Dr. Adelheid Voskuhl, Associate Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University and 2012 Resident Fellow at the Linda Hall Library.

In the period around the First World War, engineers raised questions about the relationship between industrialism and the state, technocracy and democracy, and global technological and diplomatic rivalries—but also about their own social status and ethical obligations. Dr. Heidi Voskuhl, Associate Professor of History of Science at Harvard University, explores how engineers’ discussions at that time represented the earliest moments of engineers’ active participation in political debates, and were a prototype of later debates about the abstract, and often hazy, idea of the “impact” of modern technology on society.