Science, Spies, and History - An Introduction

First, an introduction.

Why the history of science/technology and the history of espionage/intelligence? They seem like pretty widely disparate fields, and they are. Still, they also have important ties (important, at least, to me). Both fields were dominated by popular writers rather than professional historians until recent decades - which isn't a bad thing, but does deeply shape the type of stories that get told, the audiences addressed, and the extent to which authors build on each other's efforts. Both science/technology and espionage/intelligence are fundamentally about creating useful knowledge out of masses of data, then communicating that knowledge to those who can use it. As such, both are extremely important for modern policy-making, yet both are easily (and often) ignored or distorted by policymakers.

I am a PhD candidate in History at UC Berkeley studying the intersection of the history of espionage and intelligence and the history of science and technology. This blog will be a place to bloviate.

I intend to split posts between 1) my research, and 2) these topics more broadly. Possible posts include drafts for future lectures, paragraphs for future use in papers and presentations, and simple rambling thoughts.