Ebook: Science between Europe and Asia: Historical Studies on the Transmission, Adoption and Adaptation of Knowledge

This book explores the various historical and cultural aspects of scientific, medical and technical exchanges that occurred between central Europe and Asia. A number of papers investigate the printing, gunpowder, guncasting, shipbuilding, metallurgical and drilling technologies while others deal with mapping techniques, the adoption of written calculation and mechanical clocks as well as the use of medical techniques such as pulse taking and electrotherapy. While human mobility played a significant role in the exchange of knowledge, translating European books into local languages helped the introduction of new knowledge in mathematical, physical and natural sciences from central Europe to its periphery and to the Middle East and Asian cultures. The book argues that the process of transmission of knowledge whether theoretical or practical was not a simple and one-way process from the donor to the receiver as it is often admitted, but a multi-dimensional and complex cultural process of selection and transformation where ancient scientific and local traditions and elements. The book explores the issue from a different geopolitical perspective, namely not focusing on a singular recipient and several points of distribution, namely the metropolitan centres of science, medicine, and technology, but on regions that are both recipients and distributors and provides new perspectives based on newly investigated material for historical studies on the cross scientific exchanges between different parts of the world.

---

This book explores the various historical and cultural aspects of scientific, medical and technical exchanges that occurred between central Europe and Asia. A number of papers investigate the printing, gunpowder, guncasting, shipbuilding, metallurgical and drilling technologies while others deal with mapping techniques, the adoption of written calculation and mechanical clocks as well as the use of medical techniques such as pulse taking and electrotherapy. While human mobility played a significant role in the exchange of knowledge, translating European books into local languages helped the introduction of new knowledge in mathematical, physical and natural sciences from central Europe to its periphery and to the Middle East and Asian cultures. The book argues that the process of transmission of knowledge whether theoretical or practical was not a simple and one-way process from the donor to the receiver as it is often admitted, but a multi-dimensional and complex cultural process of selection and transformation where ancient scientific and local traditions and elements. The book explores the issue from a different geopolitical perspective, namely not focusing on a singular recipient and several points of distribution, namely the metropolitan centres of science, medicine, and technology, but on regions that are both recipients and distributors and provides new perspectives based on newly investigated material for historical studies on the cross scientific exchanges between different parts of the world.

---

This book explores the various historical and cultural aspects of scientific, medical and technical exchanges that occurred between central Europe and Asia. A number of papers investigate the printing, gunpowder, guncasting, shipbuilding, metallurgical and drilling technologies while others deal with mapping techniques, the adoption of written calculation and mechanical clocks as well as the use of medical techniques such as pulse taking and electrotherapy. While human mobility played a significant role in the exchange of knowledge, translating European books into local languages helped the introduction of new knowledge in mathematical, physical and natural sciences from central Europe to its periphery and to the Middle East and Asian cultures. The book argues that the process of transmission of knowledge whether theoretical or practical was not a simple and one-way process from the donor to the receiver as it is often admitted, but a multi-dimensional and complex cultural process of selection and transformation where ancient scientific and local traditions and elements. The book explores the issue from a different geopolitical perspective, namely not focusing on a singular recipient and several points of distribution, namely the metropolitan centres of science, medicine, and technology, but on regions that are both recipients and distributors and provides new perspectives based on newly investigated material for historical studies on the cross scientific exchanges between different parts of the world.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
Front Matter....Pages 11-11
Reflections on the Transmission and Transformation of Technologies: Agriculture, Printing and Gunpowder between East and West....Pages 13-26
The Ottoman Empire and the Technological Dialogue Between Europe and Asia: The Case of Military Technology and Know-How in the Gunpowder Age....Pages 27-39
General Observations on the Ottoman Military Industry, 1774–1839: Problems of Organization and Standardization....Pages 41-55
Cultural Attitudes and Horse Technologies: A View on Chariots and Stirrups from the Eastern End of the Eurasian Continent....Pages 57-73
Front Matter....Pages 75-75
Patchwork – The Norm of Mapmaking Practices for Western Asia in Catholic and Protestant Europe As Well As in Istanbul Between 1550 and 1750?....Pages 77-101
The Ottoman Ambassador’s Curiosity Coffer: Eclipse Prediction with De La Hire’s “Machine” Crafted by Bion of Paris....Pages 103-123
The Clockmaker Family Meyer and Their Watch Keeping the alla turca Time....Pages 125-136
The Adoption and Adaptation of Mechanical Clocks in Japan....Pages 137-149
Adoption and Resistance: Zhang Yongjing and Ancient Chinese Calendrical Methods....Pages 151-161
Front Matter....Pages 163-163
Travelling Both Ways: The Adaptation of Disciplines, Scientific Textbooks and Institutions....Pages 165-176
Between Translation and Adaptation: Turkish Editions of Ganot’s Trait? ....Pages 177-191
Eclecticism and Appropriation of the New Scientific Methods by the Greek-Speaking Scholars in the Ottoman Empire....Pages 193-206
Front Matter....Pages 207-207
Conveying Chinese Medicine to Seventeenth-Century Europe....Pages 209-232
Adoption and Adaption: A Study of Medical Ideas and Techniques in Colonial India....Pages 233-243
How Electricity Energizes the Body: Electrotherapeutics and its Analogy of Life in the Japanese Medical Context....Pages 245-258
What is ‘Islamic’ in Islamic Medicine? An Overview....Pages 259-270
Introduction....Pages 1-9
Back Matter....Pages 271-279

---

This book explores the various historical and cultural aspects of scientific, medical and technical exchanges that occurred between central Europe and Asia. A number of papers investigate the printing, gunpowder, guncasting, shipbuilding, metallurgical and drilling technologies while others deal with mapping techniques, the adoption of written calculation and mechanical clocks as well as the use of medical techniques such as pulse taking and electrotherapy. While human mobility played a significant role in the exchange of knowledge, translating European books into local languages helped the introduction of new knowledge in mathematical, physical and natural sciences from central Europe to its periphery and to the Middle East and Asian cultures. The book argues that the process of transmission of knowledge whether theoretical or practical was not a simple and one-way process from the donor to the receiver as it is often admitted, but a multi-dimensional and complex cultural process of selection and transformation where ancient scientific and local traditions and elements. The book explores the issue from a different geopolitical perspective, namely not focusing on a singular recipient and several points of distribution, namely the metropolitan centres of science, medicine, and technology, but on regions that are both recipients and distributors and provides new perspectives based on newly investigated material for historical studies on the cross scientific exchanges between different parts of the world.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
Front Matter....Pages 11-11
Reflections on the Transmission and Transformation of Technologies: Agriculture, Printing and Gunpowder between East and West....Pages 13-26
The Ottoman Empire and the Technological Dialogue Between Europe and Asia: The Case of Military Technology and Know-How in the Gunpowder Age....Pages 27-39
General Observations on the Ottoman Military Industry, 1774–1839: Problems of Organization and Standardization....Pages 41-55
Cultural Attitudes and Horse Technologies: A View on Chariots and Stirrups from the Eastern End of the Eurasian Continent....Pages 57-73
Front Matter....Pages 75-75
Patchwork – The Norm of Mapmaking Practices for Western Asia in Catholic and Protestant Europe As Well As in Istanbul Between 1550 and 1750?....Pages 77-101
The Ottoman Ambassador’s Curiosity Coffer: Eclipse Prediction with De La Hire’s “Machine” Crafted by Bion of Paris....Pages 103-123
The Clockmaker Family Meyer and Their Watch Keeping the alla turca Time....Pages 125-136
The Adoption and Adaptation of Mechanical Clocks in Japan....Pages 137-149
Adoption and Resistance: Zhang Yongjing and Ancient Chinese Calendrical Methods....Pages 151-161
Front Matter....Pages 163-163
Travelling Both Ways: The Adaptation of Disciplines, Scientific Textbooks and Institutions....Pages 165-176
Between Translation and Adaptation: Turkish Editions of Ganot’s Trait? ....Pages 177-191
Eclecticism and Appropriation of the New Scientific Methods by the Greek-Speaking Scholars in the Ottoman Empire....Pages 193-206
Front Matter....Pages 207-207
Conveying Chinese Medicine to Seventeenth-Century Europe....Pages 209-232
Adoption and Adaption: A Study of Medical Ideas and Techniques in Colonial India....Pages 233-243
How Electricity Energizes the Body: Electrotherapeutics and its Analogy of Life in the Japanese Medical Context....Pages 245-258
What is ‘Islamic’ in Islamic Medicine? An Overview....Pages 259-270
Introduction....Pages 1-9
Back Matter....Pages 271-279
....