CHECK WITH HOST FOR UPDATES - Technology Then and Now: Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Issues

Conversation with Paula Findlen (Stanford University) and Joel Mokyr (Northwestern University)
 
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OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
CENTER FOR RENAISSANCE STUDIES PROGRAMS
Humans are perpetually fascinated (and preoccupied) with new discoveries and inventions. This profound interest in new technology stretches all the way back to ancient times, and it continues to be at the center of debates about the possibilities–and perils–of today’s innovations.
 
In this conversation, Paula Findlen (Stanford University) and Joel Mokyr (Northwestern University) will discuss the evolution of thinking about technology.
 
About the Speakers:
 
Paula Findlen is the Ubaldo Pierotti Professor of Italian History at Stanford University, where she also serves as Co-director of the Suppes Center for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. She is the author of numerous books, including Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy (University of California Press, 1994); Merchants and Marvels: Commerce, Science, and Art in Early Modern Europe (Routledge, 2002); and, in 2019, Leonardo’s Library: The World of a Renaissance Reader.
 
Joel Mokyr is the Robert H. Strotz Professor of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Economics and History at Northwestern University. He studies the economic history of Europe, specializing in the early modern and modern periods. His recent research has been concerned with the understanding of the economic and intellectual roots of technological progress and the growth of useful knowledge in European societies, as well as the impact that industrialization and economic progress have had on economic welfare. He has published widely, including A Culture of Growth: Origins of the Modern Economy (Princeton University Press, 2016), which won the Alan Sharlin Prize of the Social Science History Association. He serves as editor-in-chief of the Princeton University Press Economic History of the Western World book series.
 
This conversation is part of a Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine series intended to provide historical perspectives on contemporary issues in science, technology, and medicine. The live conversation with speakers and audience discussion will be recorded and posted online. Then, commentators will post responses to the conversation on the website, and the conversation will continue in a moderated forum. In this way, the consortium aims to provide well-informed, substantive resources that will be useful in teaching, learning, and research by scholars and non-academics.
 
Faculty and graduate students of Center for Renaissance Studies consortium institutions may be eligible to apply for travel funds to attend CRS programs or to do research at the Newberry. Each member university sets its own policies and deadlines. Contact your Representative Council member in advance for details.
 
This event is co-sponsored by Pew Grants and the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine.
 
This event is being held in conjunction with the Newberry’s spring exhibition, Renaissance Invention: Stradanus’s Nova Reperta.
 
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