Dějiny věd a techniky, No. 1, Vol. XLIX (2016)

AS AN INTRODUCTION TO 2016

DVT 161, 3
160. výročí Siemensovy dvojité T-kotvy v dynamoelektrických strojích
Jan Mikeš, Marcela Efmertová

160th Anniversary of the Siemens Double-T Anchor in Dynamo-electric Machines.
During the 1870s and 1880s electrotechnology grew to be a major component of the industrialization processes in the second stage of the industrial revolution. As an independent scientific discipline it proved to be one of the first branches that established their own industry independent of traditions. The electrotechnological industry began to influence other manufacturing branches and, retroactively, its own research as well. New developments emerged primarily thanks to the simple and reliable electric rotating (dynamo-electric) machines that offered multiple applications and which grew to be competitors to the universal driving steam engines. Initially, the new machines were developed solely as sources of lighting.

Keywords: Ernst Werner von Siemens ● history of electrotechnology ● the dynamo-electric principle ● dynamo ● electromagnet

Summary
The inventors of electric rotating machines linked up to findings made in the 1830s. In 1856 Ernst Werner von Siemens (1816–1892, von 1888) discovered the dynamo-electric principle. H e built a self-excitation dynamo using electromagnets, and not permanent magnets, for the generation of a magnetic field around the rotating parts of T-anchor. Thanks to improvements in other parts of the electric rotating machine, including the invention of the drum armature and improvement of the commutator, the concept of dynamo-electric machines was completed by the end of the 1870s. The dynamo was not only a source of electric current, when cranked by hand, but could also serve as an electric motor, when current was fed into it.

Author’s address:
Fakulta elektrotechnická ČVUT
Zikova 2, Praha 6

PAPERS

DVT 161, 8
Recepce Darwinovy evoluční teorie v díle Johna Lubbocka (1834–1913) a Williama Crookese (1832–1919)
Pavel Pecháček

Reception of Darwin’s evolutionary theory in the work of John Lubbock (1834–1913) and William Crookes (1832–1919).
The purpose of this study is to show and describe the influence Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution had on general scientific worldview in the United Kingdom, using two scientists as example. The first is Darwin’s friend, a politician, banker, natural scientist and polymath, Sir John Lubbock (1834–1913), whose work is pervaded with the spirit of natural selection. Lubbock was probably the first to apply the principles of natural selection to humans. The second part of this study is dedicated to William Crookes, a physicist and chemist (1832–1919), who applied the theory of natural selection to the origin and evolution of chemical elements.

Keywords: Charles Darwin ● John Lubbock ● William Crookes ● natural selection ● evolution of culture and society ● evolution of chemical elements ● Victorian era

Summary
The publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1859 was a turning point not only for our general knowledge about all living things but also for the principle of natural selection, which provided inspiration for science, humanities, and society at large. The two scientists who are the subject of this study were significantly influenced by the theory of natural selection. The first, Sir John Lubbock, was Charles Darwin’s student and successor. The ideas of his mentor pervade Lubbock’s entire body of work and were applied to humans even before Darwin wrote The Descent of Man. The second is Sir William Crookes who provides us with a brilliant example how the atmosphere evoked by the idea of natural selection affected other natural sciences, specifically research into the origin and evolution of chemical elements. Chemical elements had been considered definite and unchanging, just as biological species were until this view was challenged by Lamarck, Darwin, and others. Although there are many more examples that show the influence of evolution on Victorian scientific community, these two provided perfectly capture how Darwin’s groundbreaking idea was used to solve other scientific problems.

Author’s address:
Katedra filosofie a dějin přírodních věd PřF UK
Viničná 7, 128 44 Praha 2
pavel.pechacek@gmail.com


DVT 161, 26
Nádory u Rokitanského a Virchowa – vznik nového paradigmatu v medicíně
Jan Hrudka

Tumours in works of Carl Rokitansky and Rudolph Virchow – a new paradigm in medicine.
The aim of this historical-epistemological study is to research the theories and classifications of malignant tumours in various periods of human medicine, concentrated on systematic treatises of two great simultaneously working pathologists of 19th century, Carl Rokitansky in Vienna and Rudolph Virchow in Berlin. The study illustrates the transformation in overall conception of the essence, nature and cause of cancerous disease, starting with a review of works by Carl Rokitansky (1804–1878), who understood cancer in a different way than contemporary biology. Rokitansky understood tumorous tissue as sediments of an unknown morbid substance, which was said to be produced excessively by the sick body. In this concept we can see some remnants of ancient humoral pathology. By contrast, Rokitansky’s contemporary Rudolph Virchow (1821–1902) formulated and established the cell theory (“omnis cellula e cellula”) and described cancer as a mass of pathologically excessively dividing cells. H e also explained the origin of tumour metastases as “daughters” of the original primary tumour, which grow from solitary dropped off tumour cells, like an embryo growing from a single fertilized egg. Virchow has firmly established the principal method of thinking in theoretical and clinical oncology to this day.
The study seeks the roots of the cell theory and considers the success of this theory in the light of sociomorphic modelling. The idea of cells as “cooperating citizens of an organism-state” originated in the century of civil emancipation and democracy.

Keywords: Tumours ● pathology ● oncology ● cancer ● 19th century ● cell theory ● Rokitansky – Virchow

Summary
The article treats the origin of new conception of tumours in western medicine: the idea of tumours as disease with excessive cell division. This paradigm originates in the middle of 19th century in the works of G erman pathologist Rudolf Virchow. The article illustrates this conceptual transformation in comparison with works by Virchow’s contemporary, Austrian pathologist Carl von Rokitansky; and examines the advance from older “blastema” or “exudation” theory to Virchow’s “cell” or “proliferation” theory. The article discusses the background of this shift but it does not treat older scientific theories as pure errors in positivistic manner. Rather, the relevant and practically useful theories depend on specific ideal premises. These premises do not result only from observable facts, but in some ways from the thinking of people in a specific historical period as well. Concerning the roots of theories of Rokitansky, Virchow, their contemporaries, and especially their antecedents, more detailed further study would be valuable.

Author’s address:
Katedra filosofie a dějin přírodních věd PřF UK
Viničná 7, 128 44 Praha 2
Ústav patologie 3. LF UK a FNKV
Šrobárova 50, 100 34 Praha 10

SDĚLENÍ

DVT 161, 45
Českojazyčná vydání knih Johna Lubbocka z přelomu 19. a 20. století a jeho korespondence s českými překladateli
Pavel Pecháček

Edition of John Lubbock’s books in Czech language at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and his correspondence with Czech translators.
Sir John Lubbock was one of the most significant figures of the Victorian era. He became popular via his books, which were published in many editions and translated into various languages. Two of them were translated into Czech: Pleasures of Life and The Beauties of Nature and the Wonders of the World We Live In. The article at hand deals with the circumstances surrounding the process of translating both books and with the correspondence between John Lubbock and his Czech translators.

Keywords: John Lubbock ● Jan Váňa ● Josef Pelcl ● Victorian and Edwardian Era

Summary
In 1897, two books of a British politician, banker and scientist John Lubbock (1834–1913) were translated into Czech: Pleasures of Life (two volumes), and The Beauties of Nature and the Wonders of the World We Live In. Interestingly, the former was published in two separate translations, the first one by a Prague publisher Josef Pelcl (1861–1916), the second one by a Czech philologist, professor and teacher of foreign languages Jan Váňa (1847–1915). Their correspondence with John Lubbock survives to this day, suggesting that both translations were made at the same time. It is not clear, however, what was behind this sudden interest in Lubbock’s texts. There might be several reasons, the most probable being the same one that made Pleasures of Life one of the most published books of the time – it is an intellectually rich book with a clear positive message that was able to connect with readers from all walks of life, regardless of nationality.

Author’s address:
Katedra filosofie a dějin přírodních věd PřF UK
Viničná 7, 128 44 Praha 2
E-mail: pavel.pechacek@gmail.com



Back to Top ↑