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David Edgerton is Hans Rausing Professor in the Centre for the History of
Science, Technology and Medicine, Imperial College London. He
is the author of <i>England and the Aeroplane</i> (London:
Macmillan, 1991), <i>Science, Technology and the British Industrial
'Decline', 1870-1970</i> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996),
and the forthcoming <i>Warfare State: Britain, 1920-1970</i> (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2005). His latest project is a
book called "The Uses of Things: a global history of
twentieth-century technology," to be published by Profile Books in
February 2006. <br><br>
Professor Edgerton provided the following abstract for his STS Brown Bag
Lunch Talk on Tuesday, May 3rd:<br><br>
In my presentation I will discuss the main argument of my forthcoming The
Uses of Things: a global history of twentieth-century technology,
to be published by Profile Books in February 2006. The book provides an
alternative to our innovation-centred, and rich-world centred accounts of
twentieth-century technology, by focussing on technologies in use, on the
significance of alternatives, and by arguing against stage theories of
technological history. We need to engage with what I call the
historiography from below, and to think more about technology in history,
and less about the question of technology. Some of the methodological
arguments of the book have appeared in `De l'innovation aux usages. Dix
thèses éclectiques sur l'histoire des techniques' Annales HSS
juillet-octobre 1998, Nos 4-5, pp. 815-837, translated as 'From
Innovation to Use: ten (eclectic) theses on the history of technology',
in History and Technology Vol 16 (1999), pp. 1-2. <br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 17:15:29
-0400<br>
To: sci-tech-public@mit.edu<br>
From: Debbie Meinbresse <meinbres@mit.edu><br>
Subject: STS Brown Bag Lunch Talk: Tuesday, May 3rd<br><br>
<b>Please join us next Tuesday, May 3rd, for an STS Brown Bag Lunch Talk
by<br>
David Edgerton. Feel free to bring your lunch; coffee and dessert
will be provided.<br><br>
<br>
<div align="center"><font size=5><u>STS Brown Bag Lunch Talk<br><br>
<br><br>
</u></font><font size=5 color="#0000FF">The Uses of Things: A Global
History</b> <b>of Twentieth Century Technology<br><br>
<br>
</b></font> <font size=5><b>David Edgerton<br>
</font> <font size=4>Centre for the History of Science,
Technology and Medicine, Imperial College</b> <br><br>
</font></div>
<br><br>
<br>
<div align="center"><font size=5><b>
Tuesday, May 3, 2005 <br><br>
12:00 noon,</b> <b>MIT, E51-095<br><br>
</b></font></div>
Debbie Meinbresse<br>
STS Program, MIT<br>
617-253-4062 </blockquote>
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Debbie Meinbresse<br>
STS Program, MIT<br>
617-253-4062</body>
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