Technology in History

Lecture Notes

Selected lecture notes are provided below.

LEC #	TOPICS	FILES
Unit 1: Humankind as a History-making Species
1	Introduction to class and key concepts
2	What is technology? What is history (and prehistory)? (Visitor: Prof. Leo Marx)	Notes (PDF) Slides (PDF)
3	Technology in prehistory: cave art	Notes (PDF) Slides (PDF - 11.7MB)
4	Technology in “prehistory”	Notes (PDF) Slides (PDF)
5	Historical Analogies
Unit 2: Civilizations Based on Agriculture
6	The Neolithic Revolution	Notes (PDF) Glossary (PDF)
7	Introduction to MIT’s 150th anniversary: class visit to MIT archives
8	Discuss visit to Archives	Notes (PDF)
9	Civilizations and Empires (part two)	See Wikipedia: Megalith Lubbock, Tom. “Uffington White Horse (c.1000BC).” The Independent (UK), Great Art Series. 30 March 2007.
10	Technohistorical Revolutions (part one)
11	Technohistorical Revolutions (part two)
12	Agrarian Civilizations (part one): megalithic agrarian civilizations	Notes (PDF)
13	Agrarian Civilizations (part two): the Roman Empire as an agrarian civilization
Unit 3: Civilizations Based on Fossil Fuels
14	The Industrial Revolution	Notes (PDF) Slides (PDF - 4.7MB)
15	Visit to MIT Museum
16	The Second Industrial Revolution (part one)	Notes (PDF) Slides (PDF - 2.5MB)
17	The Second Industrial Revolution (part two)
Unit 4: Human Empire
18	The Second Industrial Revolution (part three)
19	The Second Industrial Revolution (part four)
20	From Industry to Battlefield Chemical Engineering at MIT	Notes (PDF) Slides (PDF - 10.2MB)
21	Ground Zero (part one)	Notes (PDF)
22	Ground Zero (part two)
23	Looking Back and Beyond: General review of MIT 150
24	Looking Back and Beyond: Presentations and discussion on “what is the role of technology in history?”
25	Looking Back and Beyond: Presentations and discussion on “what is the role of technology in history?” (cont.)	(PDF) (Courtesy of MIT student. Used with permission.)