This book analyzes scientific problems within the history of physics,
engineering, chemistry, astronomy and medicine, correlated with
technological applications in the social context. When and how is
tension between disciplines explicitly practised? What is the conceptual
bridge between science researches and the organization of technological
researches in the development of industrial applications?
The authors explain various ways in which the sciences allowed advanced
modelling on the one hand, and the development of new technological
ideas on the other hand. An emphasis on the role played by mechanisms,
production methods and instruments bestows a benefit on historical and
scientific discourse: theories, institutions, universities, schools for
engineers, social implications as well.
Scholars from different traditions discuss the emergency style of
thinking in methodology and, in theoretical perspective, aim to gather
and re-evaluate the current thinking on this subject. It brings together
contributions from leading experts in the field, and gives much-needed
insight into the subject from a historical point of view. The volume
composition makes for absorbing reading for historians, philosophers and
scientists.