HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY

Our sense of who we are, our values and beliefs, and our ambitions for the future are guided in large part by the stories and anecdotes concerning the past that we share with each other. In this light, history may be viewed as a formal process by which we preserve, organize and interpret the stories that both matter to us and define us.

While historical fact is immutable, historical memory is fleeting, and historical evidence is inherently fragile and often irreplaceable. Accordingly, efforts to preserve, interpret and re-construct the past are among the most valuable of legacies.

David Michelson's Affiliations

I am very active in the History of Technology community and am a member of the Society for the History of Technology and the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science. I am also a follower of the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine.

I chair the IEEE History Committee, the IEEE Canada History Committee, and the IEEE Vehicular Technology History Committee. I am a member of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation History Committee, a member and past chair of the IEEE Communications History Committee, and a member of the Engineering Institute of Canada's History and Archives Committee.

I am a member of the IEEE Canadian Foundation and an ex officio director of the IEEE Foundation.

My Current History of Technology Projects

I lead the Engineering History Project at the University of British Columbia and employ History of Technology project assistants under the UBC Work Learn Program.

I lead the IEEE VTS History Project which is preparing for the 75th anniversary of the Vehicular Technology Society.

I am the founding editor of IEEE Canada Press, an effort to support and encourage publication of books concerning the historical significance of people, projects, programs, and organizations that have shaped engineering in Candada, and which seek to inform the policies that will shape its future.

I lead the IEEE History Coordination Initiative which is engaging with and supporting other IEEE OU's that are pursuing history activities, including regions, societies, councils, sections, and chapters.

I lead IEEE Canada's recognition of completion of the Trans Canada Microwave System in 1958. This IEEE Milestone has been sponsored by 20 IEEE Sections across the country and is the largest IEEE Milestone project ever.

I write a regular column called "History Matters" that appears three times per year in IEEE Canadian Review.

My History of Technology Experience and Activities

2002 – Invited by Astronaut Scott Carpenter to perform the final technical/history review of For Spacious Skies: The Uncommon Journey of a Mercury Astronaut.

2005-6 – Contributor, NASA's Apollo Lunar Surface Journal project. (See: https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/DaveMichelsonf.html)

2009-2011 - Founding Chair, History Committee - Vancouver Section

2010-19 – Member, IEEE Canadian Foundation (Canadian equivalent of the IEEE Foundation.)

2012-2014 - Member, History Committee, IEEE

2015-2019 - Corresponding Member, History Committee, IEEE

2018-2019 - Chair, Communications History Committee, IEEE Communications Society.

2020-present> - Contributing Editor - History of Technology, IEEE Canadian Review

2020-present - Member, History and Archives Committee, Engineering Institute of Canada

2020-2023 - Member, History Committee, IEEE

2024 - Chair, History Committee, IEEE

• 2020 - Chair, Museums Initiative Subcommittee
• 2020 - Chair, History Council Subcommittee
• 2021-23 - Member, Milestones Subcommittee
• 2023 - present - Chair, History Coordination Subcommittee

2020-present - Reviewer, IEEE Middleton Book Prize.

2020-present - Member, Society for the History of Technology (SHOT)

2021–present – Member, SHOT Communications History Special Interest Group

2021–present – Member, Canadian Society for the History of Science and Technology

2020-present - Founding Chair, History Committee - IEEE Vehicular Technology Society

2021-present - Chair, History Committee, IEEE Canada

2022-present - Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Canada Press

IEEE Milestones - Proposer

I am responsible for one-quarter of all Canadian Milestones and designed the four plaques that recognize the many contributions of Bell Telephone Labs between 1925 and 1983.

(Approved by the IEEE Board of Directors)

• First Television Broadcast in Western Canada, 1954
• The Trans-Canada Microwave System, 1958
• First Radio Astronomical Observations Using VLBI, 1967
• First 500 MeV Proton Beam from the World’s Largest Cyclotron, 1974
• First Digitally Processed Image from a Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar, 1978

(In progress)

• Spread Spectrum Communication for Torpedo Guidance, 1941 (USN)
• The Apollo Unified S-Band Communications System, 1969 (NASA JPL)
• The Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (Canadarm), 1981 (MDA)
• Formation of the U.S. Intelligent Transportation Systems – Joint Program Office, 1991 (USDOT)

Recommended Books

These are some of my favourite books on the History (and Historiography) of Technology. The first two are a reminder of the humanity that underies this vast and important field.

• J. Bronowski and B. Mazlish, The Western Intellectual Tradition: From Leonardo to Hegel. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1960, 522 pp.


• J. Bronowski, The Ascent of Man. Boston: Little Brown & Company, 1974, 352 pp.

The next three focus on the perspectives taken by historians as they develop their methodology to conduct historical scholarship with special emphasis on the rise of the modern field of Science and Technology Studies.

• W. E. Bijker, T. P. Hughes, and T. Pinch, Eds., The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology. (Anniversary Edition) Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2012. (originally published in 1987.)


• G. G. Iggfers, Historiography in thr Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge. Middleton, CT: Wesleyan Univ. Press, 1997, 198 pp.


• D. MacKenzie and J. Wajcman, The Social Shaping of Technology, 2nd ed., Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press, 1999.

These next three focus on the challenges of writing about recent science and technology.

• T. Soderqvist, Ed., The Historiography of Contemporary Science and Technology. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 1997, 256 pp.


• R. E. Doel and T. Soderqvist, Eds., The Historiography of Contemporary Science, Technology, and Medicine: Writing Recent Science. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2006, 313 pp.


• P. C. Hoffe, The Historians' Paradox: The Study of History in Our Time. New York: New York University Press, 2008, 215 pp.

The last five focus on the mechanics of historical scholarship, including collection of historical information and preparation of history-themed papers.

• M. Howell and W. Prevenier, From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001, 207 pp.


• M. J. Salevouris and C. Furay, The Methods and Skills of History: A Practical Guide, 4th ed., Chichester, UK: Wiley, 2015, 312 pp.


• T. Loughran, A Practical Guide to Studying History: Skills and Approaches. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017, 333 pp.


• A. Brundage, Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing, 6th ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2018, 156 pp.


• J. L. Presnell, The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Students, 3rd Ed., Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press, 2019, 329 pp.

Acknowledgements

We thank the UBC Faculty of Applied Science, IEEE History Committee, IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, IEEE Canada, IEEE Vancouver Section, Bell Canada, TELUS, SaskTel, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for their generous support.

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

UBC Radio Science Lab
2356 Main Mall, Room 4034,
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4
Tel: 604.822.3544
Fax: 604.822.5949
E-mail: david.michelson@ubc.ca