Two years ago the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM) at the University of Manchester organised a very good meeting on the material history of science, technology and medicine. Now some of the papers have been re-worked into a volume titled Devices and Designs: Medical Technologies in Historical Perspective, edited by CHSTM staff members Carsten Timmermann and Julie Anderson (Palgrave MacMillan 2006). Chapters include:
- Bones in Lancashire: Towards Long-term Contextual Analysis of Medical Technology, by J.V.Pickstone
- Mechanising Medicine: Medical Innovations and the Birmingham Voluntary Hospitals in the Nineteenth Century, by J.Reinarz
- Private Laboratories and Medical Expertise in Boston circa 1900, by C.Crenner
- Innovating Expertise: X-ray and Laboratory Workers in the Canadian Hospital, 1920-1950, by P.L.Twohig
- Artificial Eyes and the Artificialisation of the Human Face, by N.Handley
- ‘Biotronik’: 40 Years of German Entrepreneurship in Medical Technology, by P.Hidefjäll
- Building Science-based Medicine at Stanford: Henry Kaplan and the Medical Linear Accelerator, 1948-1975, by T.Ueyama & C.Lécruyer
- Hexamethonium, Hypertension, and Pharmaceutical Innovation: The Transformation of an Experimental Drug in Post-war Britain, by C.Timmermann
- Greenhouses and Body Suits: The Challenge to Knowledge in Early Hip Replacement Surgery 1960-1982, by J.Anderson
- From Epidemic to Scandal: The Politicization of Antibiotic Resistance, 1957-69, by R.Bud
- Cancer Clinical Trials and the Transfer of Medical Knowledge: Metrology, Contestation and Local Practice, by G.Kutcher
- ‘The Best Bones in the Graveyard’: Risky Technologies and Risks in Knowledge, by S.Wyatt & F.Henswood
- The Politics of Endpoints, by S.Blume
Seems to be compulsory reading for historians of contemporary biomedicine! Order it here.