Now in its second edition, this bestselling textbook may be the single most influential study of the historical relationship between science and technology ever published. Tracing this relationship from the dawn of civilization through the twentieth century, James E. McClellan III and Harold Dorn argue that technology as "applied science" emerged relatively recently, as industry and governments began funding scientific research that would lead directly to new or improved technologies. McClellan and Dorn identify two great scientific traditions: the useful sciences, patronized by the state from the dawn of civilization, and scientific theorizing, initiated by the ancient Greeks. They find that scientific traditions took root in China, India, and Central and South America, as well as in a series of Near Eastern empires, during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. From this comparative perspective, the authors explore the emergence of Europe and the United States as a scientific and technological power. The new edition reorganizes its treatment of Greek science and significantly expands its coverage of industrial civilization and contemporary science and technology with new and revised chapters devoted to applied science, the sociology and economics of science, globalization, and the technological systems that underpin everyday life.

詹姆斯·E·麥剋萊倫第三(1946一)，1975年獲普林斯頓大學博士學位，現為美國史蒂文斯理工學院科學與藝術學院副院長、科學史教授。著有《科學重組：18世紀的科學學會》、《殖民主義與科學：舊王朝時代的聖多曼格》等。論著《專傢控製：巴黎皇傢科學院的齣版委員會(1700—1793)》獲美國哲學會頒發的2003年度劉易斯奬。

哈羅德·多恩(1928一)，1970年獲普林斯頓大學博士學位，現為美國史蒂文斯理工學院人文與社會科學係科學技術史名譽教授。著有《科學地理學》等。