work has been critically reviewed for consistency and accuracy by the World expert Volume Editors and by the Editor-in-Chief himself No other reference work exists in the area of Geomorphology that offers the breadth and depth of information contained in this 14-volume masterpiece. From the foundations and history of geomorphology through to geomorphological innovations and computer modelling, and the past and future states of landform science, no "stone" has been left unturned!

Explorations in the History and Heritage of Machines and Mechanisms

Explorations in the History and Heritage of Machines and Mechanisms
Author: Marco Ceccarelli
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 503
Release: 2022-04-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3030984990

This book gathers the latest advances in the field of history of science and technology, as presented by leading international researchers at the 7th International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms (HMM), held in Granada and Jaén, Spain on April 28-30, 2022. The Symposium, which was promoted by the permanent commission for the History of Machine and Mechanism Science (MMS) of IFToMM, provided an international forum to present and discuss historical developments in the field of MMS. The contents cover all aspects of the development of MMS from antiquity until the present era and its historiography: modern reviews of past works, engineers in history and their works, the development of theories, history of the design of machines and mechanisms, historical developments of mechanical design and automation, historical developments of teaching, the history of schools of engineering, the education of engineers. The contributions, which were selected by means of a rigorous international peer-review process, highlight numerous exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaborations.

Cartography in France, 1660-1848

Cartography in France, 1660-1848
Author: Josef Konvitz
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 1987
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780226450940

French scientists, engineers, and public officials were responsible for the most important and distinctive innovations in cartography in eighteenth-century Europe. By expanding the analytical uses of maps, by establishing unprecedented standards of accuracy, and by nurturing institutional frameworks to sustain mapping projects over many years, the French contributed to one of the central concepts of modern times: that man, through direct observation and accumulated information can better understand and manage his affairs. Concentrating on how and why new concepts and techniques of making and using maps were introduced, Josef Konvitz skillfully traces the modernization of cartography during the French Enlightenment. The story he unfolds is not merely a narrative of who did what, but an analysis of how the map itself influenced attitudes toward the land and the consequent effects on planning and the development of resources. Throughout, Konvitz demonstrates the significant relationship between cartography and political, economic, and military life. He emphasizes efforts to enlarge the practical applications of maps in government and the impact of government policy on the evolution of cartography.

The Mathematics of Measurement

The Mathematics of Measurement
Author: John J. Roche
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 364
Release: 1998-12-21
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780387915814

The Mathematics of Measurement is a historical survey of the introduction of mathematics to physics and of the branches of mathematics that were developed specifically for handling measurements, including dimensional analysis, error analysis, and the calculus of quantities.