Zur Entwicklung der Technikgeschichte in Deutschland und Österreich

Abstract

A modern history of technology must concern itself with the origins of technology, its use and social repercussions, as well as with the machines and products of industry. This discipline, though comparatively new, has its own history. In Germany and Austria, the most important historians of technology were for a long time engineers. Equally, it was engineers and technicians who received the greatest publicity after the foundations of the Vienna Technical Museum. Eventually, some historians also began to deal with the history of technology. The most important of the historians who integrated aspects of technical development in their work before World War II were Karl Lamprecht and Franz Schnabel. On this basis, the history of technology became an academic historical disciplin in Germany after 1960. In Austria, a comparable tradition has not so far emerged. But there are some indications that a new generation of historians will fill this gap, and establish the history of technology as a new historical discipline.