Changing relationships between science and technology

Abstract

This chapter traces the changing relationships that have existed between science and technology during the modern era. For much of this period science and technology existed independent of one another, separated by different intellectual and social traditions. In response to new intellectual, economic and social developments technology became dependent upon science during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But this new relationship resulted in something more than technology becoming simply applied science. The development of what became known as engineering science acted as an intermediary form of knowledge that served as a translator between science and technology. In doing so engineering science transformed technology into a scientific discipline but one that was a “mirror-image” of traditional science.