IAP 2017 Activities by Sponsor - History

Christopher Leighton, Associate Professor of History

Feb/02

Thu

06:00PM-09:00PM

E51-285

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Prereq: None

While the prosperity of coastal China’s export-oriented economies have captured international attention, much of the country’s old industrial heartland lags behind. Plagued by pollution, declining heavy industry, and corruption, how can these cities be transformed? Preserving the stability and prosperity of China will rely on how well that question can be answered. 

Zhou Hao’s 2014 documentary, “The Chinese Mayor,” offers and intimate view of this problem and a frank picture of Chinese government in action. Granted unusual access to Geng Yanbo, the 54 year old mayor of Datong, a prototypical rustbelt city—China’s most polluted—of 3.5 million, it follows his struggles to transform the city. The mayor grapples with local businesses in decline, angry and dispossessed residents who protest, and complicated national-level politics.  

Participants will watch a documentary film, share a meal of Chinese food, and discuss these questions. No prerequisites; all welcome.  Please sign up here.

 

Sponsor(s): History
Contact: Christopher Leighton, E51-288, 617 324-5134, cleight@mit.edu

Jeffrey Ravel, Professor and Head of History, Anne McCants, Professor of History and Director of Concourse

Jan/18	Wed	01:00PM-04:00PM	Barker Library, Signup; link below.
Jan/19	Thu	01:00PM-04:00PM	Barker Library, Signup; link below.
Jan/20	Fri	01:00PM-04:00PM	Barker Library, Signup; link below.
Jan/25	Wed	01:00PM-04:00PM	Barker Library, Signup; link below.
Jan/26	Thu	01:00PM-04:00PM	Barker Library, Signup; link below.
Jan/27	Fri	01:00PM-04:00PM	Barker Library, Signup; link below.
Feb/02	Thu	01:00PM-04:00PM	Barker Library, Signup; link below.

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Attendance: Repeating event, participants welcome at any session
Prereq: None

Have you ever wanted to set type the way Johannes Gutenberg and Benjamin Franklin did?  Print your own political pamphlets and broadsides?  Design greeting cards and announcements?  Now you can do these things and more at The Beaver Press Print Shop, MIT's own handset printing press, located in Barker Library.  The press was built in 21H.343 during Spring 2016; learn more here and here.  We will be holding open printing hours during the last two weeks of IAP.  Space is limited, so please sign up here.

Sponsor(s): Concourse, History
Contact: Jeffrey Ravel, E51-255C, 617 253-4451, RAVEL@MIT.EDU

Hans Moritz Guenther

Jan/31

Tue

04:00PM-04:30PM

Marlar Lounge 37-252

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Prereq: none

Roman warships in Experiment: Reconstruction and Sailing Tests

Warning: This talk is non-astronomical and contains actual videos and possibly sound. After the climax of its power internal struggle weakened the military position of the Roman Empire. A series of attacks in the 2nd and 3rd century AD forced an adjustment of the military strategy in central Europe. Instead of further expansion, the borders of the empire were increasingly fortified. In Germany this lead to the construction of an impressive naval fleet on the rivers Rhine and Danube. Several of the boats have been excavated. Our team has attempted a reconstruction of two types of vessel, the "navis lusoria" and the "Oberstimm" with a level of detail down to the hand-smithened nails with the correct metallurgy. A series of three working boats have been built in original size. I will show pictures of the reconstruction phase, but concentrate on the on-the-water tests we have performed with different teams to access the speed, maneuverability and sailing performance of these boats. Particularly in sailing the possibilities far exceeded the expectations. This result indicates a much larger operating radius of these vessels than previously estimated and thus a much higher flexibility of the river defense scheme which the empire relied on to keep the barbarians at bay. See, e.g.: this movie

Sponsor(s): Kavli Institute for Astrophysics & Space Research, History
Contact: Debbie Meinbresse, 37-241, 617 253-1456, MEINBRES@MIT.EDU