History and Sociology of Science
Professor Emeritus (1923-2014)
Curriculum Vitæ
Thomas Hughes did his graduate work in European History at the University of Virginia, after earlier earning an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in history at "Mr. Jefferson's university." He has published books on American and European history with special attention to the history of modern technology, science, and culture.
Selected Work
Networks of Power: Electrification of Western Society, 1880-1930 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983).
Elmer Sperry: Inventor and Engineer (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971).
American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870-1970 (Viking, 1989; Penguin, 1990). Finalist for
the Pulitzer Prize in History
Lewis Mumford: Public Intellectual, edited with Agatha C. Hughes (Oxford University Press, 1990).
Systems, Experts and Computers, edited with Agatha Hughes (MIT Press, 2000).
Human-Built World: How to Think about Technology and Culture (University of Chicago Press, 2004).
