The Cleveland Meeting, 3–5 November 2011

The fifty-third annual meeting of the Society for the History of Technology took place in the Marriott Key Center in Cleveland, Ohio—the birthplace of the society—from 3 to 5 November 2011. The conference was coordinated and co-located with the annual meetings of SHOT’s sister societies, the History of Science Society (HSS) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S). Members of the program committee were Eda Kranakis (chair), Asif Siddiqi, and Andreas Fickers. The local arrangements committee was headed up by Molly Berger and Alan Rocke of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), with assistance from John Broich, Virginia Dawson, James Edmonson, John Grabowski, Miriam Levin, Jonathan Sadowski, and Peter Shulman. Thanks also to Tim Carney and Tamara Dyer of Positively Cleveland, the city’s convention and visitor’s bureau. Sponsoring institutions included History Associates and the Department of History of CWRU, the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of History and Sociology of Science and Technology, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Generous individual gifts from Thomas F. Peterson Jr., Henri Pell Junod Jr., and anonymous donors also supported the program. Special thanks go out to W. Bernard and Jane Carlson.

Annual Meeting Sessions

Opening Plenary: Dealing with Disasters: Perspectives on Fukushima from the History and Social Studies of Science and Technology (co-sponsored by SHOT, HSS, and 4S)

Chair: Yuko Fujigaki, University of Tokyo, Japan

Panelists: Spencer Weart, American Institute of Physics (HSS); Gabrielle Hecht, University of Michigan (SHOT); Hugh Gusterson, George Mason University (4S)

Science, Technology and Development Roundtable (sponsored by the international outreach committee)

Organizers: Harro Maat, Wageningen University, Netherlands; Rob Hagendijk, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Chair: Rob Hagendijk, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Commentators: Wiebe Bijker, University of Maastricht, Netherlands; Sheila Jasanoff, Harvard University

Participants: Annapurna Mamidipudi, University of Maastricht, Netherlands; Matthew Harsh, Arizona State University; Ivan da Costa Marques, Federal University of Rio di Janeiro, Brazil

Beyond the Science–Technology Relationship (co-sponsored by HSS)

Organizer: Eric Schatzberg, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Chair and Commentator: W. Patrick McCray, University of California, Santa Barbara

Papers: “German Roots of the Science-Technology Debate,” Eric Schatzberg, University of Wisconsin–Madison; “The Natural History of Industry: Revisiting the Question of Chemical ‘Science’ and Industry during the Second Half of the Long Eighteenth Century,” Lissa Roberts, University of Twente, Netherlands; “The Origins of Pure and Applied Science in Gilded Age America,” Paul Lucier, University of Rhode Island

Mobilizing Media

Chair and Commentator: Jonathan Coopersmith, Texas A&M University

Papers: “The Revolution Will Be Televised: The IRT Antú and the Chilean Road to Socialism,” Michael Lemon, Indiana University; “Cultural Stereo-Types: The Rise and Fall of the Ghetto Blaster, 1975–2000,” Richard L. Perry, Elon University; “Dissident Visions through Technological Use: Radio and Television Solidarity in Poland, 1982–1989,” Carmen V. Krol, Cornell University

Constructions of Gender

Chair and Commentator: Amy Bix, Iowa State University

Papers: “Phrenology as Technology: Mapping the Gendered Mind in Nineteenth-Century America,” Carla Bittel, Loyola Marymount University; “Air Fashions of U.S. Women Aviators between the World Wars,” Barbara Ganson, Florida Atlantic University and International Women’s Air and Space Museum; “‘Masculinity in a Spray Can’: Deodorant and the Cure for Effeminacy in the US,” Cari Casteel, Auburn University

Mapping the Earth: From Underground Geographies to Orbital Landscapes

Chair and Commentator: Margaret Weitekamp, National Air and Space Museum

Papers: “Underground Geographies: Mine Mapping in the Late 19th Century,” Eric Nystrom, Rochester Institute of Technology; “Who Gets to Draw the Map? The Contentious Creation of the American Road/Map System, 1917–1926,” Adam Plaiss, Northwestern University; “Encountering the Orbital Landscape: The Configuration and Visualization of Satellite Technologies and an Information Environment in Earth Orbit,” L. Ruth Rand, University of Pennsylvania

The Politics of Representation

Chair and Commentator: Tom Misa, University of Minnesota

Papers: “Before and After the Beginning of the Modern Oil Industry: Petroleum in the Technical-Scientific Literature in the 19th Century,” Francesco Gerali, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; “Science and Technology for the People: Building Modernity Through the Popularization of Scientific and Technical Knowledge (Portugal, 1900–1925),” Maria Paula Diogo, Ana Carneiro...