The Bends: Compressed Air in the History of Science, Diving, and Engineering

by John Phillips

Book Overview

With the invention of compressed air in the 1840s, human divers could enter previously inaccessible deep water environments and engineers could design underwater mines and monumental bridges that had never been possible before. But a painful, sometimes fatal illness--decompression sickness, or the bends--mysteriously afflicted many of those who used compressed air. This book is a wide-ranging history of the wonders compressed air brought about and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300071256
• ISBN13: 9780300071252
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.6"