Prizes, Medals and Honourable Mentions: How Instrument Makers Were Rewarded at 19th-Century Exhibitions

• Autores: Paolo Brenni
• Localización: Nuncius: annali di storia della scienza, ISSN 0394-7394, Vol. 34, Nº. 2, 2019 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Prizes and awards in science before Nobel), págs. 392-420
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Ever since antiquity, medals that were often also remarkable works of arts were used to mark the achievements and testify to the glory of a person or his bravery on the battlefield, or to celebrate or commemorate a particular event. Sovereigns and nobles wore medals as symbols of their power, wealth and achievement or distributed them as exceptional gifts in order to maintain or garner support. In the 19th century the use of medals increased dramatically. In fact, with the machine age a new class of heroes was born. These were the engineers, the technicians and the manufacturers who were industrializing the Western world. And these pioneers of technological progress became the new recipients of a tide of medals, diplomas and awards which were primarily distributed at the national, international and universal exhibitions and fairs which abounded during the last decades of the 19th and the first decade of the 20th centuries. This essay will focus on instruments makers, whose activities bridged science and industry.Their products represented the high technology of their day in the sector of precision instruments, and the most outstanding ones, judged to be deserving of an award, were selected following examination bu a jury composed of specialists. But what were the criteria adopted by the jurors? Did political considerations influence their judgements? What were the importance and the significance of these awards? Did they have an impact on the instrument maker's trade or were they just attractive souvenirs to be taken home from the exhibitions? Based on an analysis of many documents (reports, list of medallists, catalogues, specialized articles, etc.) relating to industrial exhibitions held in Europe and the United States during the 19th century, the present essay provides an answer to these questions.