Smith, Robert
Dr. Robert W Smith
(Professor)
1979: Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, England.
1975: Part III of the Mathematics Tripos, University of Cambridge, England.
1974: First Class Honors Degree in Physics from Queen Mary College, University of London, England.
2-1 Tory Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton AB T6G 2H4
Tel. (780) 492-3918
| Expertise & Research Interests |
History of Science and Technology, especially the History of the Modern Physical Sciences, and U.S. History
My principal research interests are in the history of the physical sciences (especially the history of astronomy, cosmology and spaceflight) in the United States and the history of technology from the late eighteenth century to the present. My current projects include following the history of the James Webb Space Telescope (a $5 billion project that is a joint enterprise of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency; the James Webb Space Telescope is slated for launch in 2014), and writing a biography of the British astronomer and cosmologist William Hunter McCrea.
The list of publications below shows the topics on which I’ve already written.
RESEARCH STUDENTS
I'm keen to work with graduate students who have innovative project ideas in fields ranging from the history of the physical sciences to the history of technology. For the topics my graduate students have worked on, see my CV.
| Teaching |
Undergraduate Courses Taught:
- HIST 270: The History of Science, Technology and Medicine. Sources in the History of Science
- HIST 294: An Introduction to the History of Science, Technology and Medicine
- HIST 394: History of Astronomy and Cosmology
- HIST 398: History of Science II, Second part of history of science survey, Newton to the present
- HIST 496: Topics in the History of Science. Big Politics, Big Machines and Big Science
- STS 400: Advanced Topics in Science, Technology and Society
Graduate Courses Taught:
- HIST 603: The History of Historical Writing
- HIST 696: Topics in the History of Science
| Publications |
Books
- Hubble: Imaging Space and Time (National Geographic Society, 2008), coauthored with David DeVorkin. Greatly expanded and revised edition of item #2.
- The Hubble Space Telescope: Imaging the Universe (National Geographic Society, 2004), coauthored with David DeVorkin.
- Reconsidering Sputnik: Forty Years Since the Soviet Satellite (Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000) coeditor with R. Launius and J. Logsdon.
- The Space Telescope: A Study of NASA, Science, Technology, and Politics, (Cambridge University Press, 1989), with contributions by Paul Hanle, Robert Kargon, and Joseph Tatarewicz. A paperback version of this book, with an additional 10,000 word chapter, was published in 1993.
- The Expanding Universe: Astronomy’s ‘Great Debate’ 1900-1931, (Cambridge University Press, 1982). A Spanish language edition was published by the Alianza Press in 1993. Paperback edition forthcoming in 2010.
| Major Awards and Honors |
- 2007: Lindbergh Chair of Aerospace History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
- 2005-6: McCalla Professor, University of Alberta
- 1996-7: Dibner Visiting Historian of Science for History of Science Society
- 1992-3: Walter Hines Page Fellow at the National Humanities Center, U.S.A.
- 1990: Winner of the History of Science Society's Watson Davis Prize for The Space Telescope: A Study of NASA, Science, Technology, and Politics (the book was also listed as one of the notable books of the year for 1990 by the New York Times Book Review and selected by Choice as one of the outstanding academic books of 1990-91)
- 1989: Winner of Herbert C. Pollock Prize in the History of Astronomy