Abstract
It is almost half a century since historians began to identify the period 1850–1914 as one in which there was, for the first time, a highly productive convergence of science with technology, particularly in Western Europe. That period soon became known in the literature as the Second Industrial Revolution. It was characterised by: (1) Clusters of novel innovations as the core of a new phase of sustained economic growth; (2) The emergence of science-based industrial capitalism, with its hierarchically organised large-scale corporations; and (3) The spread of the ‘coal-and-iron’ technologies of the First Industrial Revolution to peripheral countries (Scandinavia, Russia, Italy, The Netherlands, etc.). Ultimately, railways, steel manufacture, and, especially, the chemical and the electrical industries became the dominant sectors of the Second Industrial Revolution.
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References
Cf. E. Homburg, ‘De “Tweede Industriële Revolutie.” Een problematisch historisch concept.’ Theoretische Geschiedenis,13 (1986), 367–385.
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While Aftalion’s book brings the story up to the end of the 1980s, and usefully is truly international, it cannot be considered a scholarly study, insofar as it lacks adequate analysis, footnotes and bibliographical information, and frequently repeats erronious information. See, F. Aftalion, A History of the International Chemical Industry (Philadelphia, 1991 ).
Cf. R. Fox and A. Guagnini eds., Education, Technology and Industrial Performance in Europe, 1850–1939 (Cambridge, 1993 ).
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See, especially, the papers by Sarah Wilmot, and Arne Andersen.
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Homburg, E., Travis, A.S. (1998). Introduction. In: Homburg, E., Travis, A.S., Schröter, H.G. (eds) The Chemical Industry in Europe, 1850–1914. Chemists and Chemistry, vol 17. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3253-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3253-6_1
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