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Edward Tenner

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.
Gordon Gekko, Unintended Role Model?

Gordon Gekko, Unintended Role Model?

An icon of greed undertakes a public-service campaign, but 'Wall Street' has already done its damage.… More »

Do You Really Want to Pick Your Seatmate on Facebook?

Do You Really Want to Pick Your Seatmate on Facebook?

Just because technology can take the serendipity out of life doesn't mean that it should.… More »

How to Celebrate American Industry on the National Mall

How to Celebrate American Industry on the National Mall

A museum of American innovation should encompass more than our high tech achievements.… More »

Why Do So Many Ivy League Grads Go to Wall Steet?

Why Do So Many Ivy League Grads Go to Wall Steet?

Elite students with few marketable skills are perfect forms for financial firms to mold.… More »

Whitney Houston and the Paradox of Dying Young

Whitney Houston and the Paradox of Dying Young

History suggests that the shorter a celebrity's life, the stronger cultural his or her influence is.… More »

Why Everybody Needs Off-Site Backup

Why Everybody Needs Off-Site Backup

Computing peace of mind is simple: Just take extra precautions with your data.… More »

Can We Achieve Perfect Health?

Can We Achieve Perfect Health?

We can't evolve or engineer our diseases away. And besides, the arms race between viruses and our genes may mean health is a moving target, one that would be dangerous to reach.… More »

Donald Trump Can't Build Just Any Old Gravesite

Donald Trump Can't Build Just Any Old Gravesite

Like New York Tycoons of the past, the real estate mogul wants to construct memorials -- perhaps with the same grandiosity as his other architectural ventures.… More »

The Risks of Child Car Seats

The Risks of Child Car Seats

Of course, we must use car seats in some form to protect our children while we're driving, but what does all of that confinement mean for their behavioral and physical development?… More »

What U.S. Education Can Learn From China's Factories

What U.S. Education Can Learn From China's Factories

China's mammoth industrial engine is easily fed by mid-level technical workers, a class of labor America increasingly lacks… More »

Learning From the Costa Concordia Tragedy: Technology and Overconfidence

Learning From the Costa Concordia Tragedy: Technology and Overconfidence

Over-reliance on technology combined with personal overconfidence can be a deadly mix… More »

The Real Menace to Today's Passenger Ships: It's Not Icebergs

The Real Menace to Today's Passenger Ships: It's Not Icebergs

How disaster can strike, even 100 years after the TitanicMore »

The Iconography of Researchers

The Iconography of Researchers

In 20th-century America the public relations departments of corporations like DuPont and GE adopted the pose of a scientist inspecting a flask as an emblem of progressive research.… More »

Want to Be Happy? Don't Buy the Next Big Gadget, Take a Trip

Want to Be Happy? Don't Buy the Next Big Gadget, Take a Trip

Is it more rewarding to spend money on experiences or gadgetry?… More »

Wanamakers at 100: The Glory of Commercial Romanticism

Wanamakers at 100: The Glory of Commercial Romanticism

The early 20th century department store was more than a retailing machine. It was almost a house of worship.… More »

How Real Surfing Has Changed Because of Web Surfing

How Real Surfing Has Changed Because of Web Surfing

The web has changed the way people find out about the waves, for good and for ill.… More »

Newt Gingrich, Cocktail-Conversation King

Newt Gingrich, Cocktail-Conversation King

Whether you admire or detest him, it's important not to underestimate his intelligence or to discount his ability to connect as a lecturer.… More »

Should Shackleton's Heroism Matter to Today's Entrepreneurs?

Not a man was lost during the expedition's nearly two-year ordeal at sea. Inspiring, sure, but not particularly relevant to today's leaders.… More »

Influenza Terrorism and the Power of Knowing Something Can Be Done

Influenza Terrorism and the Power of Knowing Something Can Be Done

Researchers are being asked not to publish how they made bird flu easier to transmit, but the fact it can be done may spark deviant ingenuity.… More »

Is Music Listening a Bigger Highway Risk Than Cell-Phone Talking?

If you think cellphone usage is dangerous, that's just one electronic risk among many… More »

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