Thomas Parke Hughes (September 13, 1923 – February 3, 2014) was an American

historian of technology The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques and is one of the categories of world history. Technology can refer to methods ranging from as simple as stone tools to the complex genetic engineering and inform ...

. He was an emeritus professor of history at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

and a visiting professor at

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 ...

and

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...

. He received his Ph.D. from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

in 1953. Hughes, along with John B. Rae,

Carl W. Condit Carl Wilbur Condit ( Cincinnati, Ohio, September 29, 1914 – January 4, 1997) was an American historian of urban and architectural history, a writer, professor, and teacher."Condit, Carl W(ilbur) (1914–1997)," ''The Hutchinson Unabridged Enc ...

, and

Melvin Kranzberg Melvin Kranzberg (November 22, 1917 – December 6, 1995) was an American historian, and professor of history at Case Western Reserve University from 1952 until 1971. He was a Callaway professor of the history of technology at Georgia Tech from 1 ...

, were responsible for the establishment of the Society for the History of Technology and he was a recipient of its highest honor, the

Leonardo da Vinci Medal The Leonardo da Vinci Medal is the highest award of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), and was first given in 1962. In general this award is granted annually to scholars who have contributed outstandingly to the history of technology ...

in 1985. He contributed to the concepts of technological momentum,

technological determinism Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that assumes that a society's technology progresses by following its own internal logic of efficiency, while determining the development of the social structure and cultural values. The term is b ...

, large technical systems,

social construction of technology Social construction of technology (SCOT) is a theory within the field of science and technology studies. Advocates of SCOT—that is, social constructivists—argue that technology does not determine human action, but that rather, human action ...

, and introduced

systems theory Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structu ...

into the history of technology. His book ''American Genesis'' was shortlisted for the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 2003.

Main works

''Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930''.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983. . * Edited with Wiebe E. Bijker and

Trevor J. Pinch Trevor J. Pinch (1 January 1952 – 16 December 2021) was a British sociologist, part-time musician and chair of the Science and Technology Studies department at Cornell University. In 2018, he won the J.D. Bernal Prize from the Society for ...

, eds. ''The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology''. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press, 1987. * Edited with Renate Mayntz. ''The Development of Large Technical Systems''. Frankfurt am Main: Boulder, CO: Campus Verlag; Westview Press, 1988.
''American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm, 1870-1970''.
New York, NY: Viking, 1989. Which was also a

finalist. * Edited with Agatha C. Hughes. ''

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a w ...

: Public Intellectual''. New York: 1990. *''

Rescuing Prometheus ''Rescuing Prometheus: Four Monumental Projects That Changed the Modern World'' (1998) is a book by Thomas P. Hughes. The book uses four extremely large engineering projects of the late 20th century as examples to explore how the limits of modern ...

''. 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998.
''Human-Built World: How to Think About Technology and Culture''.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2004.

References

External links

* Joel Moses,
Thomas P. Hughes, 1923–2014
" National Academies Memorial Tributes: Volume 20 (2016)
University of Pennsylvania Faculty Page

* G. Pascal Zachary,
Remembering Thomas P. Hughes
" in New Atlantis 42 (Spring 2014): 103–108
Oral history interview with Thomas P. Hughes

Charles Babbage Institute The IT History Society (ITHS) is an organization that supports the history and scholarship of information technology by encouraging, fostering, and facilitating archival and historical research. Formerly known as the Charles Babbage Foundation, ...

1980 * Arthur Molella,
Hughes on Technology
" Minerva 43 no. 1 (March 2005): 113-117 * W. Bernard Carlson,
From Order to Messy Complexity: Thoughts on the Intellectual Journey of Thomas Parke Hughes
" Technology and Culture 55 no. 4, October (2014): 945-952. DOI:10.1353/tech.2014.0108
Thomas Parke Hughes papers
(Accession 2259), Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE * For a critical application of Thomas Hughes, see: Shamir, Ronen (2013). Current Flow: The Electrification of Palestine. Stanford: Stanford University Press. http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=22869 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Thomas P. American historians of science Historians of technology University of Pennsylvania faculty University of Virginia alumni 1923 births 2014 deaths Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Leonardo da Vinci Medal recipients Members of the American Philosophical Society