Santa Clara University Scholar Commons Economics Leavey School of Business 4-1994 French Optical Telegraphy, 1793-1855: Hardware, Software, Administration Alexander J. Field Santa Clara University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/econ Part of the Economics Commons Recommended Citation Field, Alexander J. 1994. "French Optical Telegraphy, 1793-1855: Hardware, Software, Administration," Technology and Culture 35 (April 1994): 315-47. Copyright © 1994 Society for the History of Technology. This article first appeared in Technology and Culture 35:2(1994), 315-347. Reprinted with permission by Johns Hopkins University Press. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Leavey School of Business at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Economics by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. French Optical Telegraphy, 1793-1855: Hardware, Software, Administration ALEXANDER J. FIELD The relatively stable contribution of technological change to aggre- gate growth masks technological trajectories which are, at the sectoral level, often highly discontinuous. For decades, even centuries, the capabilities used to produce a particular good or service may continue essentially unchanged or with relatively minor evolutionary modifica- tions. Sometimes without much warning a breakthrough innovation will create a new technological paradigm, along with an accompanying "gale of creative destruction," which is then followed by a period of consoli- dation within a maturing framework. From this perspective, one of the more remarkable aspects of the 19th century was its simultaneous experience of an unprecedented and as yet historically unique breakthrough in the technologies of moving both goods and information.