Instruments, Travel and Science: Itineraries of Precision from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth CenturyMarie Noëlle Bourguet, Christian Licoppe, H. Otto Sibum We are now accustomed to conceive of science as an instrumental activity, producing numbers, measurements and graphs by means of sophisticated devices. This book investigates the historical process that gave rise to this instrumental culture. The contributors trace the displacement of instruments across the globe, the spread of practices or precision and the circulation and appropriation of skills and knowledge. Through comparative and contextual approaches, the volume confronts the tension between the local and the global, examining the process of the universalization of science. Bringing together case studies ranging from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, contributors discuss French, German and British initiatives, as well as the knowledge and techniques of travellers in countries such as India, Africa, South East Asia and the Americas. Students and researchers interested in the history of science in both Western and non-Western cultures will find this book a valuable and thought-provoking read. |
Contents
Golden means Assay instruments and the geography of precision in | |
The project for a map of Languedoc in eighteenthcentury France at | |
The travels and trials of Mr Harrisons timekeeper | |
natural history travel and instruments in the late | |
the reception of the voltaic battery in Europe | |
the IndoBritish exploration | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
A.A. Michelson African Alexander von Humboldt apparatus Archives de l'Hérault assay astronomical barometer Bentham botanists botany Boyle British Cambridge Cassini Chicago colonial context culture Danizy early edited eighteenth century electricity Empire engineers equivalent of heat European experiment experimental exploration fieldwork Figure Flora folders France French Giraud-Soulavie gold Guinea herbarium History of Science Humboldt Ibid idem Index kewensis India Institut instruments J.D. Hooker knowledge laboratory Languedoc letter Lhasa London longitude map of Languedoc measurements mechanical equivalent memoir method metrological Mongkut Montferrier Morley Mpemba effect Nain Singh narratives natural history natural philosophers naturalist Newcomb Newton Nicholson observations Paris Pezenas physicists physics plants practices precision published Pundit Ramond refractometer Rowland Royal Geographical Society Royal Society royale des sciences scientific scientists social species standard Survey techniques theory thermometers Tibet trade trial University Press velocity of light Vivarais Volta's voltaic battery voyage watch Yarkand