The alchemy of us : how humans and matter transformed one another /
Materials science, wedged as it is between the two better-known fields of chemistry and physics, teaches us that everything in our world is due to the interactions of atoms. If you can find out how they interact to make up the physical world, then you can also change the way that atoms act to make t...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge, Massachusetts :
MIT Press,
[2020].
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| Summary: | Materials science, wedged as it is between the two better-known fields of chemistry and physics, teaches us that everything in our world is due to the interactions of atoms. If you can find out how they interact to make up the physical world, then you can also change the way that atoms act to make them do new things and, as we develop new materials, we discover that materials and humans are constantly being molded by each other. The Alchemy of Us shows how materials were shaped by inventors, but also how those materials shaped culture. Each chapter is titled with a verb to demonstrate how the meaning of that word was fashioned. Particularly, this book highlights how quartz clocks, steel rails, copper cables, silver photographic films, carbon light bulb filaments, magnetic disks, glass labware and silicon chips radically altered how we interact, connect, convey, capture, see, share, discover and think. The Alchemy of Us fills in the gaps of most books about technology by telling the tales of little-known inventors, or by taking a different angle to well-known ones. |
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| Physical Description: | xv, 308 pages, [64] pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780262043809 0262043807 |