HHS 468 The Electronic Century: Engineering The Last 100 Years
This course surveys the history of electronic and computing technologies from the invention of the electron tube in 1904, through the invention of the transistor, to the internet and the smart phone of today. Most of the semester will be devoted to the trajectories of applications of electricity and electronics to three broad areas of American society—communications, electric power and light, and computing; the social, cultural, political, and economic significance of these technological areas in global history; and the interplay between these technologies and others. Historians of technology have written much on these subjects, and their work will form the basis for the readings, discussions, and writing in this course.