Table of Contents

Part 1 A tale of two bridges - Finley, Navier and suspension bridge design: Finley, technology and frontier society; designing the chain bridge; Finley's design system in practice; Navier - the making of an engineer-scientist; theorizing the suspension bridge; the pont des invalides. Part 2 Social determinants of engineering practice - a comparative view of France and America in the 19th century: the French technologists; the American technologists; ideology and technological practice.

Promotional Information

"Eda Kranakis has written a finely-researched study in the history of 19th-century technology that contrasts engineering ideas, education, and designs developed in France to those pursued in the United States. Her comparative approach has the technological richness of suspension bridges and the cultural depth of general social theories. This lively book is accessible to the general public and will delight the specialist in either history or technology." David P. Billington , Civil Engineering & Operations Research, Princeton University

About the Author

Eda Kranakis is Professor of History at the University of Ottawa and the author of Constructing a Bridge: An Exploration of Engineering Culture, Design, and Research in Nineteenth-Century France and America (MIT Press, 1997).

Reviews

"Eda Kranakis has written a finely-researched study in the history of 19th-century technology that contrasts engineering ideas, education, and designs developed in France to those pursued in the United States. Her comparative approach has the technological richness of suspension bridges and the cultural depth of general social theories. This lively book is accessible to the general public and will delight the specialist in either history or technology." David P. Billington , Civil Engineering & Operations Research, Princeton University