David Kaiser
Associate professor, Program in Science, Technology, and Society; lecturer, Department of Physics
areas of expertise: history of modern physics, science and the cold war, early-universe cosmology
David Kaiser is an associate professor at MIT, where he teaches in both the Program in Science, Technology, and Society, and the Department of Physics. He completed PhDs in theoretical physics and in the history of science at Harvard.
Kaiser is author or editor of several books on the history of modern physics, including the award-winning book, Drawing Theories Apart: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics (2005), which traces how Richard Feynman’s idiosyncratic approach to quantum physics entered the mainstream. His most recent book, How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival, will be published in June 2011 by W.W. Norton.
In addition to his scholarly publishing in physics and history, Kaiser has written for such magazines as the London Review of Books, Scientific American, American Scientist, and Physics World. His research has been featured in Harper's, Science, and Science News, on several NOVA television programs, and on National Public Radio’s Science Friday. Honors include the Leroy Apker award from the American Physical Society for best undergraduate physics student in the country; the Pfizer Prize from the History of Science Society for best book in the field (awarded for Drawing Theories Apart); and the Harold E. Edgerton Award for best tenure-track faculty member at MIT. He has also received several teaching awards from Harvard and MIT.
request an interview: Sarah McDonnell | 617-253-8923 | s_mcd@mit.edu