• 'Physicists, chemists and astronomers, as well as historians and philosophers of science and ideas, and the intelligent layman will all find much that is thought provoking and fascinating in this book, which also includes an extensive bibliography.' -Astrophysics and Space Science

This book describes how advances in recording and printing technologies have influenced the research and teaching style of succeeding generations of physicists, chemists, and astronomers, particularly from the boom of spectrum analysis in the 1860s until the advent of quantum mechanics. Seemingly disparate strands such as spectrochemistry and cartography, instrument-design and science education are woven into the rich tapestry of one of the most fascinating and influential research-technologies of the late 19th and early 20th century.