What is it about?
How was heat understood and measured in the 17th and 18th centuries? Conventional narratives often describe a sudden transition from sensory perception to thermometer-based quantification. This paper, however, highlights a third, often overlooked approach: the "technology of heat." This refers to the practical knowledge developed through artisanal practices and experimental activities involving fire. The persistence of this technical understanding of heat, even after the widespread adoption of thermometers, underscores the need to reconsider the history of heat as non-linear and pluralistic.
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Why is it important?
This paper draws on an exceptional range of sources, dating from the late sixteenth to the late eighteenth centuries and spanning several languages. By analysing these often overlooked documents, it uncovers a forgotten approach to understanding and managing heat. In doing so, it highlights the significant contributions of craftsmen and ordinary practitioners to the history of scientific knowledge, and offers a fresh perspective on the interplay between practical experience and theoretical inquiry.
Perspectives
This paper is part of a wider reflection on the history of heat - and, more broadly, fire - in the early modern period. Developing a new narrative that highlights the interconnectedness of scientific inquiry, practical knowledge and other cultural practices has been an exciting and rewarding undertaking.
Marco Storni
Universite Libre de Bruxelles
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Without a Thermometer: the Technical Knowledge of Heat in the Early Modern Age, November 2024, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004521766_005.
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