The machine in the nursery: incubator technology and the origins of newborn intensive care

Abstract

This study examines the transformation that overtook the infant incubator after it was introduced to the US from France in the late 19th century. The author argues that the Americans did more than just adopt the incubator - they re-invented it in the process, so that a simple domestic warming device became a complex life support system intended to provide a complete artificial environment for the premature infant. The text focuses on the interaction between the technology and its intended target, the premature infant. To the extent that particular medical specialists in distinct institutions and cultures saw different populations of such infants, they were bound to interpret the incubator's purpose differently.

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