Bern Dibner (18August 18976January 1988) was an electrical engineer, industrialist, and historian of science and technology. He originated two major US library collections in the
history of science and technology
The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history that examines the understanding of the natural world (science) and the ability to manipulate it (technology) at different points in time. This academic discipline also studies the c ...
.
Biography
Dibner was born in Lisianka, near
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
in 1897. His family was
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. He moved to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
with his family at the age of 7. In 1921, he graduated from the
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn
The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...
with a degree in Electrical Engineering.
Engineering career
Soon after graduating, Dibner designed and patented the first
solderless electrical connectors and founded the
Burndy Engineering Company in 1924. The company later became the Burndy Corporation and was bought by the French corporation Framatome Connectors International (FCI) in 1988.
In 2009, Burndy was acquired and became a subsidiary of Hubbell Incorporated.
Dibner died at his home in
Wilton, Connecticut
Wilton is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 18,503. In 2017, it was the sixth-wealthiest town per capita in Connecticut, the wealthiest U.S. state per capita.
Officially recog ...
, on January 6, 1988.
The "Burndy" appellation, used for both his company and the library he would found, was represents a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[American Jewish League Against Communism
The Joint Committee Against Communism, also known as the Joint Committee Against Communism in New York, was an anti-communist organization during the 1950s.
Origins
Benjamin Schultz of Rochester, New York, had studied under Rabbi Stephen S. ...](_blank)
.
History of science
In addition to electrical engineering, Dibner studied the history of technology. He was an avid collector of original scientific works and of books on the history of science, as well as thousands of portraits of various scientists. Bern Dibner also wrote a great number of books on the history of science, such as ''The Atlantic Cable'' in 1955.
In 1976 he was awarded the
Sarton Medal by the
History of Science Society
The History of Science Society (HSS) is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton, David Eugene Smith, and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publi ...
.
Dibner, who was fascinated by the combination of art and technology in the work of
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...
. He assembled a library of works about da Vinci which grew over the years as Dibner's interests expanded into the history of
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
, the history of
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
technology, and finally the
history of science and technology
The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history that examines the understanding of the natural world (science) and the ability to manipulate it (technology) at different points in time. This academic discipline also studies the c ...
in general.
Burndy Library
In 1941 Dibner formally established the
Burndy Library
Burndy Library is one of the world's largest collections of books on the history of science and technology.
History
Founded in 1941 in Norwalk, Connecticut by the electrical engineer, industrialist, and historian Bern Dibner, the library holdin ...
as a separate institution "to advance scholarship in the history of science." By 1964, the Burndy Library collection totaled over 40,000 volumes and Dibner opened a new building in
Norwalk, Connecticut, to house the Library.
In 1974, Dibner donated one-quarter of the Burndy Library's holdings to the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
to form the nucleus of a research library in the history of science and technology. It was located in the
National Museum of History and Technology
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
(now
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center). In 1976, the Smithsonian's Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology
was established, providing the
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is an institutional archives and library system comprising 21 branch libraries serving the various Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers. The Libraries and Archives serve Smithsonian Institutio ...
with its first rare book collection, containing many of the major works dating from the fifteenth to the early nineteenth centuries in the history of science and technology including engineering, transportation, chemistry, mathematics, physics, electricity and astronomy. The Smithsonian Dibner Library, then numbering 35,000 volumes, was reopened after construction in spring 2010, and is located in the
National Museum of American History on the
National Mall
The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institut ...
in
Washington DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
.
The Smithsonian Institution Libraries have cataloged the books and manuscripts of the Dibner Library and entered the records into the international database
OCLC and the Smithsonian's own online catalog, SIRIS.
Death and commemoration
After Bern Dibner's death in 1988, the Burndy Library moved to
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, in 1992, where it became the research library for the
Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology
The Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology (1992–2006) was a research institute established at MIT, and housed in a renovated building (E56) on campus at 38 Memorial Drive, overlooking the Charles River.Charles H. BallMIT to ...
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. In November 2006, the complete Burndy Library collection, by then consisting of 67,000 rare volumes and a collection of scientific instruments, was donated to and became part of the
Huntington Library
The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Ma ...
in
San Marino, California
San Marino is a residential city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It was incorporated on April 25, 1913. At the 2010 census the population was 13,147. The city is one of the wealthiest places in the nation in terms of househo ...
, where it is available to scholars. The Huntington Library now offers a Dibner History of Science Program to fund fellowships, a lecture series and annual conference.
Publications
* ''Leonardo da Vinci, Military Engineer'' (1946)
* ''Doctor William Gilbert'' (1947)
* ''Faraday Discloses Electro-magnetic Induction'' (1949)
* ''Moving the Obelisks'' (1950)
* ''Galvani-Volta, A Controversy that led to the Discovery of Useful Electricity'' (1952)
* ''Ten Founding Fathers of the Electrical Science'' (1954)
* ''Heralds of Science'' (1955)
* ''Early Electrical Machines'' (1957)
* ''Agricola on Metals'' (1958)
* ''The Atlantic Cable'' (1959)
* ''Darwin of the Beagle'' (1960)
* ''Oersted and the Discovery of Electromagnetism'' (1961)
* ''The Victoria and the Triton'' (1962)
* ''The New Rays of Prof. Röntgen'' (1963)
* ''Alessandro Volta and the Electric Battery'' (1964)
* ''Röntgen and the Discovery of X-rays'' (1968)
* ''Luigi Galvani'' (1971)
* ''Leonardo da Vinci, Machines and Weaponry'' (1974)
* ''Benjamin Franklin - Electrician'' (1976)
* ''The Burndy Library in Mitosis'' (1977)
See also
*
Burndy Engineering Company
*
Burndy Library
Burndy Library is one of the world's largest collections of books on the history of science and technology.
History
Founded in 1941 in Norwalk, Connecticut by the electrical engineer, industrialist, and historian Bern Dibner, the library holdin ...
*
Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology
The Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology (1992–2006) was a research institute established at MIT, and housed in a renovated building (E56) on campus at 38 Memorial Drive, overlooking the Charles River.Charles H. BallMIT to ...
*
Electrical Connector
References
External links
Biography of Bern Dibnerat
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
Biography of Bern Dibnera
American Scientistonline at the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dibner, Bern
1897 births
1988 deaths
American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Ukrainian Jews
Jewish American historians
20th-century American engineers
People from Wilton, Connecticut
American historians of science
Historians of technology
Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni
Engineers from Connecticut
Leonardo da Vinci Medal recipients
20th-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
20th-century American male writers
Historians from Connecticut
20th-century American Jews