B.C.) to the Ur III Period (ca 2006 B.C. following traditional dating). Chapters cen- tre on topics: e.g., ‘Patterns of Settlement and Agriculture’ and ‘Writing and the Arts’. When S. N. Kramer published ‘The Sume- rians’ 28 years ago, he concentrated on tex- tual evidence; Dr Crawford concentrates on archaeological evidence. She describes and illustrates Ur III buildings, but does not attempt to explore the details of Ur III administrative practices. The book is also not a history: neither king lists nor chronology charts appear.

Sumer and the Sumerians is a good re- fresher course for anyone whose studies of Mesopotamian archaeology have faltered over the last 20 years. It threads a detailed and fairly non-controversial course through the sites, finds, and theories relating to Sumerian Mesopotamia with emphasis on the publications between 1970 and 1987 (almost 80% of the bibliography). Ideas, theories, and reworkings of earlier excava- tions from these publications are well summarized and blended with descriptions of excavations. Occasional original insights, such as ideas on the use of the ‘private chapel’ in the Tell Asmar Temple of the Rulers, are a bonus

them here: the first serious discussion of objective curve building and dating metho- dologies; a comprehensive review of the magnetic properties of baked clay and soil; sampling and measuring techniques for archaeomagnetism; retlections on the future trajectory of archaeomagnetism; and a dis- cussion of the sensitive symbiosis which this field requires between archaeologist and geo- physicist. The authors have succeeded in preparing a volume which complements ex- isting texts on archaeological chronometry.

non-scientists, it is a pity that he concentrates so exclusively on results, conveying little of the excitement, playfulness and riskiness of the research itself. The book also promotes a misconception: given that Faraday had a long apprenticeship in one of Europe’s lead- ing laboratories and his tour of the continent with Davy introduced him to many of its leading scientists, it is misleading to claim (as the publisher’s cover blurb does) that he was self-educated. Even though this book is an appreciation rather than a scholarly work, it would have been helpful to include informa- tion about sources for the many excellent illustrations and suggestions for further read- ing about this extraordinarily productive man and the sciences he helped shape.

The truly beginning student will not find this book easy reading, however. A bigger book than this was needed to both illustrate and discuss Sumerian archaeology in detail. Archaeological discussion centres on build- ings and objects which need to be seen to be understood. Typically pages 88-92, discus- sing Akkadian and Ur III architecture, de- scribe five public buildings, but illustrate only two. The archaeological novice must go to specialized publications for the other three. What is needed are references to a compendium of plans and pictures from all major sites; the problem is that such an up-to-date reference work does not yet exist.

In the meantime Sumer and the Sumerians makes a good start at filling a long-standing need for a good archaeological summary of fourth and third millennium B.C. Mesopo- tamia.

Harriet Martin

Archaeomagnetic Dating. Edited by Jeffrey L. Eighmy and Robert S. Sternberg. Pp. 446. University of Arizona Press. 1997. US $60.00.

The technique of archaeomagnetic dating is based on the remarkable phenomenon whereby certain artifacts or features con- structed in antiquity are found to retain an ancient record of the Earth’s magnetic field. The method germinated from seed sown by Thellier and Aitken to the stage where ser- vice dating has become available in Europe within the last decade. This volume contains a harvest of papers by 13 practitioners whose declared objective is not the definitive text- book but rather a review of current topics in magnetic dating with special reference to case studies in North and Meso-America. Archaeological scientists with a magnetic attraction are encouraged to ignore the re- gional bias, for they will find much to interest

Mark Noel

The Lord of Uraniborg: a Biography of Tycho Brahe. By Victor E. Thoren with contributions by John R. Christiansen. Pp. 523. Cambridge University Press. 7997. f40.00, us $59.50.

Tycho Brahe was a key figure in the history of astronomy, not least because of the observing instruments he designed so well, had constructed with such precision, and used in a way which allowed him to minimize instrumental errors. This last was a techni- que he himself introduced during the latter part of the 16th century and which has been adopted in science ever since. Excepting a compendium of papers about Brahe, the last complete biography was that of Johann Dreyer written in 1890, and Professor Thoren’s volume is much to be welcomed.

Beautifully written in modern American style, it contains much new research, not a little by Professor Thoren himself. This in- cludes a superb analysis of Brahe’s theory of the motion of the Moon; a vast amount of enlightening information about 16th century Danish nobility into whose ranks Brahe was born - but against which he rebelled; and new insight into his forced departure from his island observatory Uraniborg. With its useful glossary of astronomical terms, excel- lent appendices (among which are transla- tions by John Christiansen of Brahe’s letters from 1599 until his death in 1601) this is now, without doubt, the standard biography of one of astronomy’s significant figures.

Colin A. Ronan

Michael Faraday and The Royal Institution. The Genius of Man and Place. By Sir John Thomas. Foreword by Sir Brian Pippard. Pp. 234. Adam Hilger, Bristol. 1991. Paperback f 72.50.

This book celebrates Faraday’s close rela- tionship with the Royal Institution as much as it does his scientific achievements. As the author explains, Faraday’s ‘scientific and spiritual presence’ confers ‘a unique aura that pervades the whole place’. The opening chapters deal with the history of the RI and Faraday’s way into science; the closing chapters with Faraday’s enormous contribu- tion to the RI’s mission to disseminate and popularize science and technology. But the meat in the sandwich is, of course, Faraday’s contribution to science and technology. Sir John Thomas provides a comprehensive chronological account of almost everything Faraday did which has been important to modern science. Since the book is aimed at

David Gooding

Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. Volume 36. Pp. 670. The Royal Society, London. 7990. f79.00 (U.K.), f84.00 (Overseas).

This invaluable series began, as Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, in 1932. The very first issue included notices of such giants as A. A. Michelson, the first American to be awarded a Nobel Prize (1907); Albert Brachet, the Belgian embryologist; and Sir David Bruce, parasito- logist famous for his linking of sleeping- sickness with the tsetse fly. With the comple- tion of the present volume 1280 memoirs have been published. As some of the earliest Fellows to be remembered were born before the middle of the 19th century, the series as a whole is a remarkable record of outstanding achievement in science spanning more than a century. It is by no means only a record of achievement by British scientists, for many of them had close contacts with overseas colleagues, which are duly recorded. Addi- tionally, the Royal Society has long had a special category of fellows, the Foreign Members.

The present volume includes 25 memoirs, with an average length of 24 pages (including a portrait and comprehensive list of publica- tions). Four relate to Foreign Members (E. M. Lifshitz, R. Courrier. N. I. Semenov and

Sewall Wright). The Emperor Hirohito of Japan was also very much a foreign member, but was in fact elected to full Fellowship in 1971 under Statute 12. In a monograph which has been meticulouslv researched - though perhaps rather reticient about his imperialist activities - E. J. H. Corner de- scribes him as ‘a born naturalist who had to be emperor’. Among so many other excel- lent contributions it is perhaps invidious to single out any for special mention. Margaret Gowing’s tribute to Lord Hinton will surely please all those who knew him. Belated. for he died in 1983, it was worth waiting for - written authoritatively and with deep under- standing. Unexpectedly, there is a link be- tween these two seemingly disparate charac- ters Hinton made several visits to Japan from 1956 and - though at exactly 2 metres high and broad in proportions, he towered over his hosts - was immensely popular. The

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British Embassy said that since the visit of the Prince of Wales in the late 1920s no individual had so enhanced British prestige there. In 1966 Hirohito awarded him the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun.

Trevor I. Williams

R&D for Industry. A Century of Technical Innovation at Alcoa. By Margaret B. W. Graham and Bettye H. Pruitt. Pp. 543. Cambridge University Press. 7990. f50.00, US $49.50.

Traditionally, historians concerned with the impact of research and development on eco- nomic progress have focused on the nation state. Nation states were assumed to be in competition with each other economically as well as diplomatically and militarily and sci- ence and technology were seen as key deter- minants of a nation’s competitiveness. In recent years, however, there has been a trend towards focusing on industries as the relevant unit of analysis. Some historians have gone further and have argued that the large firm is the agency through which scien- tific, technological, and economic progress are combined. Many large firms have been in existence longer than many nations. This study of R & D in the American aluminium firm Alcoa is subtitled ‘A century of technic- al innovation’. It is a very valuable book which will find its place next to Hounshell and Smith’s history of R & D in Du Pont, a work which covered a period of 84 years. American corporations were pioneers in the development of large-scale R & D. They have also pioneered the funding of histories of industrial R & D. It is a development to be warmly welcomed and, let us hope, copied in Britain. Britain, too, has firms who have been innovating for a century or more.

David Edgerton

Ironworks on the Saugus. The Lynn and Braintree Ventures of the Company of the Ironworks in New England. By E. N. Hartley. Pp. 328. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman and London. 1990. Paper f8.95.

After a lapse of nearly 20 years E. N Hartley’s classic study is again in print. The book derived from a project to commemo- rate an American technological first, the ‘successful, sustained, and integrated pro- duction of cast and wrought iron within the limits of the United States.’ Within a decade of 1645, in Massachusetts, there was built a major ironworking complex at ‘Ham- mersmith’ on the Saugus River. Today, the Saugus Ironworks Restoration includes the ironmaster’s house, museum, blast furnace, chaffery and twin-hearth finery forge, and rolling and slitting mill. Yet, within 30 years the enterprise collapsed.

When first published in 1957 reviewers properly recognised the thorough research and balanced account, offering a perspective broad enough to encompass trans-Atlantic developments yet capable of focusing on individual accomplishments. Another quar- ter-century enables us to make new judg- ments. Many of the issues which now com- prise the standard stock for historians of technology find an exemplar here: govern- ment support for, and disillusionment with, technology; the transfer of technology into a society with attendant consequences; econo- mic, legal, and social factors interacting with technological change; the merging of archaeological evidence with traditional archival sources. Ironworks has not gone out of date. It still merits a first, or a second, reading.

James Mulholland

History of Technology, Vol. 12 1990. Edited by Graham Hollister-Short and Frank A. J. L. James. Pp. 784. Mansell, London. 7990. f35.00.

After a lapse of three years, it is a pleasure to welcome back this annual review, now under the distinguished editorship of Graham Hol- lister-Short and Frank James. As in the past, the contributions (five in all) range widely. Two complementary articles by M. T. Wright and J. V. Field of the Science Museum, London, throw interesting light on early sundial-calendars and the origin of geared mechanisms, with particular refer- ence to the instrument acquired by the Scien- ce Museum in 1983. Kenneth Barraclough discusses the long and close connection be- tween the Sheffield steel-masters and the Swedish iron industry. R. T. McCatcheon, University of Witwatersrand, critically re- views the extent to which industrialized (pre- fab) building has relieved the shortage of adequate housing for low-income groups and concludes that extravagant claims made for it have not been fulfilled. Ian Inkster of the University of New South Wales courageously embarks - largely on the basis of the nature and origin of patent applications - on a very carefully researched comparative study of the British and the Australian technological system in the 19th century. I say courageous- ly, because it is notoriously difficult to draw firm conclusions from patent analysis (see, for example, Christine MacLeod, ‘Inventing the Industrial Revolution: the English patent system 1660-1800’. 1988).

A new feature of the series is the inclusion of essay-type retrospective reviews of books which seem to the Editors to have been of seminal importance in the development of the history of technology.

Trevor I. Williams

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