Abstract
The greatest difficulty in compiling a history of almost any specialist subject is to know where to begin. There is a popular saying—‘There is nothing new under the sun’-and certainly it is often impossible to credit the invention of the most useful of devices to any known single person. In The Children’s Encyclopaedia (1922) a verbal picture of a stone-age man is painted with the use of phrases such as “He lifts the stone, raises it above his head, and flings it from him. The others imitate him. They chuckle and grin. The first game of cricket is being played.”
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© 1987 Eric R. Laithwaite
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Laithwaite, E.R. (1987). Introduction — the first age of topology. In: A History of Linear Electric Motors. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08296-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08296-4_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-08298-8
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