"Artificial Mothers" on Display: How Public Exhibits Shaped the Development of Incubators.

Abstract

For the first four decades of the twentieth century, premature babies in the United States were primarily treated in infant incubators not in hospitals, but in a public setting-at the Coney Island amusement park. Although incubators are now an indispensable medical device, their origins lie in public exhibitions rather than a professional medical environment. This article uncovers the longer history behind this unusual episode in neonatal care and technology. Offering the first comprehensive account of the early history of the infant incubator, it traces how these devices were first developed and showcased at exhibition sites across Europe in the 1890s. A comparative study of these exhibitions in Europe and the United States from 1890 to 1943 highlights significant differences in how industry, science, education, and spectacle interacted in each country. Moreover, it examines the changing relationship between public displays and professional medicine during this period, illustrating how technology developed in public spaces before transitioning into the professional medical domain.