Current Projects
Teaching at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. (History of Technology, Renaissance History, History of Civilization I)
Writing an article on the historiography of tools in the Middle Ages.
Writing an article on the organization of Hugh of St. Victor's mechanical arts.
Working on technological innovation in the iconography of the Table of Cebes.
I earned my PhD from the University of Toronto. My dissertation is entitled "The Memory of Medieval Inventions, 1200-1600: Windmills, Spectacles, Mechanical Clocks, and Sandglasses".
Publications include....
"Smoked and Mirrored in the Foods of Fantasyland" in the Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2010.
"The Influence of Lynn White, Jr.'s Medieval Technology and Social Change". from History Compass (June 2009).
"On Mills and Meaning" in Wind & Water in the Middle Ages: Fluid Technologies from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Steven A. Walton, ed. Penn State Medieval Series, 18. (Tempe, AZ: ACMRS, 2006).
See resume for a full list of publications.
Forthcoming Conferences and Talks of Personal Interest
(See also the schedule of forthcoming lectures in the SHMTS, or, Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science series, which alternates between London and Oxford.)
Panelist, "Science Fiction and Religion" at the British Science Festival
Organized by the History of Science Section of the British Science Association
University of Bradford, Bradford. UK.
Saturday, September 10th, 2011. 15:30-17:30. John Stanley Bell (JSB) Lecture Theatre, Richmond Building
I will primarily be talking about pre-twentieth century science fiction, focusing on Lucian of Samosata's moon journey and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
"The Technologies of Medieval London". The David Wilkinson Memorial Lecture.
The Loughton and District Historical Society
Thursday, 13 October, 2011.
History of Science Society (HSS) Annual Conference and the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) - Joint Conference
Cleveland, OH. USA. November 2011.
The 47th International Congress on Medieval Studies
Kalamazoo, MI. USA. May 10-13, 2012.
The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery
St. Catherine's College, Oxford. UK. July 6-8, 2012.
International Medieval Congress
Leeds. UK. July 9-12, 2012.
Three Societies Meeting (BSHS, CSHPS, and HSS)
Philadelphia, PA. USA. July 10-13, 2012.
Other notes....
I am features editor of Vector, the critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association. Subcriptions are included in BSFA membership. Enquiries from potential contributors are most welcome! See also Torque Control, the Vector Editors' blog.
Historian and author Gill Polack published a short summary of my ongoing Stew Project.
My lyrics for "Is it a clock?" won one of two runner-up prizes in the 2009 British Society for the History of Science song contest.