History of Artificial Cold, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Issues

Description

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. ? Foreword Contents About the Authors Chapter 1: Historiographical Issues in the History of Cold 1.1 The Bad, the Good and the Tolerant 1.1.1 The Physics of the Very Cold 1.2 Zero Electrical Resistance 1.3 A Most Peculiar Liquid 1.4 “Alice in Wonderland” 1.5 Large Scale Uses of Cold 1.6 Some Concluding Remarks References Part I: Investigating the Very Cold Chapter 2: Early Modern History of Cold: Robert Boyle and the Emergence of a New Experimental Field in Seventeenth Century Experimental Philosophy 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The Seventeenth Century Historical Context on Cold 2.3 The Context of Boyle’s Experiments on Cold 2.4 Boyle’s Experimental Practice on Cold 2.4.1 Can We Measure Cold? 2.4.2 Freezing and Its Effects 2.4.3 The Phenomena of Ice 2.4.4 Bodies that Cause or Enhance the Action of Cold 2.4.5 On the Diffusion of Cold 2.5 Conclusion Annexes (A) The Table of Contents of the Treatise Cold (Boyle 1665a) New Thermometrical Experiments and Thoughts The Experimental History of Cold Begun An Advertisement An Advertisement (B) Thermoscopes (C) Table of Liquids that Freeze and Liquids that Do Not Freeze (D) Table of Measurements of the Duration of Ice References Archives Bibliography Chapter 3: James Dewar and His Route to the Liquefaction of Hydrogen References Chapter 4: The Cryogenic Laboratory of Heike Kamerlingh Onnes: An Early Case of Big Science References Chapter 5: Superconductivity—A Challenge to Modern Physics References Chapter 6: Superfluidity: How Quantum Mechanics Became Visible 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Before the Discovery of Superfluidity 6.3 Who Discovered Superfluidity? 6.4 Who Initiated the Understanding of Superfluidity? 6.5 Conclusion: More Recent Developments and Discoveries, Applications References Chapter 7: The Physics of Cold in the Cold War— “On-Line Computing” Between the ICBM Program and Superconductivity 7.1 Cold War Physicists 7.2 Research and Development at Ramo-Wooldridge 7.3 “On-Line” Computing 7.4 Computers Enter Superconductivity Research 7.5 On-Line Computing and Eliashberg’s Gap Equation 7.6 Conclusion Bibliography Part II: Industries of Cold Chapter 8: Domestic Ice-Making Machines 1830–1930 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Refrigerating Mixtures and the “glacières des familles” 8.3 Evaporation and Absorption Systems 8.4 Compression Systems with Liquefiable Compounds 8.5 New Century, New Tendencies 8.6 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 9: Carl Linde and His Relationship with Georges Claude: The Cooperation Between Two Independent Inventors in Cryogenics and Its Side Effects 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Mutual Franco-German Perceptions in Science and Industry 9.3 Linde and Claude Enter Cryogenics 9.4 Linde and Claude as Independent Inventors 9.5 Venture Capital of the Two Companies 9.6 Political Orientations of Georges Claude and Carl von Linde 9.7 The Collaboration Between Linde and Claude References Chapter 10: Meeting Artificial Cold: Expositions and Refrigeration, 1896–1937 10.1 Universal or National? Applied Science at Expositions 10.2 Preludes to Artificial Cold as a Twentieth-Century Show 10.3 Raoul Pictet and the 1896 Swiss National Exposition (SNE) 10.4 Artificial Cold in Support of Exposition Shows 10.5 Paris, 1937 10.6 Postscript and Conclusion Bibliography Part III: Consuming Cold Chapter 11: The Introduction of Frozen Foods in West Germany and Its Integration into the Daily Diet 11.1 The Development of the Frozen Food Business Before 1945 11.2 The Development After 1945 11.3 Conclusion References Chapter 12: The Means of Modernization, Freezing Technologies and the Cultural Politics of Everyday Life, Norway 1940–1965 12.1 War, Protein and Freezing Technology 12.2 The Arctic North and the Politics of Industrialization 12.3 Cold Chains and the Integration of Production and Retail 12.4 The Disappearance of Fish Dealers 12.5 The Socioeconomics of Freezers 12.6 The Technology of Consumer Society 12.7 Freezing Technology and Visions of Tomorrow 12.8 The Cultural Politics of Artificial Cold Literature Chapter 13: The Invention of Refrigerated Transport and the Development of the International Dressed Meat Trade 13.1 The Long Wait for Mechanical Refrigeration 13.2 The Experimental Shipment 13.3 The Triumph of American Dressed Meat 13.4 Different Refrigerants for Different Tasks References Chapter 14: ‘Fresher than Fresh’. Consumer Attitudes Towards the Development of the Cold Chain in Post-2WW Greece 14.1 The Cold Chain in Greece. A Brief Overview 14.1.1 Frozen Fish 14.1.2 Agricultural Products 14.1.3 Gaining Consumer’s Trust: Domestic Refrigeration 14.2 Concluding Remarks References Index