2007-2008 Maryland Colloquium in the History of Technology

The Maryland Colloquium in the History of Technology is pleased to announce the 2007-2008 series:

Thu, May 8: Michael Adas, Rutgers University
Title: “Technology, Wars of Attrition, and Great Power Decline”
About the Speaker and the Session:
Michael Adas is Abraham E. Voorhees Professor of History and Board of Governors' Chair in the Department of History at Rutgers University. He has published many books on the history of technology and globalization, including Machines as the Measure of Men (Cornell, 1989) for which he received the Dexter Prize from the Society for the History of Technology. Professor Adas will discuss his current project on globalization, technology and the history of warfare and has asked that attendees read two published chapters, one each from Machines as the Measure of Men (Chapter 6, "The Great War and the Assault on Scientific and Technical Measures of Human Worth, 345-401) and Dominance by Design (Chapter 6, "Machines in the Vietnam Quagmire," 280-336).

Previous Seminars:

Thursday, November 1:Prakash Kumar, Colorado State University
Title: "Colonial Modernity: Idealizing Agricultural Science in South Asia, 1860-1905"
About the Speaker:
Prakash Kumar is Assistant Professor of History at Colorado State University where he studies modern south Asia, empire and improvement, and colonial science. Originally trained at the University of Delhi, he received his Ph.D. in history of science and technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology. His work on the history of agriculture in south Asia has appeared in the British Journal for the History of Science and the Indian Economic and Social History Review, among other outlets.

December 6, 2007 - Renzo Baldasso of the University of Maryland

Title: " The Revolution of Regiomontanus' Books and The Visual Turn of Early Modern Science"

About the Speaker:
Dr. Baldasso is a scholar of early modern visual culture, with particular interest in the interaction of art and science. He is currently working on two book length projects: the first addresses the development of early printed visuality in the incunabular period, while the second details the role of visual reasoning in the Scientific Revolution. Dr. Baldasso studied mathematics and physics at Illinois Institute of Technology (BA 1996), history of science at the University of Oklahoma (MA 1998), and art history at Columbia University (PhD 2007). His research has been funded by fellowships and grants from the Kress Foundation, Delmas Foundation, Mellon Foundation, NEH, The Folger Institute, Smithsonian Institution, and The Huntington Library.

Thursday, February 7, 2008: Hyungsub Choi, Chemical Heritage Foundation
Title: "Technology Importation, Corporate Strategies, and the Emergence of the Japanese Semiconductor Industry"
Commentator: David Sicilia Department of History, University of Maryland

About the Speaker: Hyungsub Choi is the Manager for Electronics, Innovation and Emerging Technologies Programs at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia. He earned a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in the history of science and technology. Previously, he earned an M.S. in history of technology at Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in engineering from Seoul National University. He has been a Fellow at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, and in 2003, he receieved the Robinson Prize from the Society for the History of Technology for his paper, "Rationalizing the 'Guerilla State': North Korean Factory Management Reform in the 1960s" (subsequently published in History and Technology).

Thu, Mar 6: Christine Keiner, Rochester Institute of Technology

Thu, Apr 3: Corinna Schlombs, University of Pennsylvania

Thu, May 1: Reggie Blaszczyk, Hagley Musuem and Library
Speaker: Regina Lee Blaszczyk Independent Historian and Visiting Scholar, University of Pennsylvania
Title: "Franco-American Colors: Paris Fashion Meets the New York Rag Trade"
Commentator: Joyce Bedi, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM Francis Scott Key 2120
A pre-circulated paper paper is available upon request from David Kirsch dkirsch [at] umd [dot] edu. For more information, contact: David A. Kirsch +1 301 405 0559 dkirsch@umd.edu

About the Speaker: Regina Lee Blaszczyk is an independent historian and visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, Department of History and Sociology of Science. Her publications include _Imagining Consumers: Design and Innovation from Wedgewood to Corning_ (2000), _Major Problems in American Business History: Documents and Essays_ (2005, with Phil Scranton), and _Producing Fashion: Commerce, Culture and Consumers_ (2007). _Imagining Consumers_ was awarded the Hagley Prize in 2001 by the Business History Conference for the best book of the year in business history. In addition, Blaszczyk is the 2008 recipient of the Harold F. Williamson Prize , awarded every other year by the Business History Conference to a an individual "at mid-career" who has made significant contributions to the teaching and writing of business history.

The Maryland Colloquium in the History of Technology is supported by the Nathan and Jeanette Miller Center for Historical Studies at the University of Maryland.

Transportation: For public transportation, take the Metro to the College Park/U of Md stop, from where you can take a free shuttle bus, available to all, to campus. Taliaferro Hall is building no. 043 on the campus map: http://www.parking.umd.edu/themap/

For car drivers: Taliaferro Hall is up the hill past the Memorial Chapel, off of U.S. Rte. 1 (Baltimore Ave.) in College Park. The University's web site will provide a map as well as advice on parking. Many restricted lots at the university are available to the public after 4:00 pm, but attendees are advised to read all parking lot signs carefully.  Lots C and L are the closest unrestricted lots (after 4 pm) to Taliaferro Hall.