Vom Triumph zur Katastrophe: der Einsturz der Tay-Brücke und der Technikoptimismus des späten 19. Jahrhunderts

Abstract

Contemporaries celebrated the newly-built bridge over the Firth of Tay in Scotland as a marvel of engineering. The railway accident that occurred on 28 December 1879, when a train with all the people on board plunged into the sea in a partial collapse of the Tay Bridge, became an international media event. In an era, full of optimism and fascination with technology, it initiated a debate, mirrored in the press and other publication formats, on the relationship between man, nature and technology. However, fundamental changes in people’s attitudes did not necessarily follow.