Discovery, innovation, and risk : case studies in science and technology /

Developed at the Claremont Colleges to help students build an understanding of the relationships between modern science and technology, this book consists of nine interesting case histories divided among the headings of discovery, innovation, and risk. The first group illustrates connections between fundamental scientific developments and their applications through the early histories of telegraphy, hydroelectric power, and powered flight. The second shows how innovation drives development via the stories of power production using fossil fuels, gasoline refining, and modern bridge construction. Risk is treated in discussions of vaccines, the greenhouse effect, and nuclear power. Each chapter ends with a set of well-chosen exercises for further study. Although it is intended for liberal arts students, the book provides excellent examples for engineers and scientists of the practice of "design" with economic, political, and moral considerations weighed in parallel with technical issues. Despite some minor flaws, the book provides a good description of an emerging "engineering science" that fuses science and scientific methodology with practical goals. Undergraduate. J. U. Trefny; Colorado School of Mines