[Sci-tech-public] Emily Thompson: great news!

[Rosalind H. Williams]

>
>>Emily Thompson (Visiting Scholar in STS 2003-2004; Senior Fellow, Dibner 
>>Institute 2002-2003) was one of the 25 MacArthur Fellows Announced by the 
>>MacArthur Foundation Today
>>
>>Emily Thompson
>>Aural Historian
>>Associate Professor of History
>>University of California / San Diego
>>San Diego, California
>>Age: 43
>>
>>5b381c.jpgEmily Thompson is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work 
>>focuses on the often-overlooked subject of sound and fills an important 
>>gap in contemporary American history, reaching into domains as diverse as 
>>urban design and cinema studies. In her book, The Soundscape of 
>>Modernity, she integrates the histories of the United States, technology, 
>>science, sound production, and acoustics to examine the transformation of 
>>the American soundscape from the turn of the century to the opening of 
>>Radio City Music Hall in 1933. Thompson organizes her work around 
>>developments in twentieth-century architecture, such as new concert halls 
>>and new building materials, and explores innovations in the science of 
>>acoustics, the emergence of excessive noise, and the efforts of 
>>scientists and designers to create new spaces and a new, "modern" sound. 
>>Her interests center around changes in acoustic design as reflections of 
>>larger cultural and social shifts in American life in the early 1900's; 
>>she documents the interplay between differences in acoustic 
>>characteristics of buildings constructed during this period and increases 
>>in the value placed at the time on technological mastery, efficiency and 
>>control in modern life. Thompson's most recent project, on the role of 
>>engineers, projectionists, and other industry technicians in the 
>>transition to synchronized sound in cinema, promises to provide a 
>>similarly penetrating analysis of another important moment in the history 
>>of sound and technology. By charting the transformation of the elusive 
>>and ephemeral phenomenon of sound, Thompson has recovered an important 
>>history of our time.
>>
>>Emily Thompson received a B.S. (1984) from the Rochester Institute of 
>>Technology and a Ph.D. (1992) from Princeton University. She has held 
>>teaching positions at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1992-93), Iowa 
>>State University (1994-95), and the University of Pennsylvania 
>>(1995-2002). Thompson was also a visiting scholar (2003-04) in the 
>>Program in Science, Technology and Society and a senior fellow (2002-03) 
>>at the Dibner Institute for History of Science and Technology, both at 
>>the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She became an associate 
>>professor in the Department of History at the University of California, 
>>San Diego, in 2005.
>
>-------------------------------------

Robert M. Metcalfe Professor of Writing
Director, Program in Science, Technology, and Society
President, Society for the History of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room E51-185
Cambridge, MA 02139

phone: (617) 253-4062
FAX: (617) 258-8118

email: rhwill at mit.edu 
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