HIstory and technology - Mutual impacts

In his treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, James Clark Maxwell begins the preface by citing facts ldquoknown to the ancientsrdquo. He then continues, by mentioning his study of Faraday, before getting to explain his theory. Russian history sources on Alexander Stepanovitch Popov mention, that ldquoexploring the works of Maxwell and Hertz lead to the development of Popov´s transmitting and receiving systemrdquo. Most technological developments and discoveries were based on studies of past achievements. Certain inventions or discoveries are attributed to the person who published them first, despite the fact that they were known long before and credit was assigned to the person who took the concept to fruition and brought it to the people, usually - when society or circumstances (e.g. war) produced a demand. This paper claims that there is a mutualimpact between history and technology: Systematic studies of the earlier history, as well as historical trends, assisted developers in the past and can assist in future technological developments and the study of history suggests that there may well be sites, sectors and periods in which a technology-oriented logic governs the social and economic environments. This is specifically applicable to the development of electrical and information technologies.