Exposing Electronics FROM THE PUBLISHER
It is clear that artefacts have the power to provoke thought, inspire action and arouse passions. There is evidence of this in the ever-increasing number of museums as well as in the ability of those museums to stimulate controversy through exhibits. As a consequence, much has been written analysing the interaction between objects and museum visitors. Less well recognised, or understood, is the value of objects for historical research.
In this series of books we propose to show by example how artefacts can be employed in the study of the history of science and technology in ways ranging from motivating a line of research to providing hard evidence in the solution of an otherwise insoluble problem. The first volume focused on medicine; in this, the second volume, the topic our authors address is electronics. As readers will discover, there is considerable scope in the range of topics and in the range of uses of artefacts.
There is also a section which is meant to suggest to readers what kind of
SYNOPSIS
Finn, curator of the electrical collections at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, gathers ten contributions written by historians of science which discuss the birth of the core electronic technologies of the 20th century: J.A. Fleming's valve, Seymour Cray's supercomputers, and I.I. Rabi's preliminary nuclear research. First published in 2000 by license from Overseas Publishers Association NV under the Harwood Academic Publishers imprint. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
Curators and other historians examine electronic artefacts preserved in collections around the world, demonstrating the ways in which they can be employed in the study of the history of science and technology. A section is devoted to the process by which electrical items are collected and the museums in which many of them are preserved. Includes high-quality b&w historical photos and photos of devices on exhibit. Finn is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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