Michel Janssen

I am a historian of science in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota (see profile), where I am a proud member of the university’s unique and world-renowned Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (see profile).

These are exciting times for the program. Under the inspiring leadership of our Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Guggenheim Fellow Susan Jones, the program has just added a world-class faculty member (Honghong Tinn) and is looking to add another one soon … The program maintains a close relationship with the Charles Babbage Institute and its director, Jeffrey Yost, a towering intellect in the history of computing. Our small program is also disproportionately represented in the university’s elite leadership cadre: Jennifer Alexander serves as Senator for the College of Science and Engineering on the Faculty Senate, holding the administration’s feet to the fire and demonstrating the folly of the drive to unionize the faculty a few years ago; Sally Gregory Kohlstedt was Chair of the Liberal Education Redesign Committee, the only paid position on that committee; and Jennifer Gunn is Director of Minnesota’s Institute for Advanced Studies, which can hold its own with its better known namesake in Princeton.

In addition to these remarkable faculty members, our program can boast of amazing graduate students, such as David Korostyshevsky, who has won just about every award under the sun, and Miaofeng Yao, an undisputed leader in the burgeoning new field of the history of the Chinese typewriter.

Michel Janssen’s CV