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Connecting the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions: The Role of Practical Mathematics

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  • Morgan Kelly
  • Cormac Ó Gráda

Abstract

Disputes over whether the Scientific Revolution contributed to the Industrial Revolution begin with the common assumption that natural philosophers and artisans formed radically distinct groups. In reality, these groups merged together through a diverse group of applied mathematics teachers, textbook writers and instrument makers catering to a market of navigators, gunners and surveyors. From these “mathematical practitioners” emerged specialized instrument makers whose capabilities facilitated industrialization in two important ways. First, a large supply of instrument and watch makers provided Britain with a pool of versatile, mechanically skilled labour to build the increasingly complicated machinery of the late eighteenth century. Second, the less well known but equally revolutionary innovations in machine tools—which, contrary to the Habbakuk thesis, occurred largely in Britain during the 1820s and 1830s to mass produce interchangeable parts for iron textile machinery—drew on a technology of exact measurement developed for navigational and astronomical instruments.

Suggested Citation

  • Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2020. "Connecting the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions: The Role of Practical Mathematics," Working Papers 202017, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
  • Handle: RePEc:ucn:wpaper:202017
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/11441
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. MacLeod,Christine, 2007. "Heroes of Invention," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521873703, October.
    2. Gregory Clark, 2012. "The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain 1700-1850 : Review Essay," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 85-95, March.
    3. Morgan Kelly & Joel Mokyr & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2023. "The Mechanics of the Industrial Revolution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(1), pages 59-94.
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    8. Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2016. "Adam Smith, Watch Prices, and the Industrial Revolution," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1727-1752.
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    Cited by:

    1. Morgan Kelly & Joel Mokyr & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2023. "The Mechanics of the Industrial Revolution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(1), pages 59-94.
    2. Nicholas Crafts, 2021. "Understanding productivity growth in the industrial revolution," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(2), pages 309-338, May.

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    Keywords

    Scientific Revolution; Industrial Revolution; Instruments; Mathematics; England; France; China; Islamic world;
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