Did industry and commerce affect the concepts, values and epistemic foundations of different sciences? If so, how and to what extent? This book suggests that the most significant influence of industry on science in the two case studies treated here had to do with the issue of realism. Using wave propagation as the common thread, this is the first book to simultaneously analyse the emergence of realist attitudes towards the entities of the ionosphere and of the earth's crust. However, what led physicists and engineers to adopt realist attitudes? This book suggests that a new kind of realism —a realism of social and cultural origins- is the answer: a preliminary, entity realism responding to specific commercial and engineering interests, and a realism that was neither strictly instrumental nor exclusively operational. The book has two parts: while Part I focuses on the study of the ionosphere and how the British radio industry affected ionospheric physics, Part II focuses on the study of the Earth's crust and how the American oil industry affected crustal seismology.

'Getting Real' is the first book to simultaneously study the emergence of realist attitudes towards the entities (layers) of the ionosphere and the earth's crust. It proposes a new kind of realism: a realism of social and cultural origins, an entity realism responding to specific commercial and engineering interests.

Did industry and commerce affect the concepts, values and epistemic foundations of different sciences? If so, how and to what extent? This book suggests that the most significant influence of industry on science in the two case studies treated here had to do with the issue of realism. Using wave propagation as the common thread, this is the first book to simultaneously analyse the emergence of realist attitudes towards the entities of the ionosphere and of the earth's crust. However, what led physicists and engineers to adopt realist attitudes? This book suggests that a new kind of realism --a realism of social and cultural origins- is the answer: a preliminary, entity realism responding to specific commercial and engineering interests, and a realism that was neither strictly instrumental nor exclusively operational. The book has two parts: while Part I focuses on the study of the ionosphere and how the British radio industry affected ionospheric physics, Part II focuses on the study of the Earth's crust and how the American oil industry affected crustal seismology.

Sonar to Quartz Clock examines how the unapplied phenomenon of piezoelectricity became applied for technologies such as sonar, crystal frequency control, the quartz clock, and how its research has consequently changed during WWI and the interwar period. It aims at reconstructing, for the first time, the fascinating history of the inventions and the development of these highly important technologies, which are still in extensive use, and which were crucial for the electronic revolution, arguably the most important technological developments of the twentieth century. On this basis, this book suggests a better and more nuanced understanding of the relationships between modern science and technology and the process of development and innovation of science-based technologies. It examines in particular the mutual transfer and transformation of knowledge between them including the way physics becomes practically applicable, the way applications and societal interests shape technology and science, and the differences and similarities between scientific and technological research. The book presents an in-depth analysis of the scientific and technological research and development in the field, and of the evolution of their experimental, theoretical, and technical aspects within their social military and commercial contexts. It offers an integrative history of science and technology, needed to better comprehend their interactions and evolution but rare in current historiography. This book will appeal to historians of science and technology, sociologists of science and generally scientists and engineers studying or working with piezoelectricity, ultrasound devices, and crystal frequency control.

Following the launch of Sputnik, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization became a prominent sponsor of scientific research in its member countries, a role it retained until the end of the Cold War. As NATO marks sixty years since the establishment of its Science Committee, the main organizational force promoting its science programs, Greening the Alliance is the first book to chart NATO’s scientific patronage—and the motivations behind it—from the organization’s early days to the dawn of the twenty-first century. Drawing on previously unseen documents from NATO’s own archives, Simone Turchetti reveals how its investments were rooted in the alliance’s defense and surveillance needs, needs that led it to establish a program prioritizing environmental studies. A long-overlooked and effective diplomacy exercise, NATO’s “greening” at one point constituted the organization’s chief conduit for negotiating problematic relations between allies. But while Greening the Alliance explores this surprising coevolution of environmental monitoring and surveillance, tales of science advisers issuing instructions to bomb oil spills with napalm or Dr. Strangelove–like experts eager to divert the path of hurricanes with atomic weapons make it clear: the coexistence of these forces has not always been harmonious. Reflecting on this rich, complicated legacy in light of contemporary global challenges like climate change, Turchetti offers both an eye-opening history of international politics and environmental studies and a thoughtful assessment of NATO’s future.

This personalized narrative is both a technical and economic history showing how exploration geophysics evolved from simple scientific beginnings into a sophisticated science impacting civilization in diverse ways. It presents geophysics as an intriguing scientific and technical field full of sharp contrasts, revealing it as an unusual blend of the theoretical and the practical, the laboratory and the field, the nonprofit effort and the profit-making venture, a cornerstone of peace and an implement of war. Written by members of the profession well acquainted with many of the key actions and players, this book describes intriguing developments and applications that took place within three interrelated fields of earth physics-exploration geophysics, seismology, and oceanography-during the never-ending search for oil and natural gas. Stressing challenge and change, this chronicle is bracketed by two major flex points in Western civilization-the initial waging of deadly global war (1914-18) and the conclusion in the 1990s of the Cold War that threatened civilization with nuclear annihilation. It is a complex story of people and events that highlights the emergence of major industries on the international scene. The book is must reading for all practicing earth scientists and their families, investors in the industry, and people interested in economic geology, public and world affairs, military warfare, the history of science and technology, environmental sciences, and even outdoor adventure.