Since World War I, the Natuurkundig Laboratorium has been a crucial center of industrial research for Philips, one of the world’s largest electronics companies. In this study, Marc J. de Vries demonstrates how the history of the laboratory can help us understand important changes in the production and uses of technology in the twentieth century.
Breaking their study into three periods, each characterized by different research goals and approaches, the authors augment this general history with detailed case studies. The result will be of value to anyone studying the history and philosophy of technology.
Marc J. de Vriesis assistant professor of the philosophy of technology at the Eindhoven University of Technology and affiliate professor of reformational philosophy at the Delft University of Technology, both in the Netherlands.
Preface
1. The Role of a Research Organization in an Industrial Company: Motives and Themes for Writing the History of the Philips Nat.Lab.
2. Prologue: The Nat. Lab.'s Early Years (1914-1923)
Part I. The Nat.Lab. as a Growth and Diversification Factor in the Philips Company (1923-1946)
3. Developing a Research Organization for a Diversifying Company
3.1 Philips and Technological and Economic Developments in the Netherlands in the 1923-1946 Period
3.2 Supporting Company Diversification as a Nat.Lab. Goal
3.3 Increasing the Laboratory's Means
3.4 The Culture and Structures for the Diversifying Research Programme
3.5 Influencing the Company
4. Research for Diversification in Action
4.1 Gas Discharges and mercury Lamps
4.2 X-ray Tubes
4.3 Ferrites
4.4 Research Rules Reconsidered
Intermezzo I. The German Occupation and the Transition Years (1940-1946)
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