History of Artificial Cold, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Issues

Beschreibung

The history of artificial cold has been a rather intriguing interdisciplinary subject (physics, chemistry, technology, sociology, economics, anthropology, consumer studies) which despite some excellent monographs and research papers, has not been systematically exploited. It is a subject with all kinds of scientific, technological as well as cultural dimensions. For example, the common home refrigerator has brought about unimaginably deep changes to our everyday lives changing drastically eating habits and shopping mentalities. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st, issues related to the production and exploitation of artificial cold have never stopped to provide us with an incredibly interesting set of phenomena, novel theoretical explanations, amazing possibilities concerning technological applications and all encompassing cultural repercussions. The discovery of the unexpected and “bizarre” phenomena of superconductivity and superfluidity, the necessity to incorporate macroscopic quantum phenomena to the framework of quantum mechanics, the discovery of Bose-Einstein condensation and high temperature superconductivity, the use of superconducting magnets for high energy particle accelerators, the construction of new computer hardware, the extensive applications of cryomedicine, and the multi billion industry of frozen foods, are some of the more dramatic instances in the history of artificial cold.
The history of artificial cold has been a rather intriguing interdisciplinary subject (physics, chemistry, technology, sociology, economics, anthropology, consumer studies) which despite some excellent monographs and research papers, has not been systematically exploited. It is a subject with all kinds of scientific, technological as well as cultural dimensions. For example, the common home refrigerator has brought about unimaginably deep changes to our everyday lives changing drastically eating habits and shopping mentalities. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st, issues related to the production and exploitation of artificial cold have never stopped to provide us with an incredibly interesting set of phenomena, novel theoretical explanations, amazing possibilities concerning technological applications and all encompassing cultural repercussions. The discovery of the unexpected and “bizarre” phenomena of superconductivity and superfluidity, the necessity to incorporate macroscopic quantum phenomena to the framework of quantum mechanics, the discovery of Bose-Einstein condensation and high temperature superconductivity, the use of superconducting magnets for high energy particle accelerators, the construction of new computer hardware, the extensive applications of cryomedicine, and the multi billion industry of frozen foods, are some of the more dramatic instances in the history of artificial cold.
Discusses technological and scientific dimensions as well as cultural implications Contains details of the discovery of the unexpected and “bizarre” phenomena of superconductivity and superfluidity Focuses on issues related to the production and exploitation of artificial cold ?

Autor*in

Kostas Gavroglu

Themen in »History of Artificial Cold, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Issues«

17th century experimental philosophy Artificial cold Domestic Ice-Making Machines Frozen foods History of low temperatures Kammerlingh Onnes Road to the Liquefaction of Hydrogen Superconductivity The physics of cold in the Cold War cryogenic laboratory cryogenics and its side effects how quantum mechanics became visible introduction of frozen foods in West Germany

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“In History of Artificial Cold, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Issues, editor Kostas Gavroglu has brought together a well-balanced and very readable collection of essays on the history of the investigation and use of ‘cold.’ … the collection is well worth reading. … As an instructor, I would certainly suggest it to a student as a starting point for more detailed research on the subject of cold in science and society.” (Andrew Ede, Metascience, December, 2014)

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