In 1877, university professor Carl von Linde obtained a patent for his refrigerator from the Imperial Patent Office - a patent for something that was not merely an invention, but the result of serious research in the basic laws of physics. Linde went on to found Linde Company, one of the biggest German Gas and Engineering companies which became one of the models for science based industries. Today, the Linde Group, headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, is a global technology company dedicated to gas and engineering, material handling and refrigeration.This book examines the history of this company in the context of the history of technology in industry.

List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Preface
Linde as a Producer of Refrigeration Equipment
Linde Enters in Liquefaction and Separation of Gases
Linde During National Socialism, 1933-1945
Linde During the Great Economic Boom, 1945-1966
The 1970s: From Engineering to Management-Driven Business
Normal Operations for the First Time: From Reorganization to the AGA-purchase, 1984-1999
Linde in the Twenty-first Century
Appendix

HANS-LIUDGER DIENEL is Acting Director of the Center for Technology and Society of the Berlin University of Technology, and Director of the Nexus Institute for Cooperation Management and Interdisciplinary Research, Berlin (www.ztg.tu-berlin.de; www.nexus-berlin.com). His research foci are historical innovation research, mobility research, and research on knowledge and cooperation management.