About

I’m a historian of modern science and technology—and dilettante philosopher of science—at Durham University, where I’m an associate professor in the Department of History. I earned a PhD in History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Minnesota in 2013. Before coming to Durham, I worked at the University of Cambridge, Michigan State University, and Colby College, and held a fellowship at the Consortium for History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Philadelphia. 

As a historian, I’m primarily interested questions about scientists’ professional identity—how have they conceived of themselves, and how did their self-conceptions evolve as the cultural authority of science grew through the twentieth century? My 2018 book Solid State Insurrection, puts these questions to American solid state and condensed matter physics, showing how the science of complex matter remade the scope and mission of American physics, and the identity of American physicists, in ways that helped physics maintain its outsized role on Cold War American society.

In addition, I continue to dabble in philosophical questions about contingency in the history of science and how they can inform the methodology of history and philosophy of science.

You might also find me taking to the ice for the Durham Dragons, or traipsing around the lovely hills in the north, on foot or bike—the photo on the left is from a damp stroll in the Lakes.