Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Oral History Program

Abstract The recombinant DNA oral history project was begun at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975, shortly after the Asilomar Conference, an international conference of molecular biologists held in Pacific Grove, California, to assess the risks involved in recombinant DNA research and establish research guidelines. The project, directed by Charles Weiner, professor of history of science and technology at MIT, aimed to document the social impact of the research and the controversy that...

Scope and Contents of the Collection

In 1975 Marc Miller of the MIT Oral History Program office interviewed Harold Edgerton, Institute Professor and professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The collection contains a transcript of the interview, and background materials and notes including synopses of 18 of Edgerton's laboratory notebooks made by Marc Miller in preparation for the interview.

Scope and Contents of the Collection The collection consists of supporting documents for and tapes of interviews which discuss Project Whirlwind, Project MAC, and the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, all at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There are transcripts only for the interviews with Hazen, Forrester, Perlis, and Carr (draft). Also includes transcripts and notes of a seminar, "Attitudes Towards Artificial Intelligence," with Philip Morrison, Jerome Lettvin, and Joseph Weisenbaum, and a...

Scope and Contents of the Collection The collection consists of 17 oral history transcripts from participants from the MIT Transportation and Community Values Project created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Oral History Program and a guide to the published materials. Interviewees from MIT include: Frank Colcord, Urban Systems Laboratory senior research associate; Frank Koppelman and Lance Neumann, graduate students in the Department of Civil Engineering; Wayne Pecknold, assistant professor of civil...

Scope and Contents of the Collection The collection consists of transcripts and tapes of interviews conducted by Enid Kumin of the MIT Oral History Program, 1975-1976. The collection emphasizes the development of ocean engineering at MIT and the major role the Institute played in determining the philosophy and educational methods and requirements of the new discipline. Interviews were conducted with key figures involved in ocean engineering at MIT, with MIT faculty, and with persons active in the design and administration of...

Abstract The Physical Science Study Committee, and its subsequent offshoots, Educational Services Incorporated (ESI) and Education Development Center (EDC), sought to achieve a comprehensive change in the teaching of science, particularly physics at its inception, in the secondary school system. The genesis of the original committee was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956 with a project initiated by Jerrold Zacharias, James Killian, and Francis Friedman. The collection consists of...

Abstract This collection documents the administrative activities of the Oral History Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which operated from 1975 to 1979 under the direction of Charles Weiner. It contains correspondence, grant proposals, forms and procedural documents, interview transcripts audiotapes and videotapes. The recombinant DNA controversy history project is well documented. Other projects represented include the life histories of prominent women in science and...

Scope and Contents of the Collection The collection contains edited transcripts of life history (through 1976/1977) interviews conducted by Shirlee Sherkow of the MIT Oral History Program with nine women scientists and engineers. The interviews explored the women's early home environments, school and research experiences, roles as spouses and parents, and views on problems confronting women scientists and engineers in the workplace. Interviewees were: Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus, electrical engineer and...