Awards

NASA Fellowship in the History of Space Technology

The NASA Fellowship in the History of Space Technology, offered by SHOT and supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) History Division, funds either a pre- or postdoctoral fellow for up to one academic year to undertake a research project related to the history of space technology. The fellowship supports advanced research related to all aspects of space history, leading to publications on the history of space technology, broadly considered, including cultural and intellectual history, institutional history, economic history, history of law and public policy, and history of engineering and management. The 2011 NASA Fellowship was awarded to Robert R. MacGregor. The citation:

The committee is pleased to present the SHOT-NASA Fellowship to Robert R. MacGregor, a Ph.D. candidate in the History of Science Program at Princeton. MacGregor is undertaking a study that promises to make an important contribution to the historiography of rocketry in both the United States and the Soviet Union by showing different paths in engineering space hardware. By looking at a single technology—liquid rocket engines—he focuses on engineering processes and innovations, showing how the countries started from a similar point and developed two distinct solutions to an identical problem. But the examination of a single technology also allows him to study how the Soviet and American space programs and complexes developed and how they interacted with political systems. MacGregor’s comparative history will go beyond the classic era of the space race to reveal the complexities of later eras of international cooperation and commercial competition in space.

Melvin Kranzberg Dissertation Fellowship

This award is given in memory of the cofounder of the Society for the History of Technology, and honors Melvin Kranzberg’s many contributions to developing the history of technology as a field of scholarly endeavor and SHOT as a professional organization. The $4,000 award is given to a doctoral student engaged in the preparation of a dissertation on the history of technology, broadly defined, and may be used in any way chosen by the winner to advance the research and writing of that dissertation. The 2011 fellowship was awarded to Laura Ann Twagira of Rutgers University for “Women and Gender in the Office du Niger (Mali): Technology, Environment, and Food, c. 1900–1985,” with the following citation:

Laura Twagira’s dissertation project reinterprets the history of Office du Niger’s irrigation and agricultural scheme in the twentieth-century Middle Niger Delta region through a focus on African women’s negotiation and adoption of technologies. It argues that women retained a centrality in food supply through a constant engagement with technologies big and small. The planners wanted to expand irrigated farmland through canals and modernize food supply. Their initiatives anticipated the creation of “modern male farmers.” However, a more prevalent change in the economy was introduced by the women’s response to the loss of firewood in a context of deforestation by adopting metal pots that used less fuel. These women also bypassed the irrigation potential of the canals in favor of its use for fishing. The implications of such technological choices on daily life far exceeded the impact of statist projects that were launched during colonial times and continued after independence.

This work will contribute to the study of technology, agriculture, and development in the African context. Twagira considers small technology, statist projects, and user innovation around the constructs of gender and colonialism in telling a broader history of technological change. The project succeeds by its deft use of archival sources and oral interviews. In consideration of her novelty of approach and potential contribution the committee unanimously voted to award the Kranzberg Dissertation Fellowship for 2011 to Laura Twagira.

Joan Cahalin Robinson Prize (2010)

Established in 1980 by Dr. Eric Robinson in memory of his wife, the prize is awarded annually for the best-delivered paper by an individual who is making a first appearance at SHOT’s annual meeting. Candidates for the award are judged not only on the quality of the historical research and scholarship of the paper, but also on the effectiveness of the oral presentation. The Robinson Prize consists of a...