MIT OpenCourseWare

Browse materialsMIT STS.001 · Spring 2006

Technology in American History

Subjects: History · Science · Technology

Art: Lantern Slide - Cross-Section of Watt's Rotative Double-Acting…, Circa 1782 · Public domain

Instructor: Prof. Merritt Roe Smith
Term: Spring 2006
Level: Undergraduate
What's inside: 1 lecture note · 1 reading · 23 other files · 3 web pages
Materials open: MIT OCW

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Source: MIT OpenCourseWare STS.001 Technology in American History, Spring 2006, Prof. Merritt Roe Smith — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.

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MIT OpenCourseWare, Prof. Merritt Roe Smith, STS.001 Technology in American History, Spring 2006.

License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Spring 2006 · Open the original course on OCW ↗

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Technology in American History

Before you start

What's here, and what isn't

Not included here

Materials by section

Readings

Lecture Notes

Assignments

Study Materials

Lecture 1: Introduction

Lecture 2: What is Technology?

Lecture 3: Technologies of Colonization and Conquest

Lecture 4: Crafts and Craftsmanship in Early America

Lecture 5: Paul Revere: Technologist? Guest Speaker: Prof. Rob Martello (Olin College)

Lecture 6: Politics and Early American Industrialization

Lecture 7: The Role of the State in Early American Industry

Lecture 8: Social and Political Implications of the New Technology

Lecture 9: The Transportation and Communications Revolution First Reading Quiz

Lecture 10: Art and Industrialization

Lecture 11: The Emerging Culture of Engineering in America

Lecture 12: Technology in the Civil War Era

Lecture 13: Technology in the Civil War Era (cont.)

Lecture 14: Human Machines? Frederick W. Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management

Lecture 15: Automobility and Mass Production

Lecture 16: Second Reading Quiz

Lecture 17: Mass Production

Lecture 18: Hobbyist Worlds and Technological Enthusiasm in Modern America Guest Speaker: Kieran Downes (MIT)

Lecture 19: Aeronautics and the Systems Approach Guest Speaker: Dr. Deborah Douglas (MIT Museum)

Lecture 20: Technology and Art at the Apex of the Machine Age

Lecture 21: World War II: A Technological Turning Point? Guest Speaker: Dr. Brendan Foley (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)

Lecture 22: World War II: A Technological Turning Point? (cont.)

Lecture 23: A New World: Technology in Cold War America

Lecture 24: Computers and Control: The Apollo Program Guest Speaker: Sandy Brown (MIT)

Lecture 25: Nature’s Revenge: Technology and the Environment

Lecture 26: The Brave New World of Biotechnology Guest Speaker: Victor McElheny (MIT Knight Fellows Program)