Vyacheslav (Slava) Alexandrovich Gerovitch (russian: Вячеслав Александрович Герович; born 1963) is an American

historian of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopo ...

of Russian origin, considered a leading scholar on

Soviet space program The Soviet space program (russian: Космическая программа СССР, Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) was the national space program of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissoluti ...

history in the US and Cybernetics in the Soviet Union. In his work, Gerovitch emphasizes the influence of underlying cultural processes on science progress. For example, he introduced the term "cyberspeak", that is a

newspeak Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate that is the setting of the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. In the novel, the Party created Newspeak to meet the ideological requirements ...

of cybernetics, i.e., "the language we use to talk about that computer" that was a must in Soviet Union to survive in science. In his research, Gerovitch demonstrates how the progress of technology (e.g., aeronautics in Soviet Union) fits into the surrounding reality, culture and politics. Slava Gerovitch is an author of more than 50 peer reviewed journal publications, translations and book chapters on history of technology and science, including mathematics, cybernetics and aeronautics that were highly acknowledged by the experts in the field. In 2010, together with Pavel Etingof he co-founded Program for Research In Mathematics, Engineering and Science (PRIMES), the MIT Program for Research in Mathematics, Engineering and Science for High School Students, and has since served as its Program Director. Since 2012 Gerovitch has served as program director for the Math Department'
RSI
an
SPUR
summer programs. In addition to writing on the history of scientific theories, Slava Gerovitch writes poetry in English and Russian. His lyric poetry contains allusions to the works of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

, Trakl, Pasternak, Mandelshtam, Nabokov, Brodsky, and Okudzhava.

Education and awards

Gerovitch was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. He received his M.S. in applied mathematics from the Oil and Gas Institute in

, Ph.D. in philosophy of science from the Institute for the History of Natural Science and Technology in Moscow in 1992 with thesis "The Dynamics of Research Programs in the Artificial Intelligence Field.", and Ph.D. in history and social study of science from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

's Science, Technology and Society Program in 1999 under Loren Graham with thesis "Speaking Cybernetically: The Soviet Remaking of an American Science". In 2001–2006 Slava Gerovitch was a Dibner/Sloan Postdoctoral Researcher and then a research associate at the

Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology The Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology (1992–2006) was a research institute established at MIT, and housed in a renovated building (E56) on campus at 38 Memorial Drive, overlooking the Charles River.Charles H. BallMIT to ...

at MIT. Gerovitch has been lecturing in

since 1999. His most recent class is Cultural History of Mathematics. His research interests include history of mathematics, cybernetics, and computing, space history and policy, history of Russian and Soviet science and technology, history and memory, and rhetoric and science. His book, ''From Newspeak to Cyberspeak: A History of Soviet Cybernetic'', received the honorable mention for the Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize for an outstanding monograph in

Russian studies Russian studies is an interdisciplinary field crossing politics, history, culture, economics, and languages of Russia and its neighborhood, often grouped under Soviet and Communist studies. Russian studies should not be confused with the study of ...

. According to the MIT press release, 2002 David Holloway, Raymond A. Spruance Professor of International History, Stanford University called it "An exceptionally lively and interesting book. This is by far the best-informed and most insightful account of cybernetics in the Soviet Union". The British Journal for the History of Science describes that "the book offers useful and stimulating insight into this most American of technology" Gerovitch's most recent books are ''Voices of the Soviet Space Program: Cosmonauts, Soldiers, and Engineers Who Took the USSR into Space'' and ''Soviet Space Mythologies: Public Images, Private Memories, and the Making of a Cultural Identity''

Selected references

Books * ''Soviet Space Mythologies: Public Images, Private Memories, and the Making of a Cultural Identity'' * ''Voices of the Soviet Space Program: Cosmonauts, Soldiers, and Engineers Who Took the USSR into Space'' * ''From Newspeak to Cyberspeak: A History of Soviet Cybernetics''

References

External links

Profile at MIT websitePersonal homepageSerious Science video interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerovitch, Vyacheslav 21st-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American science writers Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Historians of science Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty 1963 births People from Boston Historians from Massachusetts 21st-century American male writers