http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
Creating and transforming the twentieth century, revised and expanded
technical innovations and their lasting impact
'Creating and Transforming the Twentieth Century' combines two of Vaclav Smil's seminal works in a revised and expanded edition.
Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Part I Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact -- 1 The Great Inheritance -- The Unprecedented Saltation -- The Knowledge Economy -- The Age of Synergy -- The Distance Traveled -- 2 The Age of Electricity -- Fiat Lux: Inventing Electric Lights -- Early Electric Lights -- Edison's R&D Dash -- Edison's Success and Competitors -- Metallic Filaments -- Edison's System -- Dynamos, Engines, Fixtures -- The First Central Plants -- Turbines, Transformers, Motors
Steam Turbines: Laval, Parsons, Curtis -- Transformers -- First Electric Motors -- Adoption of Electric Motors and Their Impact -- Systems Mature and (Not Quite) Standardize -- AC Versus DC -- Expanding Generation and Consumption -- 3 Internal Combustion Engines -- Multiple Beginnings -- Otto and Langen -- Beau de Rochas and Otto: Ideas and Machines -- German Trio and the First Car Engines -- The Diesel Engine -- Creating Car Industry and Car Culture -- Technical Challenges -- Ford's Model -- The First Two Decades -- Expanding Applications -- Heavy-Duty Engines -- Engines in Flight
4 New Materials and New Syntheses -- Steel Ascendant -- Open-Hearth Furnace -- Steel in Modern Society -- Steel in Construction -- Aluminum -- A Duplicate Discovery -- Mature Hall-Héroult Process -- Industrial Gases -- New Syntheses -- Powerful Explosives -- Ammonia from Its Elements -- Genesis of the Haber-Bosch Process -- Importance of Synthetic Ammonia -- 5 Communication and Information -- Printed Word -- Typesetting and Typewriting -- Papermaking -- Accessible Images -- Cameras, Films, Photographs -- Movies -- Reproducing Sound -- Inventing Telephones -- Recorded Sound -- Hertzian Waves
Wireless Communication -- 6 A New Civilization -- Missing Perspectives -- BC (Before Computers) -- Triumphs, Tragedies, Foibles -- So Much Has Changed -- Enduring Artifacts and Ubiquitous Innovations -- Life Cycles of Innovations -- Markers of a New Era -- High-Energy Societies -- Mechanization and Mass Production -- 7 Contemporary Perceptions -- Part II Transforming the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences -- 1 Transforming the Twentieth Century: Debts and Advances -- Limits of Causality -- The Unprecedented Saltation -- Transformations and New Departures
Innovations and Inventions -- 2 Energy Conversions: Growth and Innovation -- Fossil-Fueled Societies -- Growth and Performance Plateaus -- Energy Transitions and Relative Decarbonization -- Electrification -- Nuclear Energy -- Nuclear Weapons -- Electricity from Fission -- New Prime Movers -- Turbines in Flight -- Industrial Gas Turbines -- Rocket Engines -- 3 Materials: Old Techniques and New Solutions -- Still the Iron (Steel) Age -- Blast Furnaces -- Steelmaking: Basic Oxygen Furnace and Electric Arc Furnace -- Continuous Casting -- New Paths to Iron -- Accomplishments and Consequences
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Creating and transforming the twentieth century
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2025]