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Introduction.
 

9/5

R

 
Social History of Science and Technology.
The American Context. Science, Technology, and "Values"

Rec.  Reading: 
Smith/Clancey, Ch. 1 (1-25) "What is Technology?
Winner, Ch. 9 (155-163) "Brandy, Cigars, and Human Values"


 

From the Colonial Period to the Early Republic.
 
 

9/9

M

Colonial Technology

Pursell, Ch. 1 (9-33), Ch. 2 (35-63)  "The Tools Brought Over"; "Importing the Industrial Revolution"
Cowan, Ch. 1 (5-27) "The Land, the Natives, and the
Settlers"; Ch. 2 (28-43) "Husbandry and Huswifery in the
Colonies"; Ch. 3 (45-65) "Colonial Artisans"

9/12

R

Science in the Colonies and early Republic

 

 

Science in the Nineteenth Century; Technology in the Civil War
 

9/16

M

The American System of Manufacturing - The Industrial
Revolution Comes to America

 
Pursell, Ch. 2 (35-63) "Importing the Industrial Revolution"
Pursell, from Ch. 4 (87-97): "The Expansion of American Manufactures"            
American System, mass production
Cowan, Ch. 4 (69-91) "The Early Decades of Industrialization"

Rec: Smith/Clancey, Ch. 5 (144-189) "Inside Factory Systems, 1820 - 1885"
         Woodbury, "The Legend of Eli Whitney and Interchangeable Parts"

9/19

R

Transportation

 
Pursell, Ch. 3 (65-83) "Improving Transportation"
Cowan Ch. 5 (93 - 118) "Transportation Revolutions
Cross/Szostak Ch. 6 (82 - 103) "Iron, Steam, Rails" Packet

Rec: Smith/Clancey, Ch. 6 (191-232) 
         "'Second Nature': Steam,Space, and a New World Order, 1840-1900" 
             Packet
         Hindle and Lubar, (125 -151) "The John Bull and the Rise of 
             American Railroading" Packet

9/23

M

Agriculture, from colonial times to the later 19th century

 
Pursell Ch. 5 (109-128) "The Mechanization of Farming"
Cowan (173-178) "Farmers and Unexpected Outcomes"
Cross/Szostk Ch. 8 (120 - 130) " Machines on the Farm…1800 - 1920" 
        Packet         

Rec: Hindle and Lubar, (94-108) "Farming and Raw Materials
         Processing: Causes and Effects of Mechanization" Packet

9/26

R

 Engineeers and Engineering; Changing Urban Environments 
Pursell, from Ch. 4 (97 - 108) "The Expansion of American Manufactures": 
patents and engineers
Pursell, Ch. 6 (1331 -154) "Creating an Urban Environment"
Cowan, Ch. 6 (120-146)  "Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Engineers"

9/30

M

 
Expanding Frontiers: 
Westward Ho! A Rising Empire
 Pursell, Ch. 7 (155 -178) "Westward the Course of Industry"
Pursell, Ch. 8 (179 - 199) "Export, Exploitation, and Empire"

10/3

R

 From Amateur to Professional: Science and Scientists
in the Nineteenth Century
 Rec: Bruce, R. V. The Launching of Modern American Science,
1846-1876

10/7

M

 Late 19th Century Attitudes to Technology 
Cowan Ch. 9 (201-218) "American Ideas about Technology"
Kasson, "Technology and Utopia" (183-234) Packet
Cross and Szostak, Ch. 9 "Americans confront a Mechanical World" 
(135-147) Packet
         
Rec: Nye, "The American Sublime" (17 - 43) Packet
     Kasson, Ch. 1, "The Emergence of Republican Technology" (3-51) Packet

10/10

R

 "Systems" Pursell, Ch. 9 (203-228) "The Coming of Science and Systems"
Cowan Ch. 7 (150-171) "Industrial Society and Technological Systems"

 

----------------READING PERIOD-------------------

From 1865 to 1918: Between the Wars
 

10/17

R 

 

-----------------MIDTERM EXAMINATION---------------

10/21

M

The Age of Heroic Invention.

Hughes, Ch. 1-2 (13-95): "A Gigantic Tidal Wave of Human Ingenuity"; "Choosing and Solving Problems"

10/24

R

Military Invention, and Industrial Research Laboratories

Hughes, Ch. 3-4 (96-183) "Brain Mill for the Military";
"No Philanthropic Asylum for Indigent Scientists"

10/28

M

Taylorism and Fordism (Scientific Management, Assembly Lines,
and the Gospel of Efficiency)

 
Hughes, Ch. 5-6 (184-248; 249-294) "The System Must Be First"; 
      "Taylorismus + Fordismus = Amerikanismus"
Rec: Smith/Clancey, Ch. 8 (267-311) "Inventing Efficiency: 
               Scientific Management, ca. 1900 - 1939"
         Smith/Clancey, Ch. 9 (312-354) "Ford, Automobility, 
                and Mass Production, 1908 - 1941"

10/31

R

American Life in Transformation: Industrialization, Prosperity, Consumption, Depression (1870s - 1930s)

Cowan, (178-200) "Daily Life and Mundane Work"
(Workers, Housewives, Servants)
Pursell, Ch. 10 (229-250) "The Decade of Prosperity and
Consumption"
Pursell, Ch. 11 (251-269) "Depression: Study and Subsidy"

 

 

Post WWI and the Depression
 
 

11/4

M

Critical Reflections on Technology

Hughes, Ch. 7 (295-352) "The Second Discovery of
America"
Basalla "Keaton and Chaplin: The Silent Film's Response to Technology" (192-201) Packet
Hounshell Ch. 8 "The Ethos of Mass Production & Its Critics" (303 - 330) Packet
Marx, "Alienation and Technology" (121-130) Packet
White, "Dynamo and Virgin Reconsidered" (57-73) Packet

Recommended Films: "Modern Times"; "Metropolis"

11/7

R

The TVA, Electricity, and the Atomic Bomb

Hughes, Ch. 8 (353-442) "Tennessee Valley and
Manhattan Engineer District"

11/11

M

 
From little science to BIG SCIENCE: Science, Scientists,
and Institutions in the Twentieth Century
From "pure science" to entrepreneurial science, from
collaboration to teamwork, from freely sharing to patenting, science has become "a national resource."
(No assigned reading; questions instead)

11/14

R

 The Military Industrial Complex, WWII, and its Legacy in Science and Technology. 
Cowan, Ch. 11(250-270) "Taxpayers, Generals, 
     and Aviation" 
Pursell, Ch. 12 (271-297) "Wars and the American 
     Century"
Fallows, "The American Army and the M-16 Rifle" 
  (382 - 394) Packet

Rec: Smith/Clancey, Ch. 12 (427-469) 
          "The Military - Industrial - University Complex, 
           1945-1990"


 

From WWII to Y2K: Modern to Postmodern Technology
 
 

11/18

M

Communications, Computers, and Information: A Revolution?

Cowan, Ch. 12 (273-298) "Communications Technologies and Social Control"
Smith/Clancey, Ch. 13 (471-519) "Countdown to
Cyberspace: 1974 - 1990. Packet
Abbate "Cold War and White Heat: the Origins and Meanings of Packet Switching" (351 - 371) Packet

11/21

R

Biotechnology: Postwar Expansion. Farm Pest Control

Cowan, Ch. 13 (301-326) "Biotechnology"
Smith/Clancey, Ch. 11 (383-426) "The Pest War: The
Shifting Use and Meaning of Insecticides, 1940 - 1990"
Packet
Marcus (191 - 205) "Unanticipated Aftertaste: Cancer, The Role of Science, and the Question of DES Beef…" Packet

11/25

M

Making Sense of the Past 40 Years: Limits, Controls, Prognoses.

 

 

Note:
the deadline for all 6 papers 
is 5:00 pm today, Monday 11/25 !

Marcus/Segal Ch. 10 (299 - 333) "Public and Private:
Technology as a Social Question: The Later 1960s to the
1990s" Packet
Marcus/Segal Ch. 11 (334 - 381) "Private and Public:
Technology and Individual Autonomy: The Later 1960s to
the 1990s" Packet

---------------------------------- THANKSGIVING RECESS --------------------------

12/2

M
2nd Hour Examination

12/5

R

Countercultural Reactions and Alternative Technology
Suggestions for the Future

Quiz (very brief).

SCES

 Pursell Ch. 13 (299-319) "Challenge, Defense, and Revolution in a Postmodern World"
Hughes, Ch. 9 (443-472) "Counterculture and Momentum"

 

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Selected Readings in the History of American Science and Technology

     Boorstin, D. The Americans: the Democratic Experience
     Bruce, R. V. The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846-1876
     Cassedy, J. H. Medicine in America : a Short History
     Cowan, R. S. More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household 
     Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave, 1983
     Cravens, H., Technical Knowledge in American Culture: Science, 
     Marcus, A., and Technology, and Medicine since the Early 1800s 1996
     Katzman, P.M., eds.
     Cross, G. and Szostak, R. Technology and American Society: A History 1995
     Daniels, G. American Science in the Age of Jackson
     Daniels, G. Science in American Society 1971
     Dupree, A. H. Science in the Federal Government
     Duffy, J. From Humors to Medical Science: A History of American
     Medicine, 2nd edition, [Formerly, The Healers] 1993 
     Elliot, Clark A. History of Science in the United States: A Chronology and      
     Research Guide, 1996
     Elliott, Clark A., comp. Biographical lndex to American Science: The 
                              Seventeenth Century to 1920. 1990
     Fogel, R. Railroads and American Economic Growth 1964
     Hindle, B. The Pursuit of Science in Pre-Revolutionary America
     Hindle, B. and Lubar, S. Engines of Change: The American Industrial 
     Revolution, 1790-1860. 1986
     Hounshell, D. From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932
     Hunter, L. Steamboats on Western Rivers 1949
     Kasson, J. F. Civilizing the Machine 1976
     King, L. S. Transformations in American Medicine : from Benjamin      
                 Rush to William Osler
     Layton, E., ed. Technology and Social Change in America 1973
     Link, E. P. The Social Ideas of American Physicians (1776-1976) : 
                 Studies of the Humanitarian Tradition in Medicine
     Marcus, A. and Segal, H.P.Technology in America: A Brief History 1989
     Marx, L. The Machine in the Garden 1964
     Nye, D. The American Technological Sublime 1994
     Pursell, C., ed., Technology in America: A History of Individuals and Ideas      81
     Pursell, C. The Machine in America: A Social History of Technology 95
     Rae, J. B. The American Automobile 
     Reingold, N., ed. Science in Nineteenth Century America, a Documentary History
     Rothenberg, M. The History of Science in the United States: A Critical 
                    and Selective Bibliography 1993
     Shryock, R. H Medicine and Society in America, 1660-1860.
     Smith, M. R. and Clancey, G. eds Major Problems in the History of American Technology 1998
     Stearns, R. P. Science in the British Colonies of North America
     Struik, D. J. Yankee Science in the Making 
     van Tassel, D. D., and Hall, M. G., eds. Science and Society in the United sStates 1966
     Winner, L. The Whale and the Reactor