The Ancient EngineersSouvenir Press, 1970 - 408 páginas From the dawn of history to the rise of the scientific method in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, invention and technology advanced with painful slowness. The reason was not that men were stupid during those thousands of years—it was the fact that most people were simply too busy trying to keep alive. The imagination and daring that leisure and security could divert to other ends were limited to a tiny group. It is about these brave men—whose genius enabled the Egyptians to build their pyramids, the Phoenicians to cross stormy seas, the Romans to erect magnificent public buildings—that this carefully researched and fascinatingly written account of the advance of early technology has been written. Mr. de Camp describes the methods used by early irrigators, architects, and military engineers to build and maintain structures to serve their rulers' wants. He tells, for example, how the Pharaohs erected obelisks and pyramids, how Nebuchadnezzar fortified Babylon, how Dionysios' ordnance department invented the catapult, how the Chinese built the Great Wall, and how the Romans fashioned their roads, baths, sewers, and aqueducts. He recounts many intriguing anecdotes: an Assyrian king putting up no-parking signs in Nineveh; Plato inventing a water clock with an alarm to signal the start of his classes; Heron of Alexandria designing a coin-operated holy-water fountain; a Chinese emperor composing a poem to be inscribed on a clock invented by one of his civil servants. The Ancient Engineerswill delight students of technology and invention for its accurate portrayal of the foundations of modern engineering as well as lovers of history for its penetrating look at the material background of civilization and its unusual explanations of the world's social evolution. |
Dentro del libro
Resultados 1-3 de 28
Página 238
... Heron's Mechanics is mainly concerned with mechanical advantage . He describes the various means for obtaining this advantage - the wind- lass , the lever , the compound pulley , the wedge , the worm , and the gear train - and shows how ...
... Heron's Mechanics is mainly concerned with mechanical advantage . He describes the various means for obtaining this advantage - the wind- lass , the lever , the compound pulley , the wedge , the worm , and the gear train - and shows how ...
Página 243
... Heron to devote a few years of in- tensive research to the steam - engine problem . . . But it is useless to expect people to attack problems that they do not know exist . As it was , Heron did more creative work than a hundred ordinary ...
... Heron to devote a few years of in- tensive research to the steam - engine problem . . . But it is useless to expect people to attack problems that they do not know exist . As it was , Heron did more creative work than a hundred ordinary ...
Página 268
... Heron the Mechanic " or " Heron the Second . " He is generally known as " Heron of Byzantium . " Whether his name really was Heron , or whether he used that name to capitalize on the repute of the famous Heron of Alexandria ( whom he calls ...
... Heron the Mechanic " or " Heron the Second . " He is generally known as " Heron of Byzantium . " Whether his name really was Heron , or whether he used that name to capitalize on the repute of the famous Heron of Alexandria ( whom he calls ...
Contenido
Three The Mesopotamian Engineers | 53 |
Four The Greek Engineers | 86 |
Five The Hellenistic Engineers | 114 |
Derechos de autor | |
Otras 7 secciones no mostradas
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
Términos y frases comunes
Agrippa Alexandria ancient aqueducts Arabic arch Archimedes architect Aristotle armor army Assyrian Athens Babylon became began brick bridge bronze builders building built Byzantine called canal castle catapult centuries China Chinese civilization classical columns conquered Demetrios dome early Egypt Egyptian emperor Empire engineering Europe feet fire Frontinus galleys gear Greek Hadrian harbor Hellenistic Hence Herodotos Heron Heron of Alexandria High Middle Ages horse houses Imhotep India invention iron irrigation kings Ktesibios Lake land later Leonardo machine mechanical medieval Mediterranean Mesopotamia Mesopotamian Middle Ages miles mill modern Mongols mounted Muslim oars palaces Persian Philon Philon of Byzantium Phoenicians piers pipes Polybios probably Ptolemaios pyramid river roads Roman Rome roof rowers sail Sennacherib shaft ships side siege statue stone structure temple took tower Trajan treadwheel tunnel turned vault vessel Vitruvius wall water clock water wheel wind wooden