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- Title
EESTLASTE PERPETUUM MOBILE LEIUTAMISE KATSED 1870. AASTATEST 1940. AASTANI - ÜHISKONNA MODERNISEERUMISE ILMING.
- Authors
PARAMONOV, Riho
- Abstract
The roots of the perpetual motion machine (perpetuum mobile) lie in the 7th century AD. The impossibility of creating perpetuum mobile was established in the 19th century. Modern science considers perpetuum mobile as a pseudoscientific phenomenon. Estonians made their first contacts with the problem of perpetual motion abroad or through foreign literature. In Estonia information about perpetuum mobile became widespread in the last quarter of the 19th century, mainly through newspapers. Until the 20th century the problem of perpetuum mobile was covered most thoroughly in the newspaper Olevik. The purpose of Olevik, in which the perpetual motion was regarded as impossible, was to educate and to lead the reader to useful action (of inventing). In other newspapers the problem of perpetual motion was considered randomly. The role of newspapers in spreading information about perpetuum mobile should be considered ambivalent because of the inconsistency of news. The published information influenced people to think about inventing perpetuum mobile but there were also articles that strictly excluded the possibility of such machine. Especially in the 1920s and 1930s perpetual motion was treated as an entertaining topic (perpetuum mobile as a curiosity). In literature perpetuum mobile was rarely mentioned. The term -perpetuum mobile- was included in some dictionaries and encyclopedias. The accuracy of the definitions increased in the course of time. Terms equivalent to perpetuum mobile in Estonian started to spread in the 1920s. Perpetuum mobile was seldom mentioned in calendars and fiction. In physics textbooks written by Estonians the problem of perpetual motion was not considered. However, in the translated textbook by B. Stewart from the year 1908 the problem was considered. The few popular science publications that mentioned perpetuum mobile were also translations. Magazines mainly treated perpetual motion as a symbol of pointless inventions. The invention of perpetuum mobile was derided. Insufficient treatment of perpetual motion in fiction and in magazines was due to the fact that the problem was not enough attractive or necessary to authors. There were also very few publications about the physics and other topics related to perpetual motion, which could complement the physical knowledge of people and to influence them to give up the idea of building perpetuum mobile. Endeavours to invent a perpetual-motion machine spread over the whole area of Estonia. Among inventors were people from schoolboys to aged persons. Women did not try to create perpetuum mobile. The idea of perpetuum mobile especially inspired blacksmiths and (industrial) workers. They had enough knowledge and skills for practical action of invention (but not for making blueprints). A positive result of attempts to create perpetuum mobile was the development of individual skilfulness. Many persons who attempted to create perpetuum mobile could also invent more useful devices and appliances. Most of the inventors worked upon the machine with full dedication and selfconfidence. The inventors- faith in success was magical-religious. It based totally on emotions and wishful thinking. There were people for whom perpetuum mobile became fixation (monomania). The failure of invention could result in physical problems because people were mentally not ready to deal with the complicated issue of perpetual motion (sign of collision between the new and old value systems). The main reasons of trying to build a perpetual-motion device were new needs that emerged in the conditions of modernization (need for creation, self-actualization and recognition). The idea of perpetual motion was simple, highly attractive and easily adoptable. The idea of creating an ideal machine - the perpetuum mobile - did incite the secret dreams and hopes (the reduction of nature, improving the life and solution to the problem of energy). Money played a very important role in the attempts to create a perpetual-motion machine. The desire to become rich inspired to deal with perpetuum mobile, but there were also costs related to the building process, which needed to be covered. Therefore more watchful inventors tried to find financial backing for finishing their project. As perpetuum mobile was thought to be the key to huge wealth, the inventors avoided talking openly about their work. The persons who had no problem of talking wanted above all to get the reputation or just to leave a trace of themselves. The inventor of perpetuum mobile was an active creator, who believed it was possible to change his own life and even the world. The rise of personal selfawareness manifests itself in the development of an individual-based value system. The most ambitious inventors tried to patent their perpetual-motion machines in the Estonian Patent Office established in 1919. Although no perpetuum mobile was patented during the years in question, the patent officers regarded the people hoping to patent their machine with understanding at the beginning of the 1920s. The attitude of categorically denying the possibility of perpetuum mobile developed during the second half of the 1930s. Refusal to patent any such devices was explained with the hypothetical machine-s contradiction with the laws of nature and science. The Patent Office also had to deal with letters and interpellations related to perpetuum mobile. The persons wanting to patent their machine struggled to understand the nature of perpetual motion and they had troubles trying to clearly express their standpoints. The widespread interest in building a perpetual-motion machine was related to the modernizing of society (industrialization, the spread of technology and the development of a new system of values). The precondition of the popularity of attempts to invent perpetuum mobile was inadequacy of education and knowledge. Inventors were not able to analyse the problem of perpetual motion thoroughly enough and it was often understood incompletely. The nature of science and its message was alien to the inventors of perpetuum mobile. It was the progress of machines and tools, not the progress of science that was important to the inventors of perpetuum mobile. Constant experience of social and technological progress led to the opinion that science would change its standpoint concerning perpetual motion. The endeavours to create a perpetual-motion device have features of pseudoscience but the inventors had no scientific aims. The inventing of perpetuum mobile can be observed as a response to great economic, scientific, social and mental changes. The old, magical-religious worldview had started to collapse and its values needed to be replaced by new values. As the forming of a new scientific worldview needed time, the pseudoscientific sphere helped initially to satisfy the new type of mental and intellectual needs of many people. Perpetuum mobile was part of this sphere. The common aspect that characterizes people delighted by the idea of perpetuum mobile was a certain kind of openness. Although their physical and scientific knowledge was limited, they had keen minds, and that is what needs to be highlighted in the context of the era.
- Subjects
ESTONIA; PERPETUAL motion; LITERATURE; INTELLECTUAL property; CALENDAR; PERIODICALS
- Publication
Acta Historica Tallinnensia, 2013, Issue 19, p27
- ISSN
1406-2925
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3176/hist.2013.1.02