The Innovators, The Engineering Pioneers who Made America Modern (Wiley Popular Science) - Hardcover

Billington, David P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471140260 ISBN 13: 9780471140269

Publisher: Trade Paper Press, 1996

Synopsis

Enter the workshops of America's early engineering geniuses and discover how they came up with their ideas and applied them to the marketplace. David Billington, acclaimed author of The Tower and the Bridge, reveals the strokes of brilliance behind such landmark developments as the steamboat, electric power, and the rise of the iron and steel industry. He explains each major innovation through the story of the remarkable new engineering formulas that made it possible, showing that one key to engineering progress is the discovery of fundamental relationships in the physical world. He also explores the political and social conditions that allowed these brilliant individuals to implement their ideas, and the sweeping changes that followed in their wake. Who were the innovators? Some are legendary: Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat; Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph; and Thomas Edison, inventor of the incandescent lightbulb. Others are not as well known, however, and readers will be introduced to many whose contributions, if not their names, have stood the test of time: people like J. Edgar Thompson, who built the Pennsylvania Railroad; and Thomas Telford, who revolutionized largescale bridge building and design.

About this title

Review:

In a world rocked constantly by an almost overwhelming string of technological wonders, it's easy to lose sight of the 18th- and 19th-century engineering breakthroughs that set the stage for today's scientific and electronic advances. In The Innovators: The Engineering Pioneers Who Made America Modern, David P. Billington presents a series of intriguing profiles of such pacesetters as Robert Fulton, Thomas Edison, and Samuel Morse, whose inventions are responsible for so many of the developments we currently enjoy.

From the Publisher:

Written from an engineering perspective, this fascinating book emphasizes the innovations that were truly basic to U.S. industrialization. The author uses a three-sided view to describe American engineering history: what great engineers actually did, the political and economic conditions within which they worked, and the influence that these designers and their achievements had on the nation. Billington explores the scientific basis of engineering through elementary formulas that also include the social issues of regulated loads, visually striking forms, acceptable risks, environmental issues, and the production of wealth.

About this edition

• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0471140260
• ISBN 13: 9780471140269
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272