MDMD-relatedNYT book review: 'The Turk': The Automaton That Conquered Napoleon (at Chess)

[Doug Millison]

review:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/02/books/review/02TERE.html

first chapter:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/02/books/chapters/0602-1st-stand.html
[...] Since only the very rich could afford to buy their extravagant
contraptions, makers of automata moved in elevated circles and often ended
up in the direct employ of kings, queens, and emperors. Building automata
thus provided a good way for serious-minded clockmakers, engineers, or
scientists seeking patronage to demonstrate their abilities and establish
reputations for themselves; tinkering with mechanical toys could lead to
both fame and fortune. Perhaps the best example is provided by the
Frenchman Jacques de Vaucanson, whose inventions dazzled Europe in the
mid-eighteenth century, and whose renown as an automaton maker enabled him
to move effortlessly between the worlds of entertainment, industry, and
science. [...] Such was the acclaim that greeted these extraordinary
machines-Voltaire described their inventor as "bold Vaucanson, rival to
Prometheus"-that Vaucanson allowed them to go on a tour of the courts of
Europe, as ambassadors for French ingenuity and scientific advancement.
Vaucanson was made a member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris; King
Frederick II of Prussia offered him a job with a generous salary of 12,000
livres; he was even given the opportunity by Louis XV of France to go on an
expedition to Guiana in order to further the development of his new rubber
tubing.  However, Vaucanson decided to stay in France and pursue his goal
of building an artificial man. Once it was completed, he hoped to use this
automaton "to perform experiments on animal functions, and thence to gather
inductions to know the different states of health of men so as to remedy
their ills." [...]