Article ID: CBB001252207

Officers of the US Army Venture into Research, 1840--60 (2013)

unapi

The engineering skills taught at the West Point military academy in the mid-nineteenth century left officers of the US Army's scientific corps ill-prepared for the research they would undertake when assigned to design large cast-iron cannon and control of floods on the Mississippi River. They succeeded where close observation and qualitative reasoning sufficed; had difficulty where the necessary principles in mechanics, hydrology and geology were not yet in textbooks; and lacked adequate means of testing their designs. Massive amounts of partially analysed data in their reports obscured critical omissions. The river research led to flood control with a levees-only scheme that proved difficult to revise even after disastrous floods. The iron research delayed adoption of steel artillery. A few 20-inch bore cannon were successfully cast for coast defence but could neither be loaded nor trained rapidly enough to be useful weapons.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001252207/

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Authors & Contributors
Logel, Jon Scott
Ian C., Hope
Adam Mandelman
Toomey, Daniel Carroll
John Reda
Wheeler, Tom
Concepts
Military technology
Technology
Science and war; science and the military
Engineering
Railroads
Technology and war; technology and the military
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
18th century
21st century
Places
United States
Mississippi River (North America)
Illinois (U.S.)
Europe
Missouri (U.S.)
Virginia (U.S.)
Institutions
United States Military Academy
Virginia Military Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
United States Navy
United States. Army. Corps of Engineers
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT
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