HPS282S - HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
Spring 1998
Engineering in the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution
13 January 1998
I. The Artist-Engineer of the Renaissance
A. The importance of drawing and depiction
B. From technologists to engineers?
1. Is the engineer-artist a descendant of the master mason of the Middle Ages?
C. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), a case study
D. Military Engineering in the Early Modern Era
1. Introduction of gunpowder artillery leads to radical redesign of fortifications in the 16th century.
II. Vauban and Military Engineering
A. The Inventions of Vauban
B. The Royal Corps of Military Engineering
1. 1691 The Department of Fortifications
a) Bureaucratic and Hierarchic Organization
b) Standardized recruitment qualifications
c) Testing for entrance into the Department
d) Quasi-military ranks and some prestige
e) The engineer is the father of the bureaucrat
III. General Characteristics of the Industrial Revolution
A. Nomenclature and Chronology
B. Technical Characteristics
1. Mechanization
2. New Sources of Power
3. More efficient extraction of materials
4. A common feature: transition to a new kind of energy sources
C. Socioeconomic Characteristics
1. Changes in Organization of Production
2. Transition from a society of Orders (Estates) to a Society of Classes
3. Rapid Erosion of Barriers to social mobility, commerce, and capital
4. Changing attitudes to status
