Hybrid experts

Abstract

This paper studies eighteenth-century "experts" and a particular sub-group of experts-"hybrid experts"-who were also recognized as men of science. "Experts" had characteristic epistemological features that distinguished them from the majority of early modern artisans and craftsmen, and they inhabited particular socio-economic niches: the big technological enterprises of the time, the luxury market in connection with global trade, and the medical and pharmaceutical professions. The hybrid scientific-technical experts personally bridged the worlds of science and of industry. Following their career and activities allows new insights into truly combined and interacting, technical and scientific knowledge and practices. The foundation of the new technological schools in eighteenth-century continental Europe and their amalgamation of "theory and practice" was to a large extent the achievement of hybrid experts.