Creating and Transforming the Twentieth Century, Revised and Expanded : Technical Innovations and Their Lasting Impact / Vaclav Smil.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smil, Vaclav, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Technological innovations--Economic aspects.

Technological innovations.

Technological innovations--Economic aspects--History--19th century.

Technological innovations--Economic aspects--History--20th century.

Technological innovations--History--19th century.

Technological innovations--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (738 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2025]

Summary:

Creating and Transforming the Twentieth Century combines two of Vaclav Smil's seminal works--Creating the Twentieth Century and Transforming the Twentieth Century--in this revised and expanded edition. Covering technical advances that shaped the period from 1867 through the end of the 20th century, this new edition contains numerous updates and features a new preface and a final chapter examining key themes in light of major 21st-century events and publications. Now in a single volume, these classic texts remain central to Smil's acclaimed oeuvre, and their lessons are perennially fascinating.

Contents:

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&amp

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

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

Oxygen and Nitrogen

Hydrogen

Remarkable New Materials

Multitude of Plastics

PE and PVC

Silicon

4 Rationalized Production: Mechanization, Automation, Robotization

Agricultural Harvests

Machines and Chemicals

Animal Foods

Potatoes Partly Made of Oil

Mineral Extraction and Processing

Coal Mining Transformed

Oil and Gas Industries

Advances in Factory Production

Mass Production

Automation and Robotization

Flexibility and Variety

5 Transportation, Communication, Information: Mass and Speed

Transport on Mass Scales

The Automobile Century

New High-Speed Trains

Commercial Aviation

Moving Freight

Computing Revolutions

The First Electronic Computers.

Transistors and Integrated Circuits

Microprocessors

Electronic Control and Communication

From Mainframes to the World Wide Web

Mass Media and Personal Choices

6 New Realities and Counterintuitive Worlds: Accomplishments and Concerns

Gains and Losses

High-Energy Societies and the Quality of Life

Mobility and Its Price

The Electronic World

Changing Economies

Mass Production and Innovation

Transformation of Labor

Growth, Interdependence, and Inequalities

Levels of Risk

Weapons and Conflicts

Global Environmental Change

7 A New Era or an Ephemeral Phenomenon?: Outlook for Technical Civilization

Contrasting Views

Great Contrasts

Missing Contexts

Lasting Need for Age of Synergy Advances

Accelerating Innovations?

Global Energy Transition

Envoi

Units and Abbreviations

Part III Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Two Decades Later

References

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-19-778466-6

0-19-778467-4

0-19-778465-8

OCLC:

1482973891