[Sci-tech-public] Morison Prize Lecture by David Billington, Friday, May 2nd @ 2pm (Bartos Theater)

[Debbie Meinbresse]

2008 Morison Lecture and Prize in Science, Technology and Society

  “‘The New Epoch’ and the 21st Century Imperative for Engineering History"

David P. Billington
Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor of Engineering, 
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
and Director, Program of Architecture and Engineering, Princeton University

May 2, 2008

2:00 pm, MIT, Bartos Theater (Building E15, lower level)


The Morison Lecture and Prize, was established by 
the Morison family and the Hitchiner 
Manufacturing Co., Inc., to recognize the 
technical and societal accomplishments of several 
generations of Morison family members, and of the 
engineers of the Hitchiner Co. as well as the 
contributions of Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology faculty members and graduates to the 
growth and success of that company.

The Morison Lecture and Prize in Science, 
Technology and Society is intended to honor 
individuals, selected internationally, who have 
demonstrated commitment to, and effectiveness in, 
carrying out the ideals of the Morison 
family.  The Morison Prize recognizes the 
accomplishments of an individual who has made 
major contributions at the interface between 
science and technology on the one hand and 
matters of societal concern on the other.

David P. Billington has been selected as the 
recipient of the 2008 Morison Lecture and Prize 
in Science, Technology, and Society.  Billington 
is the Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor of Engineering, 
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 
and Director, Program of Architecture and 
Engineering, at Princeton University.
Professor Billington is well known at Princeton 
for connecting engineering to other disciplines 
within the University ­ to the humanities, art, 
science and politics. His courses in “Structures 
and the Urban Environment” and “Engineering in 
the Modern World” combine the study of 
engineering with an exploration of the aesthetic 
and social values intrinsic to it, an association 
of ideas that have made them some of the most 
popular courses among engineering and 
non-engineering students for decades.  Billington 
has taught perhaps 5,000 Princeton undergraduates 
since joining the faculty in 1960. He specializes 
in structural analysis and design with an 
emphasis on concrete structures, bridge design, 
thin shell concrete structures, and the history 
and aesthetics of structures as an art form.

Billington’s recent publications include Power, 
Speed and Form – Engineers and the Making of the 
Twentieth Century (with David P. Billington, Jr.) 
(Princeton University Press, 2006); The Art of 
Structural Design: A Swiss Legacy (Yale 
University Press, 2003); Robert Maillart: 
Builder, Designer and Architect (Cambridge 
University Press, 1997); The Innovators: The 
Engineering Pioneers Who Made America Modern 
(John Wiley & Sons, 1996); and Robert Maillart 
and the Art of Reinforced Concrete (The MIT 
Press, 1990).  In 1996, Princeton honored 
Billington with the President's Distinguished 
Teaching Award in recognition of his sustained 
record of excellence as a teacher at the graduate 
and undergraduate levels. He is a member of the 
National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of 
the American Academy of the Arts and 
Sciences.  In 1999 the Engineering News Record 
named Billington one of the five top educators in 
the construction industry over the past 125 
years. In 2003, he received the Director's 
Distinguished Teaching Scholar Award from the 
National Science Foundation. Recently, the 
National Academy of Engineering selected 
Billington as its Walter Robb Engineering 
Education Senior Fellow for 2005–2006. In 2006 he 
served as a Robert Noyce Visiting Professor at Grinnell College.

MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society 
and the School of Engineering invite MIT and the 
community to attend the 2008 Morison Prize 
Lecture in Science, Technology and Society on May 
2.  A reception will immediately follow Professor Billington's lecture.
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