Climate in motion : science, empire, and the problem of scale / Deborah R. Coen.
2018
QC857.A92 C64 2018eb
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Title
Climate in motion : science, empire, and the problem of scale / Deborah R. Coen.
Author
Coen, Deborah R., author.
ISBN
9780226555027 (electronic book)
022655502X (electronic book)
9780226398822
022639882X
022655502X (electronic book)
9780226398822
022639882X
Published
Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
Copyright
©2018
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (xiv, 425 pages) : illustrations, maps
Call Number
QC857.A92 C64 2018eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
551.509
Summary
Today, predicting the impact of human activities on the earth?s climate hinges on tracking interactions among phenomena of radically different dimensions, from the molecular to the planetary. Climate in Motion shows that this multiscalar, multicausal framework emerged well before computers and satellites. Extending the history of modern climate science back into the nineteenth century, Deborah R. Coen uncovers its roots in the politics of empire-building in central and eastern Europe. She argues that essential elements of the modern understanding of climate arose as a means of thinking across scales in a state?the multinational Habsburg Monarchy, a patchwork of medieval kingdoms and modern laws - where such thinking was a political imperative. Led by Julius Hann in Vienna, Habsburg scientists were the first to investigate precisely how local winds and storms might be related to the general circulation of the earth?s atmosphere as a whole. Linking Habsburg climatology to the political and artistic experiments of late imperial Austria, Coen grounds the seemingly esoteric science of the atmosphere in the everyday experiences of an earlier era of globalization. Climate in Motion presents the history of modern climate science as a history of ?scaling? - that is, the embodied work of moving between different frameworks for measuring the world. In this way, it offers a critical historical perspective on the concepts of scale that structure thinking about the climate crisis today and the range of possibilities for responding to it.
Note
Today, predicting the impact of human activities on the earth?s climate hinges on tracking interactions among phenomena of radically different dimensions, from the molecular to the planetary. Climate in Motion shows that this multiscalar, multicausal framework emerged well before computers and satellites. Extending the history of modern climate science back into the nineteenth century, Deborah R. Coen uncovers its roots in the politics of empire-building in central and eastern Europe. She argues that essential elements of the modern understanding of climate arose as a means of thinking across scales in a state?the multinational Habsburg Monarchy, a patchwork of medieval kingdoms and modern laws - where such thinking was a political imperative. Led by Julius Hann in Vienna, Habsburg scientists were the first to investigate precisely how local winds and storms might be related to the general circulation of the earth?s atmosphere as a whole. Linking Habsburg climatology to the political and artistic experiments of late imperial Austria, Coen grounds the seemingly esoteric science of the atmosphere in the everyday experiences of an earlier era of globalization. Climate in Motion presents the history of modern climate science as a history of ?scaling? - that is, the embodied work of moving between different frameworks for measuring the world. In this way, it offers a critical historical perspective on the concepts of scale that structure thinking about the climate crisis today and the range of possibilities for responding to it.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Access limited to authorized users.
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Description based on print version record.
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Table of Contents
Introduction: Climate and empire
Part I: Unity in diversity. The Habsburgs and the collection of nature
The Austrian idea
The imperial-royal scientist
The dual task
The scales of empire. The face of the empire
The invention of climatography
The power of local differences
Planetary disturbances
The work of scaling. The forest-climate question
The floral archive
Landscapes of desire
Conclusion: After empire.
Part I: Unity in diversity. The Habsburgs and the collection of nature
The Austrian idea
The imperial-royal scientist
The dual task
The scales of empire. The face of the empire
The invention of climatography
The power of local differences
Planetary disturbances
The work of scaling. The forest-climate question
The floral archive
Landscapes of desire
Conclusion: After empire.