Roger French - Böcker

Durability and Reliability of Polymers and Other Materials in Photovoltaic Modules describes the durability and reliability behavior of polymers used in Si-photovoltaic modules and systems, particularly in terms of physical aging and degradation process/mechanisms, characterization methods, accelerated exposure chamber and testing, module level testing, and service life prediction. The book compares polymeric materials to traditional materials used in solar applications, explaining the degradation pathways of the different elements of a photovoltaic module, including encapsulant, front sheet, back sheet, wires and connectors, adhesives, sealants, and more.

In addition, users will find sections on the tests needed for the evaluation of polymer degradation and aging, as well as accelerated tests to aid in materials selection. As demand for photovoltaics continues to grow globally, with polymer photovoltaics offering significantly lower production costs compared to earlier approaches, this book will serve as a welcome resource on new avenues.

Provides comprehensive coverage of photovoltaic polymers, from fundamental degradation mechanisms, to specific case studies of durability and materials failure Offers practical, actionable information in relation to service life prediction of photovoltaic modules and accelerated testing for materials selection Includes up-to-date information and interpretation of safety regulations and testing of photovoltaic modules and materials

One hundred and fifty years after the Black Death killed a third of the population of Western Europe, a new plague swept across the continent. The Great Pox—commonly known as the French disease—brought a different kind of horror: instead of killing its victims rapidly, it endured in their bodies for years, causing acute pain, disfigurement, and ultimately an agonizing death.In this new study, three experts explore the impact of the new plague and society's reaction to its challenge. Using a range of contemporary sources, from the archives of charitable and sanitary institutions that coped with the sick to the medical tracts of those who sought to cure it, they provide the first detailed account of the experience of the disease across Renaissance Italy as well as in France and Germany.The authors analyze the symptoms of the Great Pox and the identity of patients, richly documented in the records of the massive hospital for "incurables" established in early sixteenth-century Rome. They show how it challenged accepted medical theory and practice and provoked public disputations among university teachers. And at the most practical level, they reveal the plight of its victims at all levels of society, from ecclesiastical lords to the diseased poor who begged in the streets. Examining a range of contexts from princely courts and republics to university faculties, confraternities, and hospitals, the authors argue powerfully for a historical understanding of the Great Pox based on contemporary perceptions rather than a retrospective diagnosis of what later generations came to know as "syphilis."

Published in 1998, covering the period from the triumphant economic revival of Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, this book offers an examination of the state of contemporary medicine and the subsequent transplantation of European medicine worldwide.

Published in 1998, covering the period from the triumphant economic revival of Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, this book offers an examination of the state of contemporary medicine and the subsequent transplantation of European medicine worldwide.

British Medicine in an Age of Reform, charts the nature and dynamics of the radical changes which occurred between 1780 and 1850 - a great turning point in British medicine. Medicine was reformed just as politics was being reformed. It became a recognizable profession, and at the same time there was an impetus from within to base the subject upon science. By the end of the 1850's medicine had become perceptibly `modern'.Contributions by acknowledged experts cover subjects from Apothecaries' Act of 1815 to froensic medicine, and the effect of scientific medicine on the doctor-patient relationship. Fascinating and detailed, British Medicine in an Age of Reform provides a rich source of information for students of social history, the history of medicine and science, and for those working in the medical profession.

Ancient Natural History surveys the ways in which people in the ancient world thought about nature. The writings of Aristotle, Theophrastus, Strabo, Pliny are examined, as well as the popular beliefs of their contemporaries. Roger French finds that the same natural-historical material was used to serve the purposes of both the Greek philosopher and the Christian allegorist, or of a taxonomist like Theophrastus and a collector of curiosa like Pliny. He argues convincingly that the motives of ancient writers on nature were rarely `scientific' and, indeed, that there was not really any science at all in the ancient world.This book will make fascinating reading for students, academics and anyone who is interested in the history of science, or in the ancient history of ideas.

Ancient Natural History surveys the ways in which people in the ancient world thought about nature. The writings of Aristotle, Theophrastus, Strabo, Pliny are examined, as well as the popular beliefs of their contemporaries. Roger French finds that the same natural-historical material was used to serve the purposes of both the Greek philosopher and the Christian allegorist, or of a taxonomist like Theophrastus and a collector of curiosa like Pliny. He argues convincingly that the motives of ancient writers on nature were rarely `scientific' and, indeed, that there was not really any science at all in the ancient world.This book will make fascinating reading for students, academics and anyone who is interested in the history of science, or in the ancient history of ideas.

This book offers an introduction to the history of university-trained physicians from the middle ages to the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. These were the elite, in reputation and rewards, and they were successful. Yet we can form little idea of their clinical effectiveness, and to modern eyes their theory and practice often seems bizarre. But the historical evidence is that they were judged on other criteria, and the argument of this book is that these physicians helped to construct the expectations of society - and met them accordingly. The main focus is on the European Latin tradition of medicine, reconstructed from ancient sources and relying heavily on natural philosophy for its explanatory power. This philosophy collapsed in the 'scientific revolution', and left the learned and rational doctor in crisis. The book concludes with an examination of how this crisis was met - or avoided - in different parts of Europe during the Enlightenment.

A series of essays on the development of medicine in the century of the Enlightenment, illustrating the decline in the role of religion in medical thinking, and the increased use of reason.

William Harvey's natural philosophy was a view of the world that he had put together during his education in Cambridge and Padua. It contained ways of structuring knowledge, formulating questions and arriving at answers that directed the programme of work in which he discovered the circulation of the blood. This book, the most extensive discussion of Harvey to be published for over twenty-five years, reports extensively on the views of those who wrote for and against him. It is a study of a major change in natural philosophy and of the forces which acted for and, equally important, against change. In a period traditionally central to historians of science, it is argued here that natural philosophy and particularly Harvey's speciality within it - anatomy - was theocentric. Harvey's contribution was experiment; and the revolution which occurred in the seventeenth century was concerned not with science but with experiment and the status of natural knowledge.

This book considers the underlying forces which helped to produce a revolution in seventeenth-century medicine. It shows how in the period between 1630 and 1730 medicine came to represent something more than a marginal activity unrelated to social and intellectual phenomena and also how it was influenced and formed by the same developments in religion, politics, science and commerce which shaped the general history of the seventeenth century. In an attempt to divert the historiography of the subject away from Newton, natural philosophy and the 'scientific revolution', the essays in this volume not only place medicine into a 'context' of political, religious and social change but also explore the dynamics which fashioned the nature of medicine in the age of revolution. Not surprisingly, religion emerges as perhaps the greatest external force for change, colouring most aspects of national and local life and interacting with the growth in the extent of medical knowledge and practice.

From the eleventh century to the Black Death in 1348 Europe was economically vigorous and expanding, especially in Mediterranean societies. In this world of growing wealth educational institutions were founded, the universities, and it was in these that a new form of medicine came to be taught and which widely influenced medical care throughout Europe. The essays in this collection focus on the practical aspects of medieval medicine. They explore how the learned medical men understood and coped with plague; the theory and practice of medical astrology, and of bleeding (phlebotomy) for the cure and prevention of illness. Several essays deal with the development and interrelations of the nascent medical profession and of Christian, Muslim and Jewish practitioners. Special emphasis is given to the practice of surgery, and the problems of recovering knowledge of a large proportion of medical care - that given by women - are also explored.

A series of essays on the development of medicine in the century of the Enlightenment, illustrating the decline in the role of religion in medical thinking, and the increased use of reason.

From the eleventh century to the Black Death in 1348 Europe was economically vigorous and expanding, especially in Mediterranean societies. In this world of growing wealth educational institutions were founded, the universities, and it was in these that a new form of medicine came to be taught and which widely influenced medical care throughout Europe. The essays in this collection focus on the practical aspects of medieval medicine. They explore how the learned medical men understood and coped with plague; the theory and practice of medical astrology, and of bleeding (phlebotomy) for the cure and prevention of illness. Several essays deal with the development and interrelations of the nascent medical profession and of Christian, Muslim and Jewish practitioners. Special emphasis is given to the practice of surgery, and the problems of recovering knowledge of a large proportion of medical care - that given by women - are also explored.

William Harvey's natural philosophy was a view of the world that he had put together during his education in Cambridge and Padua. It contained ways of structuring knowledge, formulating questions and arriving at answers that directed the programme of work in which he discovered the circulation of the blood. This book, the most extensive discussion of Harvey to be published for over twenty-five years, reports extensively on the views of those who wrote for and against him. It is a study of a major change in natural philosophy and of the forces which acted for and, equally important, against change. In a period traditionally central to historians of science, it is argued here that natural philosophy and particularly Harvey's speciality within it - anatomy - was theocentric. Harvey's contribution was experiment; and the revolution which occurred in the seventeenth century was concerned not with science but with experiment and the status of natural knowledge.

This book offers an introduction to the history of university-trained physicians from the middle ages to the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. These were the elite, in reputation and rewards, and they were successful. Yet we can form little idea of their clinical effectiveness, and to modern eyes their theory and practice often seems bizarre. But the historical evidence is that they were judged on other criteria, and the argument of this book is that these physicians helped to construct the expectations of society - and met them accordingly. The main focus is on the European Latin tradition of medicine, reconstructed from ancient sources and relying heavily on natural philosophy for its explanatory power. This philosophy collapsed in the 'scientific revolution', and left the learned and rational doctor in crisis. The book concludes with an examination of how this crisis was met - or avoided - in different parts of Europe during the Enlightenment.

Many Early Modern Europeans who during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries travelled to the New World left written or pictorial records of their encounters with a surprising fauna. The story told in this book is woven out of the threads of those texts and pictures. A New World of Animals shows how the initial wonder at the new beasts gave way to a more utilitarian approach, assessing their economic and medical potential. It elucidates how shifts in European perceptions brought the animals from the realm of the fantastic into the mainstream of early modern natural history, while at the same time changing the way in which Europeans saw their own world. Indeed, the chronicles and treatises of those who in the wake of the discovery arrived in the new lands tell as much about the particular interests and mental worlds of the writers as about the 'new animals'. This book traces the amazement of the first explorers and colonizers, the chronicles of soldiers and Indians, the 'natural histories of the New World', the place of animals in the network of economic interests driving the early expansion of Europe, the views of the missionaries and those of natural philosophers and physicians. Taking the reader from the Brazilian forests to the erudite cabinets of the Old World, from Patagonia to the centres of empire, the story of the discovery of the unexpected menagerie of the New World is also an exploration of Early Modern European imagination and learning.

The theme of this book is the growth of the European tradition of medical theory, from the early Middle Ages until its collapse in the seventeenth century. Central to this tradition were ancient texts and the respect accorded to the ancients themselves by the moderns, the teachers and practitioners of medicine of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The chapters examine how the ancient texts formed a resource for later medical men and how as a consequence they were sought out, translated and used. Three matters receive particular attention: the classroom culture by which the teachers perpetuated their pupil’s faith in the ancient texts; the use of learning and argumentation by which the university doctors secured their reputation; and medical astrology as a prognostic technique. The story ends when the faith that had been given to Aristotle and Galen, and which held the medical tradition together, was broken, partly by the new natural philosophy and partly by the discovery of the circulation of the blood.

The studies collected in Science in the Early Roman Empire (1986) represent key research done on the Elder Pliny – an important and difficult figure whose Natural History forms a valuable compendium at a fixed historical point in time of ancient science. Its subsequent influence was enormous, remaining the most comprehensive scientific encyclopaedia even until the Renaissance. The chapters seek to locate Pliny in his social and intellectual milieu, to survey his approach to particular sciences such as astronomy, mineralogy, botany and pharmacopoeia. Two chapters consider the response in the Renaissance to his work.

The studies collected in Science in the Early Roman Empire (1986) represent key research done on the Elder Pliny – an important and difficult figure whose Natural History forms a valuable compendium at a fixed historical point in time of ancient science. Its subsequent influence was enormous, remaining the most comprehensive scientific encyclopaedia even until the Renaissance. The chapters seek to locate Pliny in his social and intellectual milieu, to survey his approach to particular sciences such as astronomy, mineralogy, botany and pharmacopoeia. Two chapters consider the response in the Renaissance to his work.

British Medicine in an Age of Reform, charts the nature and dynamics of the radical changes which occurred between 1780 and 1850 - a great turning point in British medicine. Medicine was reformed just as politics was being reformed. It became a recognizable profession, and at the same time there was an impetus from within to base the subject upon science. By the end of the 1850's medicine had become perceptibly `modern'.Contributions by acknowledged experts cover subjects from Apothecaries' Act of 1815 to froensic medicine, and the effect of scientific medicine on the doctor-patient relationship. Fascinating and detailed, British Medicine in an Age of Reform provides a rich source of information for students of social history, the history of medicine and science, and for those working in the medical profession.

The opposition of science and religion is a recent phenomenon; in the middle ages, and indeed until the middle of the nineteenth century, there was almost no conflict. In the Middle Ages the objective study of nature - the activity we now call science - was largely the province of religious men. This book looks at the origins of western science and the central role played by the Dominican and Franciscan friars. It explains why these two groups devoted so much intellectual effort to the study of physical and biological phenomena, and distinguishes 'Natural Philosophy' from 'science' as presently understood. Though the friars were recognisably 'scientific' in their approach their motives were religious - they wished to understand the mind of God and the beauty of God's nature. Even so, as this study makes clear, the roots of western science lie in the monasteries and refuges of the medieval friars - the direct forebears of the anti-scientific Popes of the age of Copernicus and Galileo.