Volta: Science and Culture in the Age of EnlightenmentPrinceton University Press, 2005 - 400 pàgines Giuliano Pancaldi sets us within the cosmopolitan cultures of Enlightenment Europe to tell the story of Alessandro Volta--the brilliant man whose name is forever attached to electromotive force. Providing fascinating details, many previously unknown, Pancaldi depicts Volta as an inventor who used his international network of acquaintances to further his quest to harness the power of electricity. This is the story of a man who sought recognition as a natural philosopher and ended up with an invention that would make an everyday marvel of electric lighting. |
Continguts
Introduction | 1 |
THE MAKING OF A NATURAL PHILIOSOPHER | 7 |
The Town | 9 |
The Family | 12 |
Lifestyle | 14 |
Education | 15 |
A More Enlightened Age | 19 |
Literary Interests | 21 |
Overcoming Isolation | 149 |
The Neighborhoods | 153 |
Paris in 1782 | 156 |
Anglophilia | 160 |
Continental Europe and the GermanSpeaking Countries | 164 |
After 1789 | 168 |
Conclusion | 172 |
THE BATTERY | 178 |
Views on Religion and Secularization | 22 |
From Amateur to Expert to Public Servant | 27 |
Emotional Life | 33 |
Investigative Style | 39 |
Conclusion | 41 |
ENLIGHTENMENT SCIENCE SOUTH OF THE ALPS | 44 |
The Soil and the Institutions | 48 |
Provenance and Fields of Interest | 52 |
Prosopography | 56 |
The Circulation of Enlightenment Literature | 62 |
Views from the Outside | 65 |
Conclusion | 70 |
THE ELECTROPHORUS | 73 |
Fire Magnetism Electricity | 76 |
Vindicating Electricity | 83 |
Attraction and the Atmospheres | 86 |
Disenchanted Theorist | 90 |
Scientific Instruments and Their Social Uses | 91 |
The Path to the Electrophorus | 95 |
Instrument Design | 100 |
Publicizing Discovery | 104 |
Conclusion | 108 |
VOLTAS SCIENCE OF ELECTRICITY | 110 |
Capacity Tension Actuation and the Condensatore | 112 |
Natural Philosopher or Inventor of Amusements Electriques? | 121 |
Explanatory Models and Presentation Strategies | 125 |
Measuring Electricity | 129 |
Volta on Coulomb | 137 |
Conclusion | 141 |
THE COSMOPOLITAN NETWORK | 146 |
Galvanism Electrometer in Hand | 179 |
The Hunt for Weak Electricity | 186 |
The Electricity of Animals | 190 |
Nicholsons Contribution to Voltas Discovery | 196 |
Building the Battery | 202 |
Invention Instrumentalism and Competitive Imitation | 207 |
APPROPRIATIING INVENTION | 211 |
Spreading the News | 212 |
Replicating the Instrument | 221 |
Appropriating the Battery | 224 |
A Name for All Purposes | 246 |
From Philosophic Instrument to Patented Device | 248 |
Conclusion | 250 |
THE SCIENTIST AS HERO | 257 |
Admitted to Galileos Tribune | 258 |
Secular Saint in the Positivist Calendar | 259 |
The Triumph of Science | 261 |
In the Nobel Laureates Era | 263 |
Conclusion | 270 |
CONCLUSION SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND CONTINGENCY | 273 |
Useful Knowledge and Unintended Consequences | 275 |
The Quantifying Spirit | 278 |
Investment | 279 |
Value Assessments | 280 |
Contingency | 283 |
Enlightenment Legacies | 286 |
Notes | 291 |
Bibliography | 337 |
367 | |
Altres edicions - Mostra-ho tot
Volta: Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment Giuliano Pancaldi Previsualització limitada - 2018 |
Volta: Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment Giuliano Pancaldi Previsualització limitada - 2005 |
Volta: Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment Giuliano Pancaldi Previsualització no disponible - 2003 |