Edward Tenner

Edward Tenner is a historian of technology and culture. He was a founding advisor of Smithsonian's Lemelson Center and holds a Ph.D in European history. More

Edward Tenner is an independent writer and speaker on the history of technology and the unintended consequences of innovation. He holds a Ph.D. in European history from the University of Chicago and was executive editor for physical science and history at Princeton University Press. A former member of the Harvard Society of Fellows and John Simon Guggenheim fellow, he has been a visiting lecturer at Princeton and has held visiting research positions at the Institute for Advanced Study, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy. He is now a visiting scholar in the Rutgers School of Communication and Information and an affiliate of the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He was a founding advisor of Smithsonian's Lemelson Center, where he remains a senior research associate.
In Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe, Where Are Japan's Robots?

In Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe, Where Are Japan's Robots?

Japan is a leader in emergency robots, so why aren't machines responsible for entering these radiation-heavy zones? More »

Job Hunters, Prepare to Be Keyword-Friendly

Job Hunters, Prepare to Be Keyword-Friendly

Employers screen job candidates via on automated scan of resumés. Could this search focus on too narrow a pool? More »

Becoming a TED Speaker

Becoming a TED Speaker

At the annual TED conference, an invited group of speakers talk for 18 minutes -- no lectern, no notes and a healthy dose of fear mixed with inspiration More »

Germany's Degree Mania

Germany's Degree Mania

No culture fetishizes the doctorate more than German-speaking Europe More »

Bring Back Spider Ranching

Bring Back Spider Ranching

When growing up in the industrial Chicago of the 1950s I regularly saw from the elevated tracks a slide rule factory where spider silk was used in making cursors More »

The Power of Negative Mentoring

The Power of Negative Mentoring

Would Errol Morris still have made films if Thomas Kuhn hadn't thrown an ashtray at him? More »

Bowling's Score Inflation: Good or Bad for the Game?

Bowling's Score Inflation: Good or Bad for the Game?

Standards for balls, pins, and lane treatments have permitted a transformation of the game More »

The Riddle of Jumbo Patents

The Riddle of Jumbo Patents

Are patents truly a proxy for technological innovation? Today's applications run hundreds of pages, and significant ideas may be getting lost in the shuffle. More »

Monopoly's Open-Source Heritage

Monopoly's Open-Source Heritage

How tinkerers have changed the game through the decades More »

Sports Helmets: Hazardous to Your Health?

Sports Helmets: Hazardous to Your Health?

Can protective technology make althetics more dangerous? An old controversy continues in women's lacrosse. More »

The New Boeing 747-8: Accelerating Technology?

The New Boeing 747-8: Accelerating Technology?

From LEDs to increased fuel economy, the 747-8 spotlights great achievements. But even those show limits to progress. More »

Will Death Become Obsolete?

Will Death Become Obsolete?

A Time cover story on the prospects for abolishing death by 2045 is only the latest of a series of media features about Ray Kurzweil and the Singularity movement More »

What Nicolai Ouroussoff Could Learn from Karl Pilkington

What Nicolai Ouroussoff Could Learn from Karl Pilkington

The authority should have paid attention to the clown More »

Is There a Scientific Data Logjam?

Is There a Scientific Data Logjam?

Our scientific knowledge has exploded in quantity in recent years. But a deluge of data is only as good as its storage system, and ours needs work. More »

Larry Summers, Free-Speech Victim?

Larry Summers, Free-Speech Victim?

Summers' idea was so explosive because of the context in which he raised it More »

What Happens if Watson Beats Ken Jennings on 'Jeopardy'?

What Happens if Watson Beats Ken Jennings on 'Jeopardy'?

If the supercomputer bests the human champion next week, the news will be everywhere. But we shouldn't worry. More »

Why Stagnation: Technological Limits or Myopic Elites?

Why Stagnation: Technological Limits or Myopic Elites?

Why have successful entrepreneurial ideas over the last generation not succeeded in raising living standards? More »

Birdwatching, Anxiety, and Technology

Birdwatching, Anxiety, and Technology

How did bird-watching develop into a recreational activity? A response to Slate's characterization of the pass-time. More »

The Tech That Transformed Birdwatching Into a Bloodless Sport

The Tech That Transformed Birdwatching Into a Bloodless Sport

Taking issue with Slate's characterization of birding as "a steam valve for anxiety about nuclear-age habits" More »

Clarity Is Overrated: Could Opacity Be the New Transparency?

Clarity Is Overrated: Could Opacity Be the New Transparency?

Studies show that we retain more with harder-to-read texts. Should we start using ugly fonts to help us learn? More »

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Finland in World War II

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