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  • Awards

The Edelstein Prize

The Edelstein Prize is awarded to the author of an outstanding scholarly book in the history of technology published during the preceding three years. Established as the Dexter Prize in 1968 through the generosity of the late Sidney Edelstein—founder of the Dexter Chemical Corporation, noted expert on the history of dyes and dye processes, and 1988 recipient of SHOT's Leonardo da Vinci Medal—the Edelstein Prize is donated by Ruth Edelstein Barish and her family in memory of Sidney Edelstein and his commitment to excellence in scholarship in the history of technology.

The 2007 Edelstein Prize was awarded to Gregory Clancey for Earthquake Nation: The Cultural Politics of Japanese Seismicity, 1868–1930 (2006). The citation read:

The winner of the Edelstein Prize is Gregory Clancey for his original and compelling book, Earthquake Nation: The Cultural Politics of Japanese Seismicity, 1868–1930 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006). In this richly researched study, Clancey examines the role of earthquakes in molding Japanese identity and practice as the nation sought to modernize rapidly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Clancey weaves together an impressive number of strands to create his story, including technology, science, architecture, philology, culture, and politics.

These strands unite in the incident with which Clancey begins his book, the Great Nobi Earthquake of 1891. Anxious to adopt Western knowledge as quickly as possible, Japan in previous years had imported British professors to staff an architecture program in a new school of engineering. For the British professors, and soon for their Japanese students as well, the contrast in building materials between Britain and Japan captured the cultural differences between the two civilizations. The British prized their native stone for its strength. The durability of buildings made of stone, even if later reduced to ruins, testified to the advanced state of the European civilizations that made them. The professors and their students saw wood, the main [End Page 133] structural material in Japanese buildings, as fragile. It embodied for them the poorly developed and weak state of Japanese civilization. The professors and their students set to work creating a strong new nation built of stone.

The Nobi earthquake shattered this understanding of civilization along with the buildings these architects had designed. The "strong" stone buildings collapsed, while the "fragile" wooden structures survived. What followed was the development of a revised understanding of the relationship between earthquakes, materials, and modernization that melded ideas from the East and West. Out of the ruins of the earthquake developed a view that wood was more flexible than fragile, and a deepened appreciation for traditional knowledge held by master builders. But Japan did not simply return to its old ways; it continued to engage ideas and practices from the rest of the world as it forged its own course into the twentieth century.

In one of the many ironies of Clancey's story, the rebuilding of Japan with more flexible structures posed a technical challenge for earthquake scientists. In Europe, where this science developed, stone buildings themselves were seismographs. Scientists located the epi-center and periphery of earthquakes by examining cracks in the buildings afterward. The wooden buildings of Japan denied scien-tists this instrument, which led them to develop new devices for measuring earthquakes. Japan became a leader in worldwide earthquake science partly because its architecture pushed scientists in new technological directions.

Clancey's book is filled with illuminating analyses such as these, which the author weaves together to make his insightful argument. It is a most worthy recipient of the Edelstein Prize.

The Sally Hacker Prize

The Sally Hacker Prize was established in 1999 to recognize the best popular book written in the history of technology during the three years preceding the award. The prize recognizes books in the history of technology that are directed to a broad audience of readers, including students and the interested public. The winner of the 2007 Sally Hacker Prize was Mark Katz for his book Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music (2004). The citation:

The Sally Hacker Prize Committee of the Society for the History of Technology is pleased to announce Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music , by...

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