History of Technology Research Group

The History of Technology Research Group, based at the Spanish National Research Council’s Institute of History in Madrid, examines technology as a fundamental dimension of human history and culture.

Its research explores technological knowledge, practices, objects and infrastructures, and their connections with society, politics, the economy, science and the environment.

The group adopts a broad and contextual approach to the history of technology, ranging from industrial production and large technological systems to everyday technologies and practical knowledge.

Projects
People
Large tracking antenna at NASA's Empalme-Guaymas space station in Sonora, Mexico, with Project Mercury signs at the entrance || Antena parabólica de la estación espacial Empalme-Guaymas de la NASA en Sonora, México, con letreros del Proyecto Mercurio en la entrada

Research Areas

Global histories of technology

The study of circulation, appropriation, regulation and contestation of technologies, particularly in Latin America, Africa and Asia

Technology and the environment

Understanding the interactions between technologies and natural environments, particularly across commodity frontiers.

Economic and business histories of technology

The critical study of production systems, business practices, cultures of innovation and industrial property.

Experts, producers and users

We research on engineers, scientists, technicians, workers and local communities as producers and users of technologies

New methods in the history of technology

Research based on digital humanities, spatial and visual approaches and oral histories.


people

People

Principal Investigator

David Pretel

[Brief intro to the team — e.g. "Our interdisciplinary group includes faculty, postdocs, and students."]

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About

I am a historian of technology interested in how innovation, expertise, and organizations shape society over time. I hold a Ph.D. in History from [University]. My research explores the historical relationships between technology, business, and public life, with a particular interest in the social and cultural processes through which new technologies are created, adopted, and contested. More broadly, I seek to understand how historical perspectives can inform contemporary debates about technological change, economic development, and the role of expertise in society. I am also interested in digital and public history, using historical research to understand this and that.

Researcher

Ignacio García Pereda

[Brief intro to the team — e.g. "Our interdisciplinary group includes faculty, postdocs, and students."]

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About

I am a historian of technology interested in how innovation, expertise, and organizations shape society over time. I hold a Ph.D. in History from [University]. My research explores the historical relationships between technology, business, and public life, with a particular interest in the social and cultural processes through which new technologies are created, adopted, and contested. More broadly, I seek to understand how historical perspectives can inform contemporary debates about technological change, economic development, and the role of expertise in society. I am also interested in digital and public history, using historical research to understand this and that.

Researcher

Clara Cuevas

[Brief intro to the team — e.g. "Our interdisciplinary group includes faculty, postdocs, and students."]

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About

I am a historian of technology interested in how innovation, expertise, and organizations shape society over time. I hold a Ph.D. in History from [University]. My research explores the historical relationships between technology, business, and public life, with a particular interest in the social and cultural processes through which new technologies are created, adopted, and contested. More broadly, I seek to understand how historical perspectives can inform contemporary debates about technological change, economic development, and the role of expertise in society. I am also interested in digital and public history, using historical research to understand this and that.

Researcher

Iván Jaramillo

[Brief intro to the team — e.g. "Our interdisciplinary group includes faculty, postdocs, and students."]

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About

I am a historian of technology interested in how innovation, expertise, and organizations shape society over time. I hold a Ph.D. in History from [University]. My research explores the historical relationships between technology, business, and public life, with a particular interest in the social and cultural processes through which new technologies are created, adopted, and contested. More broadly, I seek to understand how historical perspectives can inform contemporary debates about technological change, economic development, and the role of expertise in society. I am also interested in digital and public history, using historical research to understand this and that.

Researcher

Emilio Bravo

[Brief intro to the team — e.g. "Our interdisciplinary group includes faculty, postdocs, and students."]

  • CV
  • Email
About

I am a historian of technology interested in how innovation, expertise, and organizations shape society over time. I hold a Ph.D. in History from [University]. My research explores the historical relationships between technology, business, and public life, with a particular interest in the social and cultural processes through which new technologies are created, adopted, and contested. More broadly, I seek to understand how historical perspectives can inform contemporary debates about technological change, economic development, and the role of expertise in society. I am also interested in digital and public history, using historical research to understand this and that.

Researcher

Paula de la Cruz Fernández

[Brief intro to the team — e.g. "Our interdisciplinary group includes faculty, postdocs, and students."]

  • CV
  • Email
About

I am a historian of technology interested in how innovation, expertise, and organizations shape society over time. I hold a Ph.D. in History from [University]. My research explores the historical relationships between technology, business, and public life, with a particular interest in the social and cultural processes through which new technologies are created, adopted, and contested. More broadly, I seek to understand how historical perspectives can inform contemporary debates about technological change, economic development, and the role of expertise in society. I am also interested in digital and public history, using historical research to understand this and that.


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Meet the team

Research Projects

Projects of the history of technology Research group
Women operating a chewing gum wrapping machine at the American Chicle Company factory, New York, 1923 || Dos trabajadoras de American Chicle Company operan una máquina industrial para envolver chicles en una fábrica de Nueva York, 1923.

WILDHIST

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Trimotor aircraft with passengers and cargo at Santa Elena airfield, 1941

FORMAP

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Ambtec

amstec

Women operating a chewing gum wrapping machine at the American Chicle Company factory, New York, 1923 || Dos trabajadoras de American Chicle Company operan una máquina industrial para envolver chicles en una fábrica de Nueva York, 1923.

TBA

Research

Other projects
Trimotor aircraft with passengers and cargo at Santa Elena airfield, 1941

TBA

TBA

TBA

TBA

Women operating a chewing gum wrapping machine at the American Chicle Company factory, New York, 1923 || Dos trabajadoras de American Chicle Company operan una máquina industrial para envolver chicles en una fábrica de Nueva York, 1923.

Woman sewing with a Singer sewing machine in Spain during the 1950s.

This photograph illustrates women's domestic labor, sewing technology, and the role of the Sección Femenina during Franco's dictatorship.

Source: Archivo General de la Administración, Spain.

Women operating a chewing gum wrapping machine at the American Chicle Company factory, New York, 1923 || Dos trabajadoras de American Chicle Company operan una máquina industrial para envolver chicles en una fábrica de Nueva York, 1923.

Women operating a chewing gum wrapping machine at the American Chicle Co. factory, New York, 1923.

This historical photograph documents industrial labor and mechanized chewing gum production in the early twentieth century.

Source: Library of Congress, United States