Science is a living, organic activity, the meaning and understanding of which have evolved incrementally over human history. This book, the first in a roughly chronological series, explores the development of the methodology and major ideas of science, in historical context, from ancient times to the decline of classical civilizations around 300 A.D. It includes details specific to the histories of specialized sciences including astronomy, medicine and physics--along with Roman engineering and Greek philosophy. It closely describes the contributions of such individuals as Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Euclid, Archimedes, Ptolemy, Seneca, Pliny the Elder, and Galen.

Highly readable, profusely illustrated survey relates technology to history of every age: food production, metalworking, mining, steam power, transportation, electricity, and much more. 354 black-and-white illustrations. 1961 edition.

Science is a living, organic activity, the meaning and understanding of which have evolved incrementally over human history. This book, the second in a roughly chronological series, explores the evolution of science from the advents of Christianity and Islam through the Middle Ages, focusing especially on the historical relationship between science and religion. Specific topics include technological innovations during the Middle Ages; Islamic science; the Crusades; Gothic cathedrals; and the founding of Western universities. Close attention is given to such figures as Paul the Apostle, Hippolytus, Lactantius, Cyril of Alexandria, Hypatia, Cosmas Indicopleustes, and the Prophet Mohammed.

In modern life, technology is everywhere. Yet as a concept, technology is a mess. In popular discourse, technology is little more than the latest digital innovations. Scholars do little better, offering up competing definitions that include everything from steelmaking to singing. In Technology: Critical History of a Concept, Eric Schatzberg explains why technology is so difficult to define by examining its three thousand year history, one shaped by persistent tensions between scholars and technical practitioners. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, scholars have tended to hold technicians in low esteem, defining technical practices as mere means toward ends defined by others. Technicians, in contrast, have repeatedly pushed back against this characterization, insisting on the dignity, creativity, and cultural worth of their work. ​The tension between scholars and technicians continued from Aristotle through Francis Bacon and into the nineteenth century. It was only in the twentieth century that modern meanings of technology arose: technology as the industrial arts, technology as applied science, and technology as technique. Schatzberg traces these three meanings to the present day, when discourse about technology has become pervasive, but confusion among the three principal meanings of technology remains common. He shows that only through a humanistic concept of technology can we understand the complex human choices embedded in our modern world.

A History of Chinese Science and Technology (Volumes 1, 2 & 3) presents 44 individual lectures, beginning with Ancient Chinese Science and Technology in the Process of Human Civilizations and an Overview of Chinese Science and Technology, and continuing with in-depth discussions of several issues in the History of Science and the Needham Puzzle, interspersed with topics on Astronomy, Arithmetic, Agriculture and Medicine, The Four Great Inventions, and various technological areas closely related to clothing, food, shelter and transportation. This book is the most authoritative work on the history of Chinese Science and Technology. It is the Winner of the China Book Award, the Shanghai Book Award (1st prize), and the Classical China International Publishing Project (GAPP, General Administration of Press and Publication of China) and offers an essential resource for academic researchers and non-experts alike. It originated with a series of 44 lectures presented to top Chinese leaders, which received very positive feedback. Written by top Chinese scholars in their respective fields from the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and many other respected Chinese organizations, the book is intended for scientists, researchers and postgraduate students working in the history of science, philosophy of science and technology, and related disciplines. Yongxiang Lu is a professor, former president and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and Vice Chairman of the National Congress of China.

The annual collections in the History of Technology series look at the history of technological discovery and change, exploring the relationship of technology to other aspects of life and showing how technological development is affected by the society in which it occurred.

The history of science is a story of human discovery--intertwined with religion, philosophy, economics and technology. The fourth in a series, this book covers the beginnings of the modern world, when 16th-century Europeans began to realize that their scientific achievements surpassed those of the Greeks and Romans. Western Civilization organized itself around the idea that human technological and moral progress was achievable and desirable. Science emerged in 17th-century Europe as scholars subordinated reason to empiricism. Inspired by the example of physics, men like Robert Boyle began the process of changing alchemy into the exact science of chemistry. During the 18th century, European society became more secular and tolerant. Philosophers and economists developed many of the ideas underpinning modern social theories and economic policies. As the Industrial Revolution fundamentally transformed the world by increasing productivity, people became more affluent, better educated and urbanized, and the world entered an era of unprecedented prosperity and progress.

Volume 1. Colonial America to 1865 -- volume 2. Reconstruction through World War II -- volume 3. The Cold War to the present.

The four volumes of Construction Technology provide a comprehensive guide to building technology from simple domestic single storey construction using traditional techniques to more complex multi-storey construction using more modern industrialised techniques. Each volume describes the technology concisely and is well illustrated with the author's own illustrations. The series provides a basic knowledge of all building activities from basic methods of construction in the early volumes through to more complex topics such as site planning, curtain walling and builders plant in later volumes. The series concentrates on the technology and avoids lengthy descriptive passages, leaving the description to the author's very detailed drawings. Volume 2 completes the coverage of conventional methods and materials of construction. As with volume 1, it deals with the construction of a small structure such as a bungalow or two-storey house. The book introduces more complex topics than are covered in volume 1. It deals with site and temporary works, e.g. simple excavations and scaffolding; substructure topics such as retaining walls and reinforce concrete foundations; simple framed buildings; floors and roof structures such as precast concrete floors and asphalt and lead-covered roofs; finishes and fittings such as simple concrete stairs; insulation; and services such as electrical and gas installations.