The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of American Science, Medicine, and Technology

Science, medicine, and technology have become increasingly important to the average individual in modern society. The importance of these three fields is in many ways one of the defining characteristics of modernity. Understanding their history is essential for educated individuals. Science, medicine, and technology are not static endeavors but processes, bodies of knowledge, tools, and techniques that are constantly growing and changing. The entries in this encyclopedia explore the changing character of science, medicine, and technology in the United States; the key individuals, institutions, and organizations responsible for major developments; and the concepts, practices, and processes underlying these changes. Especially since the early decades of the twentieth century, American science, medicine, and technology have played dominant roles internationally. Entries explore distinctive characteristics of American institutions and culture that help explain this development. At the same time, the encyclopedia situates specific events, theories, practices, and institutions in their proper historical context and explores their impact on American society and culture. Entries are written by the experts in the field. Students not only from the humanities and social sciences but also from the sciences and the medical sciences should be attracted to the broad-ranging and in-depth analysis in the encyclopedia.

Hugh Richard Slotten is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. During the 2010/2011 academic year, he was the Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. He is the author of three major books in the history of technology and science in the United States: Radio's Hidden Voice: The Origins of Public Broadcasting in the United States (University of Illinois Press, 2009); Radio and Television Regulation: Broadcast Technology in the United States, 1920-1960 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000); and Patronage, Practice, and the Culture of American Science: Alexander Dallas Bache and the U.S. Coast Survey (Cambridge University Press, 1994). He has published research articles in the Journal of American History; Isis: The International Journal of the History of Science Society; Technology and Culture: the Journal of the International Society for the History of Technology; the History of Education Quarterly; Media History; and the Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television.