Thomas P. Hughes
Encyclopedia
Thomas Parke Hughes is an American Historian of Technology. He is an emeritus professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania
and is a visiting professor at MIT
and Stanford
.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia
in 1953.
He, along with John B. Rae, Carl W. Condit
, and Melvin Kranzberg
, are responsible for the establishment of the Society for the History of Technology
and he is a recipient of its highest honor, the Leonardo Da Vinci Medal.
He has contributed to the concepts of technological momentum
, technological determinism
, large technical systems
, social construction of technology
, and has introduced systems theory
into the history of technology.
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
and is a visiting professor at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1953.
He, along with John B. Rae, Carl W. Condit
Carl W. Condit
Carl Condit was an American historian of urban and architectural history, a writer, professor, and teacher. He wrote numerous books and articles on the history of American building, especially in Chicago, and founded the History of Science Department at Northwestern University, where he taught for...
, and Melvin Kranzberg
Melvin Kranzberg
Melvin Kranzberg was a professor of history at Case Western Reserve University from 1952 until 1971. He was a Callaway professor of the history of technology at Georgia Tech from 1972 to 1988....
, are responsible for the establishment of the Society for the History of Technology
Society for the History of Technology
The Society for the History of Technology, or SHOT, is the primary professional society for historians of technology. Founded in 1958, its flagship publication is the journal Technology and Culture...
and he is a recipient of its highest honor, the Leonardo Da Vinci Medal.
He has contributed to the concepts of technological momentum
Technological momentum
Technological momentum is a theory about the relationship between technology and society over time. The term was originally developed by the historian of technology Thomas P. Hughes....
, technological determinism
Technological determinism
Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a society's technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values. The term is believed to have been coined by Thorstein Veblen , an American sociologist...
, large technical systems
Large Technical System
a large technical system is a system or network of enormous proportions or complexity. The study of LTSs is a subdiscipline of history of science and technology....
, social construction of technology
Social construction of technology
Social construction of technology is a theory within the field of Science and Technology Studies. Advocates of SCOT -- that is, social constructivists -- argue that technology does not determine human action, but that rather, human action shapes technology...
, and has introduced systems theory
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
into the history of technology.
Main works
- Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983. ISBN 0801846145.
- Edited with Wiebe E. BijkerWiebe BijkerWiebe E. Bijker is a Dutch professor, chair of the Department of Social Science and Technology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands....
and Trevor J. Pinch, eds. The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press, 1987. - Edited with Renate Mayntz. The Development of Large Technical Systems. Frankfurt am Main: Boulder, CO: Campus Verlag; Westview Press, 1988.
- American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870-1970. New York, NY: Viking, 1989. Which was also a Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
finalist. - Edited with Agatha C. Hughes. Lewis MumfordLewis MumfordLewis Mumford was an American historian, philosopher of technology, and influential literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a writer...
: Public Intellectual. New York: 1990. - Rescuing PrometheusRescuing PrometheusRescuing Prometheus: Four Monumental Projects That Changed the Modern World is a book by Thomas P. Hughes. The book uses four extremely large engineering projects of the late 20th century as examples to explore how the limits of modern system engineering are stressed by real life projects...
. 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998. - Human-Built World: How to Think About Technology and Culture. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2004. ISBN 0226359336
External links
- Oral history interview with Thomas Parke Hughes, Charles Babbage InstituteCharles Babbage InstituteThe Charles Babbage Institute is a research center at the University of Minnesota specializing in the history of information technology, particularly the history since 1935 of digital computing, programming/software, and computer networking....
, University of Minnesota.