Publisher's Synopsis
The essays in this volume treat the interrelated activities of education, popularisation, and the exploitation of scientific and technical knowledge in France between the 1770s and 1914. This period, the ælongÆ 19th century, was one in which FranceÆs initial supremacy among the scientific nations of Europe is often said to have been eroded. It was also one in which, following signal achievements during and immediately after the revolutionary period, the French industrial performance appeared eventually to flag, when measured against that of Germany and the U.S.A. An important implication of this book is that while simple notions of ædeclineÆ are inadequate, science and technology in France did take a distinctive course. This course was determined in significant respects by the increasingly bureaucratic nature of scientific career-making, by the recurring political tensions within French society, and by the unfavourable economic and legislative context in which manufacturers in France had to compete with their rivals, most notably in Germany.
