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Also see the archival list of the Essays on Science and Society.
BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER: A World of Glass
Alan Macfarlane and Gerry Martin
There is much debate about what caused the remarkable changes that swept through Europe between 1200 and 1850 in the form of the Renaissance and the industrial and scientific revolutions. In this month's Science and Society Essay, Macfarlane and Martin, discuss how glass contributed to these changes by improving everyday life and altering scientific thinking, ultimately helping to usher in our modern world.
A. Macfarlane is in the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3RF, UK. E-mail: am12@cam.ac.uk. The late Gerry Martin was an industrialist, cofounder of Eurotherm Ltd., and a collector of scientific instruments. *Alan Macfarlane and Gerry Martin, Glass: A World History (Chicago Univ. Press, Chicago, 2002). Further material is provided at www.alanmacfarlane.com. Among the best illustrated histories and encyclopedias about glass are: Chloe Zerwick, A Short History of Glass (Corning Museum, New York, 1990); Hugh Tait, Ed., Five Thousand Years of Glass (British Museum, London, 1995); Reino Liefkes Ed., Glass (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1997); Dan Klein and Ward Lloyd, Eds., The History of Glass (Orbis, London, 1984). An
inspiring brief introduction to the contributions of glass to society is Lewis Mumford's Technics and Civilization (Harcourt Brace, New York, 1934).
