scholarly journals Techniques of repair, the circulation of knowledge, and environmental transformation: Towards a new history of transportation

2021 ◽  
pp. 007327532110464
Author(s):  
Dániel Margócsy ◽  
Mary Augusta Brazelton

It is the aim of this article to put questions of maintenance and repair in the history of science and technology under scrutiny, with a special focus on technologies and methods of transportation. The history of transportation is a history of trying to avoid shipwrecks and plane crashes. It is also a history of broken masts, worm-eaten hulls, the flat tires of cars, and endless delays at airports. This introductory article assesses the technological, scientific, and cultural implications of repairing and maintaining transportation networks. We argue that infrastructures for maintenance and repair played just as important a role in the history of transportation as the wharves and factories where ships, cars, trains, and airplanes were originally built. We also suggest that maintenance and repair are important sites of knowledge production, and a historical account of these practices provides a new, decentered narrative for the development of modern science and technology.

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Bochong Zhao ◽  
Kehui Deng

Dyeing & Weaving Weekly (1935-1941) is a scientific and technological periodical which has been published for a long time and has never been interrupted in the field of textile in modern China. The journal publishes a large number of the latest achievements in textile science and technology, and is an important historical material and typical case for the study of modern science and technology dissemination. Rich in content, Dyeing & Weaving Weekly focuses on solving practical problems in the textile industry and guiding the direction of scientific research, which not only promotes the dissemination of textile science and technology but also contributes to the development of the textile industry. Therefore, from the perspective of science and technology communication and the history of newspapers and periodicals, this paper examines the practice and communication strategies of Dyeing & Textile Weekly, in order to prove that Dyeing & Textile Weekly has a positive impact on science and technology communication in modern China, and also provides experience reference for the development of contemporary science and technology periodicals in China, which has certain reference significance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 2-3
Author(s):  
Jaichan LEE

It is 100 years when we think about the history of ferroelectricity. We, who study ferroelectricity, are honored and pleased to share the 100-year anniversary of ferroelectricity and recall its history. At this great moment, we look back to the brief history on the verge of ferroelectricity. Our hope is that ferroelectricity studied as an early collective phenomenon will be coupled with quantum behavior, the essence of modern science, to become a new age in the history of science and technology.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
SeyedAmir Asghari

If the universe is defined as a manifestation of the Divine in the Alevi-Bektashi and other Sufi thoughts, what are their responses to modern dominant philosophy and science that is fundamentally secular and leaves no space for the Sacred? Sufism is a broad and diverse movement within the history of Islam. It nevertheless represents a Divine-centric cosmology in which God -through His creation- is invisibly visible, and He is at the same time, the eternal and inward reality of the external and visible world. In other words, God is the eternal meaning of everything. This paper will study the question of philosophical assessment of modern philosophy and scientific world-view from a Sufi perspective. In particular, it will examine the phenomenon of modern science and technology from the perspective of the Sufi and traditionalist school of Islam. Thereupon, this paper aims to outline and examine the question of Sacred in confrontation of Secular in the context of Sufism and philosophy. For a Sufi-philosophical thought, this work will assess the idea of reviving sacred or religious science mostly elaborated in the works of Nasr.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Stapleford ◽  
Emanuele Ratti

Scholars have recently turned to a surprising source for analyzing contemporary science and technology: concepts of virtue drawn from ancient philosophy and religion. This chapter provides a brief history of the relationship between virtue, science, and technology before turning to the contents of this edited volume. Science, Technology, and Virtue offers a range of perspectives illustrating how scholars across multiple disciplines have found virtue valuable for helping us to understand, construct, and use the fruits of modern science and technology. In doing so, the authors show how intellectual and moral character—as embodied dispositions for action—continue to be central for pursuing the good life, even in an age of high technology and science.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Felten

This article looks into mining in central Germany in the late eighteenth century as one area of highly charged exchange between (specific manifestations of early modern) science and the (early modern) state. It describes bureaucratic knowledge as socially distributed cognition by following the steps of a high-ranking official that led him to discover a rich silver ore deposit. Although this involved hybridization of practical/artisanal and theoretical/scientific knowledge, and knowers, the focus of this article is on purification or boundary work that took place when actors in and around the mines consciously contributed to different circuits of knowledge production. For the sake of analysis, the article suggests a way of opposing bureaucratic versus scientific knowledge production, even when the sites, actors involved in, and practices of that knowledge production were the same or similar. Whereas the science of the time invoked consensus among equals to conflate competing knowledge claims, bureaucracies did so by applying a hierarchy among ranked individuals.


2014 ◽  
Vol 578-579 ◽  
pp. 210-213
Author(s):  
Xin Quan Wang ◽  
Shi Min Zhang ◽  
Juan Liao ◽  
Ying Sheng Huang

Throughout the history of the development of piles, they play an important role in the progress of humanity. And along with the advance of modern science and technology and social development, pile foundation has been great development. There is a rise of piles called special-shape piles in recent years, which shows strong adaptability of modern construction. Compared with traditional circular pile, emerging pile has developed rapidly, showing extraordinary to adapt to the modern trend of pile foundation construction. Some characteristics of new type of pile has been developed and put into practical use, and good results have been achieved.


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