J. F. Clarke and F. Storr, The Introduction of the use of mild steel into the Shipbuilding and Marine Engine industries. Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic, ‘Occasional Papers in the History of Science and Technology no. 1’, 1983, Pp. 97. £3.25.

1985 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-248
Author(s):  
R. A. Buchanan

It is my pleasant duty to welcome you all most warmly to this meeting, which is one of the many events stimulated by the advisory committee of the William and Mary Trust on Science and Technology and Medicine, under the Chairmanship of Sir Arnold Burgen, the immediate past Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society. This is a joint meeting of the Royal Society and the British Academy, whose President, Sir Randolph Quirk, will be Chairman this afternoon, and it covers Science and Civilization under William and Mary, presumably with the intention that the Society would cover Science if the Academy would cover Civilization. The meeting has been organized by Professor Rupert Hall, a Fellow of the Academy and also well known to the Society, who is now Emeritus Professor of the History of Science and Technology at Imperial College in the University of London; and Mr Norman Robinson, who retired in 1988 as Librarian to the Royal Society after 40 years service to the Society.


2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. J. CHILVERS

The Marxist history of science has played an enormous role in the development of the history of science. Whether through the appreciation of its insights or the construction of a political fortress to prevent infusion, its presence is felt. From 1931 the work of Marxists played an integral part in the international development of the history of science, though rarely have the connections between them or their own biographies been explored. These networks convey a distinct history, alongside political, methodological and personal implications, impressing on us a greater understanding of the possibilities that were present and were lost in the most turbulent of decades. Two of the most notable were Boris Hessen, a founder of Marxist history of science, and J. G. Crowther, one of its most prolific exponents. My examination explores aspects of the dialogue between these controversial figures, starting with brief biographical sketches. Their lives became briefly entwined following the Second International Congress of the History of Science and Technology in 1931, demonstrated with reference to the meeting and the correspondence between them until Hessen's death. In doing so, some new facts and old controversies surface, though most importantly the nature of the correspondence carries implications for the Marxist history of science and for the wider movement of which it is part. The Russian delegation to the congress declared that science was at a crossroads. The history of science was at a similar crossroads in the 1930s.


1982 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-284
Author(s):  
W. A. Campbell

Science historians need two major kinds of literary resources, old books, journals, patents, plans and other documents from which to quarry their facts, and critical tools such as histories of science, bibliographies and biographies. Provision of the second category needs positive planning; the first is often itself an accident of local history. Among the factors which have shaped Newcastle upon Tyne may be numbered a Roman river crossing, a Norman castle, mediaeval walls, powerful charters granted by Tudor and Stuart monarchs, a favourable site in a coalfield, and a phenomenal succession of inventive entrepreneurs in mining, chemicals, shipbuilding, and mechanical and electrical engineering. Its scientific and cultural institutions (see Table) are of respectable maturity, and in addition the town possessed by 1815 several chapel and meeting-house libraries, a newsroom and subscription library in the Assembly Rooms together with three circulating libraries run by prominent booksellers. Present resources are concentrated in six organizations, with two more in the near future.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document