10605 History of Technology

2024/2025

Course information
Teknologihistorie
English
5
MSc
Offered as a single course
Autumn E5A (Wed 8-12)
Campus Lyngby
Lectures, presentations, project work and excursions.
13 weeks
Evaluation of experiments and reports
Assessment of individual parts. One written research report (25%) and a written paper - 1000 Words (75%). It is a prerequisite for passing the course that an oral presentation in the class and a portfolio has been approved.
All Aids - with access to the internet
pass / not pass , internal examiner
02559 and 88388
10610
A good command of the English language.
Minimum 10 Maximum: 20
Laila Zwisler , Lyngby Campus, Building 309, Ph. (+45) 4525 3279 , lazw@fysik.dtu.dk
10 Department of Physics
At the Studyplanner
General course objectives
The course gives the student an understanding of the interaction between technology and humans, knowledge, culture, economy as well as politics from ancient times to the present. Working with history, the student will gain a greater historical understanding, critical appreciation of source material and knowledge about basic approaches to the history of technology. Communication and argumentation skills will develop.
Learning objectives
A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:
  • Assess the relationship between a historical age and the technology in that age
  • Exemplify elements of the complex interactions between technology, culture, economy, knowledge and society over time
  • Apply historical and history of technology methods and identify which school of thought in the history of technology a method belongs to
  • Quickly scan large amounts of information and identify the central arguments contained in books and articles on the History of Technology
  • Identify strong and weak points in the argumentation in presentations of history
  • Understand and formulate the relationship between information and interpretation in a historical text or other source material
  • Apply sources, source criticism and academic referencing techniques
  • Analyze a historical issue
  • Present the above in written and oral form, structured and well-argued
  • Document and create traceability in learning and historical work
Content
We examine examples from the history of technology from ancient times until today through lectures, articles, film, historical artefacts, student exercises and presentations as well as trips to exhibitions and historical sites. We take a holistic view of technology and sociotechnical networks.

This is supplemented with further analysis of different themes which may include the relationship between Invention and the old, everyday technology, military and technology, medicine and the body, sustainability, users and industry. Topics span from power sources over work and industry, the interplay between natural resources and technology, the idea of modernity, systems technology and the role of experts.
Remarks
This course requires students to work with complicated arguments, read long texts, and produce advanced presentations both orally and in writing. It is only recommended to students with (1) a good command of the English language or (2) a good command of Danish and the ability to understand written or orally presented English.
Last updated
02. maj, 2024