History

Ellen Swallow Richards (back row, far left) stands in 1888 with students from the MIT Women’s Laboratory, which she founded in the previous year.

Scene at MIT: Ellen Swallow Richards leads the Women's Laboratory

A trailblazing industrial and environmental chemist, Ellen Swallow Richards was MIT’s first female graduate and first female instructor.

March 21, 2017

$“We have a fractured society,” says MIT professor Peter Temin. “The middle class is vanishing.” His new book, “The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy,” is being published this month by MIT Press.$

America’s two-track economy

Economist’s new book examines decline of the nation’s middle class.

March 13, 2017

"Over the last 15 years, Muslim and South Asian Americans have been told that they are outsiders and newcomers to the United States," says MIT Associate Professor Vivek Bald, winner of the 2017 Levitan Prize. "One of the central goals of the Bengali Harlem project from the beginning — and this has become more important over time — is to demonstrate the longstanding presence of Muslims in the U...

Vivek Bald awarded Levitan Prize in the Humanities, named Whiting Public Engagement Fellow

Both awards support Bald's research-based media projects on South Asian American communities.

March 10, 2017

"One of the principal ways historians contribute to problem-solving work at MIT and elsewhere is by helping to identify what the real problem is in the first place," says Malick Ghachem, an MIT professor of history. "When we understand and articulate the roots and sources of a problem, we have a much better chance of actually solving it."

3 Questions: How history helps us solve today's issues

Professor Malick Ghachem discusses how historians contribute to problem-solving by identifying the roots and sources of a problem.

February 28, 2017

"China Comes to Tech: 1877-1931" gathers materials from this chapter in MIT history for the first time. The exhibit will run through November, in MIT’s Maihaugen Gallery in building 14N.

3 Questions: Emma Teng on “China Comes to Tech”

New exhibit delves into history of Chinese students at MIT.

February 9, 2017

Barnhart establishes working group to monitor potential changes to federal laws, policies

Working group is responsible for helping MIT to respond proactively to any changes that could limit students' access to MIT or their ability to thrive at the Institute.

January 19, 2017

MIT grad student Joy Buolamwini (left) meets author Margot Lee Shetterly at an MIT screening of "Hidden Figures."

Joy Buolamwini wins national contest for her work fighting bias in machine learning

Media Lab graduate student selected from over 7,300 entrants, awarded $50,000 scholarship in contest inspired by the film "Hidden Figures."

January 17, 2017

Timothy Hyde, architectural historian and associate professor in the History, Theory, and Criticism (HTC) section of the MIT Department of Architecture.

House rules

Research shows how rebuilding Britain’s Houses of Parliament in the 1800s helped create clean-air laws.

January 12, 2017

"Hidden Figures" author and producer Margot Lee Shetterly fields a question at the MIT pre-release screening of the film based on her book. MIT Museum Director of Collections Deborah Douglas (left) and Institute Professor Sheila Widnall were also on the post-screening discussion panel.

"Hidden Figures" screening, discussion addresses the history of black women at NASA

Author and executive producer Margot Lee Shetterly explores inspiration for the film; MIT guest speakers provide additional historical context.

December 22, 2016

The 1960s were “a heady time for the nation,” recalled civil rights activist Janet Moses, left, at a luncheon celebrating “Activism in the Era of MLK.” Topper Carew, middle, a filmmaker originally from Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood and a principal investigator at MIT’s Media Lab, was also on the panel led by Institute Community and Equity Officer Edmund Bertschinger, right.

Pick an issue and dive in!

Veterans of civil rights movement urge students to join ongoing battle against injustice.

December 15, 2016

MIT Professor Bruce Mazlish in his study, 2007

Professor Emeritus Bruce Mazlish, pioneer in the field of global history, dies at 93

Historian and prolific author served as an MIT professor for more than 50 years.

December 6, 2016

Arthur Kaledin, professor emeritus of history and American studies, dies at 86

Scholar and noted expert in the life of French diplomat and political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville was an acclaimed MIT teacher.

December 6, 2016

Professor Mark Jarzombek (right) discusses curriculum issues with other architectural historians and university instructors at an annual meeting of the Global Architectural History Teaching Collaborative.

School of Architecture and Planning receives $1.5 million grant from Mellon Foundation

Grant continues support for the Global Architectural History Teaching Collaborative.

November 30, 2016

Rothschild’s great-grandfather, David (standing, third from left), is pictured here before the war with his siblings and father Joseph. During the Holocaust, David was imprisoned at Buchenwald, and several siblings were killed or imprisoned, including Joseph, who was murdered at Auschwitz.

The courage to dissent

For graduate student Amanda Rothschild, political science meets personal history in her studies of how the United States responds to genocide.

November 17, 2016

Top row: Sana Aiyar, Catherine Clark, Sasha Costanza-Chock. Middle row, Amy Finkelstein, Deborah Fitzgerald, Daniel Hidalgo. Bottom row: Justin Khoo, Bradford Skow, Craig Wilder

Nine SHASS faculty members awarded named professorships

Honored positions afford faculty additional support for research.

November 10, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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