Technoscience in History

Prussia, 1750-1850

Look inside
Paperback
$40.00 US
On sale Sep 22, 2020 | 328 Pages | 978-0-262-53929-6
The relationship of the current technosciences and the older engineering sciences, examined through the history of the “useful” sciences in Prussia.

Do today's technoscientific disciplines—including materials science, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and robotics—signal a radical departure from traditional science? In Technoscience in History, Ursula Klein argues that these novel disciplines and projects are not an “epochal break,” but are part of a history that can be traced back to German “useful” sciences and beyond. Klein's account traces a deeper history of technoscience, mapping the relationship between today's cutting-edge disciplines and the development of the useful and technological sciences in Prussia from 1750 to 1850.

Klein shows that institutions that coupled natural-scientific and technological inquiry existed well before the twentieth century. Focusing on the science of mining, technical chemistry, the science of forestry, and the science of building (later known as civil engineering), she examines the emergence of practitioners who were recognized as men of science as well as inventive technologists—key figures that she calls “scientific-technological experts.”

Klein describes the Prussian state's recruitment of experts for technical projects and manufacturing, including land surveys, the apothecary trade, and porcelain production; state-directed mining, mining science, and mining academies; the history and epistemology of useful science; and the founding of Prussian scientific institutions in the nineteenth century, including the University of Berlin, the Academy of Building, the Technical Deputation, and the Industrial Institute.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Technical Experts and Innovation in Prussia
1. Technical Projects of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences
2. Discovery and Invention: Klaproth
3. Pharmacy and Chemistry
4. Experts at the Royal Prussian Porcelain Manufactory
5. The Figure of Technical Expert
Part II. The Model: Useful Science at Mining Academies
6. Silver Mining and the Freiberg Mining Academy
7. Mining and Mining Experts in Prussia: Gerhard
8. Experiments in the Laboratory of the Mining Department
9. The Lecture Series of the Mining Administration
10. Mines as Laboratories: Humboldt
Part III. Useful Science and its Practitioners
11. Mining Science
12. The Science of Salt Works
13. The Figure of Scientific-Technological Expert
Part IV. Towards Nineteenth-Century Technological Science
14. Useful Knowledge at the University of Berlin
15. The Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture
16. A New Industrial Policy: The Industrial Institute
17. The Big Picture: Useful Science, Technological Science, Technoscience
Notes
References
Index
Ursula Klein is Permanent Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and coauthor of Materials in Eighteenth-Century Science: A Historical Ontology (MIT Press).

About

The relationship of the current technosciences and the older engineering sciences, examined through the history of the “useful” sciences in Prussia.

Do today's technoscientific disciplines—including materials science, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and robotics—signal a radical departure from traditional science? In Technoscience in History, Ursula Klein argues that these novel disciplines and projects are not an “epochal break,” but are part of a history that can be traced back to German “useful” sciences and beyond. Klein's account traces a deeper history of technoscience, mapping the relationship between today's cutting-edge disciplines and the development of the useful and technological sciences in Prussia from 1750 to 1850.

Klein shows that institutions that coupled natural-scientific and technological inquiry existed well before the twentieth century. Focusing on the science of mining, technical chemistry, the science of forestry, and the science of building (later known as civil engineering), she examines the emergence of practitioners who were recognized as men of science as well as inventive technologists—key figures that she calls “scientific-technological experts.”

Klein describes the Prussian state's recruitment of experts for technical projects and manufacturing, including land surveys, the apothecary trade, and porcelain production; state-directed mining, mining science, and mining academies; the history and epistemology of useful science; and the founding of Prussian scientific institutions in the nineteenth century, including the University of Berlin, the Academy of Building, the Technical Deputation, and the Industrial Institute.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Technical Experts and Innovation in Prussia
1. Technical Projects of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences
2. Discovery and Invention: Klaproth
3. Pharmacy and Chemistry
4. Experts at the Royal Prussian Porcelain Manufactory
5. The Figure of Technical Expert
Part II. The Model: Useful Science at Mining Academies
6. Silver Mining and the Freiberg Mining Academy
7. Mining and Mining Experts in Prussia: Gerhard
8. Experiments in the Laboratory of the Mining Department
9. The Lecture Series of the Mining Administration
10. Mines as Laboratories: Humboldt
Part III. Useful Science and its Practitioners
11. Mining Science
12. The Science of Salt Works
13. The Figure of Scientific-Technological Expert
Part IV. Towards Nineteenth-Century Technological Science
14. Useful Knowledge at the University of Berlin
15. The Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture
16. A New Industrial Policy: The Industrial Institute
17. The Big Picture: Useful Science, Technological Science, Technoscience
Notes
References
Index

Author

Ursula Klein is Permanent Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and coauthor of Materials in Eighteenth-Century Science: A Historical Ontology (MIT Press).

Books for Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Every May we celebrate the rich history and culture of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Browse a curated selection of fiction and nonfiction books by AANHPI creators that we think your students will love. Find our full collection of titles for Higher Education here.

Read more