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Department of Science and Technology Studies

Cornell University Cornell University Cornell University Science and Technology Studies

Ronald Kline


Moog

Moog

car-engine

Car Engine

Nuclear-Protest

Nuclear Protest

nuclear-power-station

Nuclear Power Station

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Viewing Eclipse Circa 1930

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Ronald R. Kline

Professor
Bovay Professor in the History & Ethics of Professional Engineering

klineemail: rrk1@cornell.edu
phone: 607-255-4307
room: 334 Rockefeller Hall and 394 Rhodes Hall

Office Hours, Spring 2012: W 1:30 - 3:30, 394 Rhodes Hall

Education:

  • Ph.D., History of Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • M.A., History of Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • B.S., Electrical Engineering, Kansas State University

Graduate Fields:

  • Science & Technology Studies
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Peace Studies and Peace Science
  • History

Awards and Distinctions:

  • Sue G. and Harry E. Bovay, Jr., Professor in History and Ethics of Engineering (2003 - present)

  • Outstanding Educator for Having Influenced Merrill Presidential Scholar, Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo (2008)

  • IEEE Third Millennium Medal (nominated by the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology) (2000).

 

Research Interests

Professor Ronald R. Kline holds a joint appointment between the Science & Technology Studies Department and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell.   He teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in the history of technology, engineering, and information technology.  Professor Kline has served in several positions in the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), and as president of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology.  He has been chief editor of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, and an advisory editor for Isis, Technology and Culture, and IEEE Spectrum.  He is currently an advisory editor for Social Studies of Science and Engineering Studies, and is the President of SHOT for 2011-2012.  He is the author of two books: Steinmetz: Engineer and Socialist (1992), Consumers in the Country: Technology and Social Change in Rural America (2000), and many articles on the history of technology and engineering ethics.  Professor Kline is completing a book on the history of cybernetics, information theory, and information discourse in the Cold War.

Recent Courses Taught

  • Spring 2012 - (STS 2921) Inventing an Information Society
    MWF: 10:10-11:00, 3 Credits

  • Spring 2011 - (STS 2921) Inventing an Information Society 
    MWF: 10:10-11:00, 3 Credits
  • Fall 2010 - (STS 2501) Technology in Society
    MWF: 10:10-11:00, 3 Credits
  • Fall 2010 - (STS 6261) Seminar in the History of Technology
    W: 2:30-4:25, 4 Credits
  • Spring 2010 - (STS 2921) Inventing an Information Society
    MWF: 10:10-11:00, 3 Credits
  • Spring 2010 - (STS 7003) Special Topics, Topic 3: Issues in the Cultural History of Technology
    M: 2:30-4:25, Credits
  • Fall 2009 - (STS 2501) Technology in Society
    MWF: 10:10-11:00, 3 Credits

Selected Publications

  • Consumers in the Country: Technology and Social Change in Rural America.  Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.  Paperback edition, 2002.

  • Steinmetz: Engineer and Socialist.  Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. 

  • "Science and Technology," in Wrestling with Nature: From Omens to Science, edited by Peter Harrison, Ronald L. Numbers, and Michael H. Shank (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011), pp. 225-252.

  • "Engineering Case Studies: Bridging Micro and Macro Ethics," IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 29, no. 4 (Winter 2010): 16-19.

  • "Where are the Cyborgs in Cybernetics?" Social Studies of Science, 33 (June 2009): 331-362.

  • "Cybernetics, Management Science, and Technology Policy: The Emergence of 'Information Technology' as a Keyword, 1948-1985," Technology and Culture, 47 (July 2006): 513-535.