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April 1st, 2015 by: A.J. Wright
Technology’s Stories vol 3, no. 1 – doi: 10.15763/JOU.TS.2015.4.1.01 PDF: Wright_What If Beddoes and Davy The inhalation of gases to relieve pain during surgery is considered one of America’s greatest contributions to medicine. The “discovery” of anesthesia is often credited to Boston dentist William Morton, who brought an inhalation device and ether into the operating…
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April 1st, 2015 by: William Lynch
Technology’s Stories vol. 3, no. 1 – doi: 10.15763/JOU.TS.2015.4.1.02 PDF: Lynch_Green Chemistry It is comparatively simple to sketch an historical overview of the chemical industry in Europe and the United States across the twentieth century. The identification after 1900 of naturally occurring vitamins and hormones in the body, followed by the development of novel synthetic…
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October 1st, 2014 by: Barbara Canavan
Technology’s Stories v. 2, no. 3 – doi: 10.15763/JOU.TS.2014.10.1.01 PDF: Canavan_Permafrost Rooster Background “Iron rooster” is a Chinese phrase for a stingy bird, one so difficult to pluck it might as well be made out of iron. Paul Theroux borrows this phrase in Riding the Iron Rooster to describe his arduous train travels across China…
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August 1st, 2014 by: John K. Brown
Technology’s Stories vol. 2, no. 2 – doi: 10.15763/JOU.TS.2014.8.1.02 PDF: Brown_A Different Counterfactual Perspective My article, “Not the Eads Bridge,” (Technology and Culture, July 2014) provides a case study of a consequential choice made in 1867-68, a choice influenced by politicians, financiers, railroad managers, and businessmen from St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, and…
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August 1st, 2014 by: Eric Schatzberg
Technology’s Stories vol. 2, no. 2 – doi: 10.15763/JOU.TS.2014.8.1.03 PDF: Schatzberg_Counterfactual History Jack Brown’s recent article in T&C opens up a new topic for historians of technology: the role of counterfactuals. As Brown notes, there are many possible varieties of “counterfactual history,” and it’s not entirely clear what they share in common. In this essay,…
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August 1st, 2014 by: Lee Vinsel
Technology’s Stories vol 2, no. 2 – doi: 10.15763/JOU.TS.2014.8.1.01 PDF: Vinsel_Value of Counterfactual Analysis In “Not the Eads Bridge: An Exploration of Counterfactual History of Technology,” Jack Brown offers up both an extended consideration of the counterfactual’s potential as a tool for historical investigation. “Counterfactual history” typically brings to mind open-ended “what if?” meditations that…
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