Research Expertise and Interest

history of science, History of Mathematics, social theory, science and society, STS.

Research Description

Massimo Mazzotti is the Thomas M. Siebel Presidential Chair in the History of Science, a professor in the Department of History, and the Director of the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine, and Society (CSTMS). His primary field is the History of Science. He studies the history of science from the early modern period to the present, with a focus on the mathematical sciences and technology. He is interested in the social dimension of technical knowledge - and particularly in the way this knowledge is made, and made credible and authoritative. His interests include the gendering of mathematics, mathematics and religion, Enlightenment science and rationality, the politics of various processes quantification, standardization, and mechanization. His current projects explore the political dimension of mathematical reasoning in revolutionary Europe; the intersection of technology, design, and social planning in postwar Italy; and the social life of algorithms.