BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Columba Systems Ltd//NONSGML CPNG/SpringViewer/ICal Output/3.3-
 M3//EN
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20150423T113724Z
DTSTART:20150428T120000Z
DTEND:20150428T130000Z
SUMMARY:Laboratory Routes: The Science Behind Road-Building\, 1923-1939
UID:{http://www.columbasystems.com/customers/uom/gpp/eventid/}g15o-i5irol
 wr-rv4vi3
DESCRIPTION:This seminar is part of the lunchtime seminar series for the 
 Centre for the History of Science\, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM). Lun
 chtime seminars are typically no more than 30 minutes in length\, follow
 ed by a period for audience questions (ending before 2pm). All are welco
 me.\n\nLaboratory Routes: The Science Behind Road-Building\, 1923-1939\n
 \nJustine Cook (University of Kent)\n\nAbstract:\nScientific laboratorie
 s dedicated to road research (broadly defined) were established in Brita
 in from the 1920s. This paper examines these laboratories\, set up in th
 e first instance by the Road Board\, and subsequently the governmental o
 rganisations of the DSIR and Ministry of Transport\, respectively\, over
  the early decades of the twentieth century. I question why these labora
 tories were set up by the government and touch upon the laboratory work 
 taking place worldwide – specifically in America\, France and Germany – 
 to provide a relative cross-comparison concerning the importance attribu
 ted to the study and investigation of roads.\n\nBy exploring the experim
 ental work undertaken by the British road laboratories we can deduce the
  focus of laboratory investigations and how this may be indicative of co
 ntemporary concerns relating to the maintenance and construction of road
 ways. For example\, I will explore the implications of the extensive wor
 k undertaken regarding surface dressings to engineer a pragmatic and dur
 able road surface which prevented dust clouds and reduced skidding in we
 t weather. Examining the processes by which road investigative work was 
 conducted and for what purpose reveals the core elements which concerned
  road researchers in early twentieth-century Britain. Exploring the test
 ing work conducted at the road research laboratories\, and its subsequen
 t capabilities for application in the road construction industry\, facil
 itates an examination of the dynamic interaction between society and roa
 d technology (yet to be explored in the Histories of Science and Technol
 ogy).\n\nThis paper contributes to the overall aim of my thesis to under
 stand how the British road network was designed\, for what purpose\, and
  to consider how this was shaped and moulded by social and political pre
 ssures\, attitudes and movements. Thus\, this work examines new possibil
 ities of how roads became part of everyday life in twentieth-century Bri
 tain.\n\n
STATUS:TENTATIVE
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
LOCATION:2.57\, Simon Building\, Manchester
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