Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

HISTORICAL studies of nineteenth-century America's science and technology undertaken during the past 30 or more years reflect their postmodern origins and differ markedly from their modernist ancestors. Historians of technology and science prior to the 1960s tended to frame questions and issues that would elucidate or have implications for modernism. In that regard, the early history of science in America took its inspiration from Europe as exemplified by A. O. Lovejoy's Great Chain of Being and Alexandre Koyre's From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe. Following European precedent, this early history of science in America was dominated by two questions. The first concentrated on individuals identified as great men and asked how these geniuses reasoned when they achieved their greatness. A fine example of this approach was Edward Lurie's Louis Agassiz: a Life in Science (1960), which was framed to show genius in action and practice. The second question revolved around then current knowledge and asked what were the positive and therefore relevant steps that were taken in the march that led to this particular enlightenment. A. Hunter Dupree's Asa Gray, 1810–1888 (1959), for instance, was more interested in Gray's involvement in bringing Darwinism to America than in other aspects of Gray's career.History of technology questions were equally formalized. Historians wanted to know ... log in or subscribe to read full text