Instrumental In War: Science, Research, And Instruments Betweeen Knowledge And The World (History of Warfare) (History of Warfare)

Scientific research and instrumentation are crucial for military action today but they have not always been so. This collection investigates 500 years of the relationship between warfare, research, and instruments – both physical and intellectual – to understand this interaction. With U.S., English and French examples, contributors provide examples from army and naval history to show how governments and individuals made warfare scientific, developing instruments, stations, and organizations that furthered the cause. Some developments directly aided war efforts; others were parts of ‘normal science’ in peacetime; and others were relatively ineffective in directly bringing about military change. These developmental histories shed light on the origins of modern scientific warfare. Contributors: Steven A. Walton; William A. Lynch; Jamel Ostwald; Seymour H. Mauskopf ; James R. Fleming; Gerard P. Scharfenberger; William M. McBride; David Alan Grier; Sebastien Soubiran; Kenton Kroker; Deborah J. Warner; Peter Galison. Readership: Readers will include military historians, historians of science and technology, and those interested in instrumentation and research. Contributions are accessible to an advanced lay audience. List of Illustrations 7 Acknowledgements 13 Volume Contributions 15 List of Contributors 21 Introduction (Steven A. Walton) 25 Chapter One Mathematical Instruments and the Creation of the Scientific Military Gentleman (Steven A. Walton) 41 Chapter Two Surveying and the Cromwellian Reconquest of Ireland (William T. Lynch) 71 Chapter Three Like Clockwork? Clausewitzian Friction and the Scientific Siege in the Age of Vauban (Jamel Ostwald) 109 Chapter Four Calorimeters and Crushers: The Development of Instruments for Measuring the Behavior of Military Powder (Seymour H. Mauskopf) 143 Chapter Five Telegraphing the Weather: Military Meteorology, Strategy, and 'Homeland Security' on the American Frontier in the 1870s (James R. Fleming) 177 Chapter Six Remnants of Testing at the Sandy Hook Proving Grounds, Sandy Hook, New Jersey (Gerard P. Scharfenberger) 203 Chapter Seven From Measuring Progress to Technological Innovation: The Prewar Annapolis Engineering Experiment Station (William M. McBride) 239 Chapter Eight Dr. Veblen at Aberdeen: Mathematics, Military Applications and Mass Production (David Alan Grier) 277 Chapter Nine National Naval Laboratories and the Development of Fire Control Gyrocompasses in Interwar Britain and France (Sébastien Soubiran) 295 Chapter Ten Washouts: Electroencephalography, epilepsy and emotions in the selection of American aviators during the Second World War (Kenton Kroker) 325 Chapter Eleven A Matter of Gravity: Military Support for Gravimetry during the Cold War (Deborah J. Warner) 363 Chapter Twelve Physics Between War and Peace (1988 — with a new afterword) (Peter Galison) 387 Index 429

Scientific research and instrumentation are crucial for military action today but they have not always been so. This collection investigates 500 years of the relationship between warfare, research, and instruments - both physical and intellectual - to understand this interaction. With U.S., English and French examples, contributors provide examples from army and naval history to show how governments and individuals made warfare scientific, developing instruments, stations, and organizations that furthered the cause. Some developments directly aided war efforts; others were parts of ‘normal science’ in peacetime; and others were relatively ineffective in directly bringing about military change. These developmental histories shed light on the origins of modern scientific warfare.

Contributors: Steven A. Walton; William A. Lynch; Jamel Ostwald; Seymour H. Mauskopf ; James R. Fleming; Gerard P. Scharfenberger; William M. McBride; David Alan Grier; Sebastien Soubiran; Kenton Kroker; Deborah J. Warner; Peter Galison.

Research and instrumentation in warfare since 1500 demonstrates the rise of the scientific military, the complicated interaction with military institutions, and details of how scientists and engineers developed artillery and explosives, surveying and geophysics, pilot testing and siegework, and the role of national and university laboratories Every high school graduate "knows" that Galileo showed that the flight of a cannonball is a parabola