Sailing the Bremen Cog

The 14th-century Bremen Cog is the only near-complete representative of a type of large ship with a single square-sail which dominated North European waters for c. 200 years. The evaluation of sailing properties, seaworthiness, potential and characteristics of two replicas is made by professional seamen who have taken them to their limits. Their judgements need to be recorded now, or they will be forgotten especially as systematic tests and sea-trials have been limited and documentation lost. The replicas' captains' expert opinion on the Bremen Cog as a sea-going vessel is a rare case of long-term evaluation of a large-scale experimental-archaeology project.
© 2009 The Authors     

Überlegungen zur Verortung der Nanotechnologie in einem wissenschafts‐ und technikgeschichtlichen Kontinuum

Reflections about an embedding of nanotechnology in a continuum of the history of science and technology. Nanotechnology is not a completely new technology, we can rather understand it as a continuation and extension of chemical technology. Along this line, it is not only problematic to characterize nanotechnology as a new ‘key technology’ but also the definition of nanotechnology as looking at a particular causality between properties and dimensions of materials seems hardly new. For embedding nanotechnology in such a greater historical context, the development of colloid chemistry at the beginning of the 20^th century by Richard Zsigmondy and Wolfgang Ostwald is shown as an important reference point. Modern theories of supramolecular chemistry as those constituted by Jean‐Marie Lehn and others refer to this line of research in colloid chemistry and lead currently to scientific foundations of some nanotechnological fields. The historical embedding of nanotechnology can hence be used as a contribution for a more realistic evaluation of the technological possibilities as well as for a critical estimation of technological visions.     

Etappen auf dem Weg zu einer Geschichte der Pflanzenzüchtung. Überlegungen aus Anlaß eines Buches von Thomas Wieland

Thomas Wieland's book is the first survey on the history of scientific plant breeding in Germany from 1889 to 1945. There are two mainlines of analysis: (1) The transformation of an agricultural practise of peasants into an academic discipline of scientists and (2) the importance of political arguments for this process of scientification. Most of the time Wieland's methods to present his thesis are exemplary: either as biographies or as breeding project histories. So he can write about a great diversity of aspects; but from his point of view – the discipline history as applied science – he cannot show the great importance of economic forces controlling plant breeding. This short article will not diminish the high value of Wieland's book. My aim is only to outline some desiderata for a history of plant breeding which is not yet written.     

Über deutsch‐ungarische Beziehungen der Medizin im Zeitalter der Aufklärung ‐ zugleich ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Pestinokulation

The influence of German science and medicine on the development of Hungarian medicine in the age of Enlightenment has been extraordinary strong. Many Hungarian medical students staid in German medical faculties. The medical interrelationships between Germany and Hungary in the 18^th century are discussed in an overview according to following dimensions: education of protestant Hungarian medical students at German »Aufklaerungs‐Universitaeten«, practical and theoretical resonance, membership of scientific societies, personal contacts and correspondence. Outstanding personalities of this aera were Daniel Fischer, István Weszprémi, Abraham Vater. Special attention is given to a new idea: inoculation against plague as first described by A. Vater in his work Blattern‐Beltzen (1721). Thirty years later I. Weszprémi published his original conception ‐ independently from Vater ‐ in the Tentamen de inoculanda peste (1755).     

Die Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin ‐ Bestand und Wandel einer gelehrten Gesellschaft Ein Überblick

The article deals with the foundation and development of the society Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin in the 18th and 19th centuries, its position as a privat society for natural history in Berlin, and its relation to Freemasonry. The paper shows the change of meaning of these society, especially after the foundation of the Berlin university in 1810.