A welcome dive into the world of aquarium craft that offers much-needed knowledge about undersea environments.
Atlantic coral is rapidly disappearing in the wild. To save the species, they will have to be reproduced quickly in captivity, and so for the last decade conservationists have been at work trying to preserve their lingering numbers and figure out how to rebuild once-thriving coral reefs from a few survivors. Captive environments, built in dedicated aquariums, offer some hope for these corals. This book examines these specialized tanks, charting the development of tank craft throughout the twentieth century to better understand how aquarium modeling has enhanced our knowledge of the marine environment.
Aquariums are essential to the way we understand the ocean. Used to investigate an array of scientific questions, from animal behavior to cancer research and climate change, they are a crucial factor in the fight to mitigate the climate disaster already threatening our seas. To understand the historical development of this scientific tool and the groups that have contributed to our knowledge about the ocean, Samantha Muka takes up specialty systems—including photographic aquariums, kriesel tanks (for jellyfish), and hatching systems—to examine the creation of ocean simulations and their effect on our interactions with underwater life. Lively and engaging, Oceans under Glass offers a fresh history about how the aquarium has been used in modern marine biology and how integral it is to knowing the marine world.
"“Muka uses the tools of both historian and sociologist . . . . following patents, mentions, and citations through scientific and hobbyist literature. She also shadows and interviews practitioners in various aquarium settings to uncover the wide array of contributors to marine-biological knowledge production and to follow that knowledge through the ‘permeable boundaries’ of the aquarium’s various communities. The result provides a fascinating and thoughtful elucidation of the history of aquariums as an environmental technology and of public aquarists as ‘knowledge couriers’ between communities.”" - Science
"Despite their familiarity and apparent simplicity, aquariums are complex tools developed through the collaboration of academics, hobbyists, public aquarium employees, and researchers for commercial enterprises. Muka uses the term "tank craft" for the effort of this diverse, diffuse community, where credentials range from graduate degrees to deep personal experience and communication takes many forms, from professional journals to in-person conversations . . . Recommended." - Choice
"An accessible and engaging work, Oceans under Glass offers a valuable contribution to the history of ocean science . . . Muka’s book is an essential resource for anyone interested in how networks of collaboration and communication extend and promote craft knowledge. And it offers a valuable contribution to 'blue humanities' scholarship, exemplifying how an interdisciplinary approach bolsters our understanding of humanity’s ever-changing relationship with the ocean." - Isis
"Oceans Under Glass will make you look differently at marine institutions and their history and recognize the networks of hobbyists and technicians essential to enabling marine science. Muka raises questions about how we know what we think we know, and her work will strongly appeal to aquarium experts and hobbyists and environmental historians." - Technology and Culture
"“Muka not only tells us how tank technologies evolved over time in a way that engages with diverse groups and resists a linear narrative or standardization, but also shows how knowledge about marine organisms and views about the ocean were transformed in the processes of making the ocean captive. The resulting intellectual product is partly history of technology
and partly history of marine science, integrated through unique, often game-changing perspectives gained through following the trajectories of specific tanks.”" - Journal of the History of Biology
"In lively prose that shifts fluidly from fieldwork stories to detailed technical descriptions, Muka describes how diverse historical actors have sought to balance the aquarium’s sometimes conflicting purposes as both habitat and visual technology. Throughout the book, Muka argues persuasively that looking carefully at aquariums, rather than simply seeing through them, draws our past and present relationships with the ocean into greater focus." - H-Sci-Med-Tech
"Muka’s analysis of the aquarium offers broad, crucial insights into how models are built and used—issues central not only to the history of science, but also to philosophy and visual studies." - H-Environment
"Wide-ranging and engagingly written. . . an excellent guide to how aquaria came to be, what they are and what they might come to be." - Ocean Yearbook
Формат: Скан PDf
Atlantic coral is rapidly disappearing in the wild. To save the species, they will have to be reproduced quickly in captivity, and so for the last decade conservationists have been at work trying to preserve their lingering numbers and figure out how to rebuild once-thriving coral reefs from a few survivors. Captive environments, built in dedicated aquariums, offer some hope for these corals. This book examines these specialized tanks, charting the development of tank craft throughout the twentieth century to better understand how aquarium modeling has enhanced our knowledge of the marine environment.
Aquariums are essential to the way we understand the ocean. Used to investigate an array of scientific questions, from animal behavior to cancer research and climate change, they are a crucial factor in the fight to mitigate the climate disaster already threatening our seas. To understand the historical development of this scientific tool and the groups that have contributed to our knowledge about the ocean, Samantha Muka takes up specialty systems—including photographic aquariums, kriesel tanks (for jellyfish), and hatching systems—to examine the creation of ocean simulations and their effect on our interactions with underwater life. Lively and engaging, Oceans under Glass offers a fresh history about how the aquarium has been used in modern marine biology and how integral it is to knowing the marine world.
"“Muka uses the tools of both historian and sociologist . . . . following patents, mentions, and citations through scientific and hobbyist literature. She also shadows and interviews practitioners in various aquarium settings to uncover the wide array of contributors to marine-biological knowledge production and to follow that knowledge through the ‘permeable boundaries’ of the aquarium’s various communities. The result provides a fascinating and thoughtful elucidation of the history of aquariums as an environmental technology and of public aquarists as ‘knowledge couriers’ between communities.”" - Science
"Despite their familiarity and apparent simplicity, aquariums are complex tools developed through the collaboration of academics, hobbyists, public aquarium employees, and researchers for commercial enterprises. Muka uses the term "tank craft" for the effort of this diverse, diffuse community, where credentials range from graduate degrees to deep personal experience and communication takes many forms, from professional journals to in-person conversations . . . Recommended." - Choice
"An accessible and engaging work, Oceans under Glass offers a valuable contribution to the history of ocean science . . . Muka’s book is an essential resource for anyone interested in how networks of collaboration and communication extend and promote craft knowledge. And it offers a valuable contribution to 'blue humanities' scholarship, exemplifying how an interdisciplinary approach bolsters our understanding of humanity’s ever-changing relationship with the ocean." - Isis
"Oceans Under Glass will make you look differently at marine institutions and their history and recognize the networks of hobbyists and technicians essential to enabling marine science. Muka raises questions about how we know what we think we know, and her work will strongly appeal to aquarium experts and hobbyists and environmental historians." - Technology and Culture
"“Muka not only tells us how tank technologies evolved over time in a way that engages with diverse groups and resists a linear narrative or standardization, but also shows how knowledge about marine organisms and views about the ocean were transformed in the processes of making the ocean captive. The resulting intellectual product is partly history of technology
and partly history of marine science, integrated through unique, often game-changing perspectives gained through following the trajectories of specific tanks.”" - Journal of the History of Biology
"In lively prose that shifts fluidly from fieldwork stories to detailed technical descriptions, Muka describes how diverse historical actors have sought to balance the aquarium’s sometimes conflicting purposes as both habitat and visual technology. Throughout the book, Muka argues persuasively that looking carefully at aquariums, rather than simply seeing through them, draws our past and present relationships with the ocean into greater focus." - H-Sci-Med-Tech
"Muka’s analysis of the aquarium offers broad, crucial insights into how models are built and used—issues central not only to the history of science, but also to philosophy and visual studies." - H-Environment
"Wide-ranging and engagingly written. . . an excellent guide to how aquaria came to be, what they are and what they might come to be." - Ocean Yearbook
Формат: Скан PDf
https://www.yakaboo.ua/ua/oceans-under-glass-tank-craft-and-the-sciences-of-the-sea.html