Article ID: CBB622872905

The Locksmith, the Surgeon, and the Mechanical Hand: Communicating Technical Knowledge in Early Modern Europe (January 2019)

unapi

This article uses a locksmith's design for a mechanical hand in the surgeon Ambroise Paré's widely influential Oeuvres (1575) to examine the transmission of technical knowledge in early modern Europe. The article interprets Paré's chapter on artificial limbs through the lens of material culture, and then uses its findings to explore the movement of craft knowledge through print. A comparison between Paré's woodcut image of the prosthesis and an extant sixteenth-century mechanical hand from Kassel, Germany grounds Paré's woodcut in ongoing practices of making prosthetic technology. Analyzing the transmission of Paré's Oeuvres in light of the creative environment of artificial limb design and construction transforms our understanding of the potential utility of the printed image for different viewers. The dissemination of this woodcut design reveals a form of technical knowledge transfer that was endlessly adaptable to the experiences of artisans from different craft groups.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB622872905/

Similar Citations

Article Renner, Claude; (2006)
A propos des pots à bouillon d'étain (/isis/citation/CBB000931798/)

Article Cats-Baril, W. L.; Jelassi, T.; (1994)
The French videotex system Minitel: A successful implementation of a national information technology infrastructure (/isis/citation/CBB001180054/)

Article Ganz, Jeremy C.; Arndt, Jürgen; (2014)
A History of Depressed Skull Fractures from Ancient Times to 1800 (/isis/citation/CBB001420786/)

Chapter Hyman, Malcolm D.; Renn, Jürgen; (2012)
Survey: From Technology Transfer to the Origins of Science (/isis/citation/CBB001422684/)

Article Alexander Donges; Felix Selgert; (2019)
Technology transfer via foreign patents in Germany, 1843–77 (/isis/citation/CBB475299254/)

Article Sheila Jasanoff; Sebastian Pfotenhauer; (December 2017)
Panacea or diagnosis? Imaginaries of innovation and the ‘MIT model’ in three political cultures (/isis/citation/CBB640965055/)

Article Gao, Jian-ming; Li, Bin; (2008)
On the Chinese Mode of Dissemination of Science and Technology in Late Qing Dynasty (/isis/citation/CBB000952301/)

Article W. Walker Hanlon; (Winter 2018)
Skilled Immigrants and American Industrialization: Lessons from Newport News Shipyard (/isis/citation/CBB299819581/)

Book David B. Sicilia; David G. Wittner; (2021)
Strands of Modernization: The Circulation of Technology and Business Practices in East Asia, 1850-1920 (/isis/citation/CBB020658174/)

Article Carlson, W. Bernard; (2007)
Diversity and Progress: How Might We Picture Technology across Global Cultures? (/isis/citation/CBB248953045/)

Article Molella, Arthur P.; (2007)
In This Issue: Editor's Introduction to Special Issue -- Cultures of Innovation (/isis/citation/CBB128427373/)

Article Tiago Saraiva; (2018)
Anthropophagy and Sadness: Cloning Citrus in São Paulo in the Plantationocene Era (/isis/citation/CBB416022444/)

Article Hilaire-Pérez, Liliane; Verna, Catherine; (2006)
Dissemination of Technical Knowledge in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era: New Approaches and Methodological Issues (/isis/citation/CBB000670776/)

Authors & Contributors
Donges, Alexander
W. Walker Hanlon
Selgert, Felix
Sebastian Pfotenhauer
Gaille, Marie
Bothereau, Benjamin
Concepts
Diffusion of innovation; diffusion of knowledge; diffusion of technology
Technology transfer
Technological innovation
Medicine
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
Culture
Time Periods
16th century
19th century
Medieval
20th century, early
Qing dynasty (China, 1644-1912)
Renaissance
Places
France
United States
China
Madrid (Spain)
São Paulo (Brazil)
Barcelona (Spain)
Institutions
Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment