₨ 2,350₨ 4,075
ISBN: 9781574886979
Publisher: INC.
Subtitle: INVINCIBLE KING OF MACEDONIA
Author: PETER G. TSOURAS
In stock
| Weight | 0.19 kg |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9781574886979 |
| Format | |
| Publication Date | 2004 |
| Pages | 121 |
| Author | |
| Author Description | |
| Publisher | |
| Language |
On an autumn day in 1769, a Hungarian nobleman named Wolfgang von Kempelen attended a conjuring show at the court of Maria Theresa, empress of Austria-Hungary. So unimpressed was Kempelen by the performance that he declared he could do better himself. Maria Theresa held him to his word and gave him six months to prepare a show of his own. Kempelen did not disappoint; he returned to the court the following spring with a mechanical man, fashioned from wood, powered by clockwork, dressed in a stylish Turkish costume—and capable of playing chess.The Turk, as this contraption became known, was an instant success and enjoyed an illustrious career in Europe and America during the next eighty-five years. Associated over time with a host of historical figures, including Benjamin Franklin, Catherine the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles Babbage, and Edgar Allan Poe, Kempelen’s creation also unwittingly helped to inspire the development of the power loom, the computer, and the detective story. Everywhere it went; the Turk baffled spectators and provoked frenzied speculation about whether a machine could really think. Many rival theories were published serving only to undermine each other, and the Turk’s secret was only ever revealed to a select few.Part historical detective story, part real-life fairy tale, The Turk chronicles the machine’s remarkable and checkered career against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution, as mechanical technology opened up dramatic new possibilities and the relationship between people and machines was being redefined. Today, in the midst of the computer age, that relationship has assumed a new significance, as scientists and philosophers continue to debate the possibility of machine intelligence. To modern eyes, the Turk was a surprisingly farsighted invention, and its saga is a colorful and important part of the history of technology.
ISBN: 0802713912
Publisher: WALKER & COMPANY
Subtitle:
Author: TOM STANDAGE
ISBN: 0860911594
Publisher: VERSO
Subtitle: THE BILDUNGSROMAN IN EUROPEAN CULTURE
Author: FRANCO MORETTI
ISBN: 0860782573
Publisher: VARIORUM
Subtitle:
Author: FRANZ ROSENTHAL
The opening volume of Morris’s “Pax Britannica Trilogy,” this richly detailed work traces the rise of the British Empire, from the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne in 1837 to the celebration of her Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
ISBN: 0156027747 – Paperback
Publisher: ALFRED A. KNOPF
ISBN: 0156027747
Publisher: ALFRED A. KNOPF
Subtitle: AN IMPERIAL PROGRESS
Author: JAN MORRIS
ISBN: 0002152177 – Paperback
Publisher: HARPER COLLINS
ISBN: Z1500
Publisher: VANGUARD BOOKS
Subtitle: THE CONQUEST AND ADMINISTRATION OF MULTAN
Author: J. ROYAL ROSEBE
ISBN: 9694023319
Publisher: VANGUARD BOOKS
Subtitle: A BOOK FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Author: SVEN HEDIN
ISBN: B3234
Publisher: VINTAGE BOOKS
Subtitle:
Author: VINTAGE BOOKS
ISBN: 0226561410
Publisher: CHICAGO
Subtitle: A HISTORY OF THE HUMAN COMMUNITY WITH A RETROSPECTIVE ESSAY
Author: WILLIAM H. MCNEILL
