Kindai Hatsumeika Retsuden (Biographies of Modern Inventors: The Nine Technologies that Draw the World Closer)

This book consists of biographies of 10 inventors - 8 individuals and 1 pair (the Wright brothers) - from the 18th to the 20th century, each of which is written paying attention to technical processes and sociohistorical contexts of their inventions. The inventors are divided into 3 groups. The first group includes John Harrison who invented the marine chronometer, James Watt who invented a separate condenser and significantly improved the steam engine, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel who greatly contributed to the construction of railways and steamships and the operation of their network system. Their innovative achievements contributed to the creation of new motive power and modern transportation network, which played crucially important roles in the Industrial Revolution and subsequent era of imperialism. The second group includes Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Lee De Forest, who respectively invented the phonograph, telephone, and vacuum tube. Their inventions were all media-related technologies, enabling vocal sounds to be stored, transmitted, and amplified. And they were not just inventors but businessmen. Edison and Bell were both successful businessmen who strived to put their inventions to practical use, whereas De Forest underwent great difficulties in his attempt to make profit from his inventions. The last group is represented by Karl Friedrich Benz in automobiles, the Wright brothers in aircraft, and Wernher von Braun in rocketry. These three inventors created the technologies of transportation which shaped the society and world of the twentieth century. The twentieth century is also called the century of war. While he consistently pursued his dream of launching a space rocket throughout his life, von Braun had to live a life in this tumultuous century and had to undergo excruciating experiences. The book narrates the life stories of these 10 inventors, explaining about their inventions and subsequent technological developments as well as the hardships they experienced while working as engineers and living in respective historical circumstances.
 

(Written by Takehiko Hashimoto, Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences / 2018)