It is said that Gwansanggam Jejo (觀象監提調) was in charge of running Gwansanggam (The Office for Observation of Natural Phenomenon) together with Yeongsa (領事). However, no research has been conducted on whether they were the practical managers of Gwansanggam. During the King Sukjong period, Gwansanggam Jejos were close to the ruling powers. Most of them were from Gyeonghwasajok (京華士族) and related to the family that produced people who served as Yeongsa and Gwansanggam Jejos, and some of them were related to the royal family. Based on their understanding of practical science, Gwansanggam Jejos managed business reports on astronomical observations and eclipses and supported the creation of astronomical instruments, almanacs and calendars. In geography, they participated in the practice of gansim (看審), bongsim (奉審) and repairing taebong (胎峯). In this way, they took on the role of practical managers for various astronomical and geographical tasks. In addition, they were in charge of gwageo (科擧), chwijae (取才), popyeom (褒貶), various personnel, awards, punishments, and coordination with other government offices. It is clear that they were active as managers in the process of playing this role. In conclusion, during the King Sukjong period, Gwansanggam Jejos acted as practical managers with the ability and qualities to understand Gwansanggam's work.

The purpose of this study is not to imagine and reproduce Lee Sun-shin's turtle ship at the time of the Imjin War (Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592), but to estimate the internal structure of the late Joseon turtle ships that were actually used in the late 18th century (Late Joseon Dynasty) based on historical records related to the Joseon Navy at that time. Like the infantry (foot soldiers), the Joseon Navy had matchlock soldiers as its main force, and the number of artillerymen was less than that of archers. More specifically, as a result of examining the historical materials, it was confirmed that the proportion of artillery among the crew of the turtle ship in the late Joseon period was very small. Since the Imjin War, the turtle ship has not only increased in size, but its main weapon was changed from conventional cannons to a matchlock. The most important issue raised in this study is that the so-called “Korean-style Oar” paradigm, which all preceding researchers have agreed to, is merely a weak argument that cannot be confirmed in historical records. In the West, only the oar was used, but in the East, oar, Yuloh, and Ro were used altogether. So, for large warships, it makes sense to infer oars were used for rowing rather than Chinese Yuloh and Japanese Ro. If we reconsider the oar rowing method in this way, it is possible to reasonably solve the problem of the coexistence of rowers and soldiers inside the turtle ship, which has been debated for a long time.

This study examined the specific process, contents, and changes of early technology introduction in Korea through government documents from the 1960s and 1970s. What the government wanted to pursue through the technology introduction approval process at this time was to demand and enforce foreign technology companies to provide fair conditions that local companies could not demand due to the global market structure of vertical division. By the mid-1970s, the government had controlled the payment of additional costs by expedient methods as well as the payment of technical fees and contractual terms, and even standardized contract terms. In the late 1970s, the government began to independently select technologies to be introduced and set longer-term goals to change the existing technology introduction structure, such as technology level limits, technology sector bias, the bias to Japanese technologies. By the end of the 1970s, the government had switched to a system of introducing new high-tech products at the same time as it encouraged companies to develop technologies rather than relying on technology introduction. This study shows that the 1960s-1970s was a period of continuous learning, improvement, and systematization for the improvement of ability and the settlement of systems to introduce efficient technology into Korea.

From elevators to subways, buses, and even artificial intelligence voice assistants, machines' voices that are easily accessible in everyday life are mostly feminized. How did the machine come to have a female voice? This paper traces the process of replacing the labor of female bus attendants with mechanical devices on the bus and shows how the automatic bus announcement was made using the 'cheerful and gentle voice of a young woman.' By exploring the historical and social contexts driving the introduction of the civic automated bus in the 1980s, this paper challenges the view that machines came to have a friendly female voice simply because female voices are more audible than male ones. The bus attendants, later replaced by automated buses, were assigned to young women in 1960s and 1970s as they were expected to have certain types of romanticized femininity. For the further understanding of the gendered nature of machines, this paper calls for more historical studies that reveal contexts and interests behind gendered voices of machines.

This article explores Maoist China's project of the “Integration of Chinese and Western Veterinary Medicines,” focusing on how folk veterinary knowledge and practices were “scientized” and transformed into a new hybrid science called “Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine” in 1956-1963. Engaging with the literature on socialist science and the PRC history, it shows that a group of Western-trained veterinary scientists, veterinary cadres, and folk veterinary masters, or “TCVM pioneers,” rather than the CCP itself, took a proactive role in this project. I also examine similarities and differences between the construction of TCM and that of TCVM, arguing that the demand that TCVM as an empirical, applied science must serve the socialist collective agriculture shaped the latter in a distinctive way. This article emphasizes that TCVM's therapeutic efficacy was “scientifically” verified through a particular experimental design that embraced both “Chinese” and “Western” elements. These findings urge us to see the history of science in socialist China without normalizing the Eurocentric and “diffusionist” narrative nor propagating the Sinocentric and Han nationalistic counternarrative. In this vein, this case study provides a way of understanding the “scientific,” “Chinese,” “modern,” and “traditional” in the framework of global history of science.

This paper examines how the grasslands were formed in the 1970s in South Korea, where the dairy industry was almost non-existent until the mid-20th century. Making grasslands was considered as a significant method in South Korea to cultivate unused lands and reduce management expenses for the dairy farms. The Korean government focused on developing grasslands using authentic Korean wild grass. However, the Korea Dairy Company and foreign experts concentrated on implementing imported pasture plants and making efforts to adapt them to South Korea's environment. In this transition, a set of efficient practices was devised, which took into account South Korea's hot and humid summer climate, the limited amount of farming area, and the characteristics of wild grass. Technical specialists educated farmers on how to apply those practices to maintain grasslands. As a result, there emerged a distinctive form of grassland management system, different from pasturage, which was generally used by other leading countries in the dairy industry like New Zealand and Denmark. Looking into South Korea's development of grasslands, this paper shows how the dairy industry has settled using a technical training system focused on the land and farmers, rather than innovative scientific research achievements and mechanization.

This study aims to examine pesticide hazards in the green revolution in South Korea with the concept of “slow violence.” The green revolution initiatives of the 1970s strongly encouraged the extensive usage of pesticides among farmers. It was because the high-yielding rice varieties, such as Tong-il, could not be cultivated without pesticides. The intensive use of pesticides caused poisoning among farmers and pesticide residue problems on food which was called “nongyak gonghae” (農藥公害). However, the nongyak gonghae was differently represented by the government. This study shows that the government's analysis was restricted to the residue problem in the food instead of the broader issue of farmers' exposure to pesticides. Pesticide poisoning of farmers was examined by a limited number of scholars so it was impossible to identify how many people experienced poisoning. Even when pesticide poisoning recurred, the government did not devise policy measures to solve the problem. Pesticide poisoning of farmers was under-discussed in Korean society until the government change in the 1980s. This study argues that this selective research on pesticides in the green revolution worked as violence that caused the human cost of modernization.

This study aims to review the current state and characteristics of scientists and engineers within the history of modern science and technology in Korea. It is peculiar that individual scientists and engineers have not been adequately represented in the historical narrative of Korean science and technology. Research in modern scientists and engineers gained momentum with the building of “The Hall of Fame of Scientists and Engineers” in 2003. Studies on the history of modern science and technology in Korea often focus on the contents of achievements and related policies; yet figures remain as peripheral characters. It is partially owing to the tendencies in the past that research in the history of science and technology has sought to find remarkable scientific achievements buried in history. Research in scientists and engineers was considered ineffective for the pursuit of such a purpose. Historical inquiry on scientific achievements, however, is not far from the historical figures who made them. Simply, the focus should be adjusted to relevant groups as much as distinguished individuals for understanding the advancement of science and technology. Furthermore, research in scientists and engineers can reveal science and technology more microscopically and specific relations with society. Unlike before, as studies in scientists and engineers expand horizons from famous figures to ordinary people, from achievements to whole activities, and from individuals to groups, it can trigger a shift in research in Korean history of science and technology. The prosopography is one of the research approaches worthy of attention. It should also be noted that archives equipped with rich and diverse resources are essential to research scientists and engineers accordingly.