Science and Technology in South Africa, 1939-1946

The Mind at War
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-3-032-05083-0
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 312 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 531 g

Reihe: Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology

This book addresses the ways in which science and technology were employed in South Africa during the Second World War. A key theme underlying the chapters is the human mind: in Chapter One, which addresses the submission of ideas to the Union Defence Force, this is the inventive mind; in Chapter Seven with its focus on aviation medicine, there is the description of human will and agency, and their ultimate subordination to technology; and in Chapter Eight which considers psychiatry, it is the measurement of the mind that is addressed on the part of medical experts. The final chapter concludes with the concept of the ‘world mind’ and the use of science to create a new post-war world order. Each chapter employs a case study to highlight the ways in which science and technology were interwoven with society and identity—national, racial and gendered—in wartime South Africa. The overarching theme explored is the hierarchies of knowledge creation, whether in relation to South Africa as a dominion within the British Empire, as a member of the Allies, or as a nation rife with societal tension exacerbated by the war.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chetty, Suryakanthie

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Technische Wissenschaften Technik Allgemein Technikgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction.- 2. 'Brain-waves to beat Hitler’: Science, Technology and Invention.- 3. 'Strange and wondrous things’: Military Technology on Show.- 4. From Creation to Credit: Major Du Toit and the Invention of the Flail Tank.- 5. A Tale of Two Hospitals: Reconstructive Surgery and Race.- 6. Invention, Compensation and Dissemination at the Brenthurst Red Cross Military Hospital for Plastic Surgery.- 7. Man and Machine: Ernst Jokl, Aviation Medicine and ‘a rational science of organism’.- 8. The Measured Mind: Aptitude Testing in the Union Defence Force.- 9. 'The amoebic beginning of a world mind…’: Sharing Knowledge in a Post-war World.

Über Autor(innen)

Suryakanthie Chetty is a senior lecturer in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies, University of Pretoria, South Africa. She has published two books with Palgrave Macmillan:  (2023), and (2021).