1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9911046548203321

Autore

Chetty Suryakanthie

Titolo

Science and Technology in South Africa, 1939-1946 : The Mind at War / / by Suryakanthie Chetty

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer Nature Switzerland : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2025

ISBN

9783032050847

Edizione

[1st ed. 2025.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (0 pages)

Collana

Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology, , 2730-9738

Disciplina

509.68

Soggetti

Technology

History

Medicine - History

Africa, Sub-Saharan - History

Science - History

Military history

History, Modern

History of Technology

History of Medicine

History of Sub-Saharan Africa

History of Science

Military History

Modern History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction -- 2. 'Brain-waves to beat Hitler’: Science, Technology and Invention -- 3. 'Strange and wondrous things’: Military Technology on Show -- 4. From Creation to Credit: Major Du Toit and the Invention of the Flail Tank -- 5. A Tale of Two Hospitals: Reconstructive Surgery and Race -- 6. Invention, Compensation and Dissemination at the Brenthurst Red Cross Military Hospital for Plastic Surgery -- 7. Man and Machine: Ernst Jokl, Aviation Medicine and ‘a rational science of organism’ -- 8. The Measured Mind: Aptitude Testing in the Union Defence Force -- 9. 'The amoebic beginning of a world mind…’:



Sharing Knowledge in a Post-war World.

Sommario/riassunto

This book addresses the ways in which science and technology were employed in South Africa during the Second World War. A key theme underlying the chapters is the human mind: in Chapter One, which addresses the submission of ideas to the Union Defence Force, this is the inventive mind; in Chapter Seven with its focus on aviation medicine, there is the description of human will and agency, and their ultimate subordination to technology; and in Chapter Eight which considers psychiatry, it is the measurement of the mind that is addressed on the part of medical experts. The final chapter concludes with the concept of the ‘world mind’ and the use of science to create a new post-war world order. Each chapter employs a case study to highlight the ways in which science and technology were interwoven with society and identity—national, racial and gendered—in wartime South Africa. The overarching theme explored is the hierarchies of knowledge creation, whether in relation to South Africa as a dominion within the British Empire, as a member of the Allies, or as a nation rife with societal tension exacerbated by the war.