# Matthew Hersch Associate Professor of the History of Science ![Mathew Hersch](/sites/g/files/omnuum9516/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/hos/files/mathew-hersch.gif?itok=jMbto5su) smartphone [(617) 495-9922]() email *Areas of Research: History of Physical Sciences, Human Sciences, Material Culture, Media Studies, Science Policy, Museum Studies, Psychology and Theories of Mind, Science and Religion, STS, Technology and Society, Women and Gender Studies* Matthew Hersch is an historian of technology whose research examines Cold War-era aerospace, computer, and military technologies and their relationship to labor and popular culture. His first book, *Inventing the American Astronaut* (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), explores the rise and transformation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's human spaceflight program during the 1960s and 1970s, analyzing spacefarers as a new kind of engineer-manager in a society increasingly defined by technologies of automation and control. His second book, *Dark Star: A New History of the Space Shuttle* (MIT Press, 2023) examines the technical, cultural, and political histories of NASA's space shuttle program and the reasons for its operational failures. He is also the co-editor, with Cassandra Steer, of *War and Peace in Outer Space: Ethical and Legal Boundaries* (Oxford University Press, 2021). Matthew received his S.B. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his J.D. from New York University School of Law, and a William Penn Fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his A.M. and Ph.D. in the History and Sociology of Science. While at Penn, he held a Guggenheim Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, and an HSS-NASA Fellowship in the History of Space Science. Matthew later served as the National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Aerospace History of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, where he co-curated the exhibit *Blue Sky Metropolis: The Aerospace Century in Southern California* (with Peter Westwick). Before coming to Harvard, Matthew held dual appointments as a Lecturer in Science, Technology and Society in Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, and as a Lecturer in Bioengineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Matthew's current book projects include a new edition of the popular textbook *A Social History of American Technology* (Oxford University Press, 2017) (with Ruth Schwartz Cowan). He has written for *Technology and Culture*, *Sociological Review*, *Isis*, *Endeavour*, *Fashion Theory*, *The Journal of Popular Culture*, and other scholarly periodicals, and his research has appeared in several anthologies on space technology, a topic upon which he speaks frequently. *Photo Credit: Andrea Kane/Institute for Advanced Study* **Selected Publications:** [*Dark Star: A New History of the Space Shuttle*](https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262546720/dark-star/) (The MIT Press, 2023) *War and Peace in Outer Space: Ethical and Legal Boundaries*, with Cassandra Steer, eds. (Oxford University Press, 2021). *A Social History of American Technology*, (2nd Edition) with Ruth Schwartz Cowan (Oxford University Press, 2017). [*Inventing the American Astronaut*](https://www.amazon.com/Inventing-American-Astronaut-Palgrave-Technology) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). "Using the Shuttle: Operations on Orbit," in *The Space Shuttle Legacy: How We Did It and What We Learned*, by John Krige and Roger Launius, Editors (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2013). "'Capsules Are Swallowed': The Mythology of the Pilot in American Spaceflight," in *Spacefarers: Images of Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the Heroic Era of Spaceflight*, by Michael J. Neufeld and Stephen J. Garber, Editors (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2013). "Space Apes Want our Women! Primate Lust in American Science Fiction Film," in *The Sex Is Out of This World: Essays on the Carnal Side of Science Fiction*, by Michael G. Cornelius and Sherry Ginn, Editors (Jefferson: McFarland, 2012). "The Semiotics of Spaceflight on the Satellite of Love," in *In the Peanut Gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000: Essays on Film, Fandom, Technology and the Culture of Riffing*, by Rob Weiner and Shelley Barba, Editors (Jefferson: McFarland, 2011). "Return of the Lost Spaceman: America's Astronauts in Popular Culture, 1959-2006," *The Journal of Popular Culture* 44 (2011): 73-92. "High Fashion: The Women's Undergarment Industry and the Foundations of American Spaceflight," *Fashion Theory* 13 (2009): 345-70. "Checklist: The Secret Life of Apollo’s 'Fourth Crewmember,' " in *Space Travel and Culture: From Apollo to Space Tourism*, by Martin Parker and David Bell, Editors, Sociological Review (Monograph) 57 (2009): 6-24. "'Calm, But Still Alert': Marketing Stelazine to Disturbed America, 1958-1980," *Pharmacy in History* 51 (2009): 140-48. "Apollo's Stepchildren: New Works on the American Lunar Program," *Technology and Culture* 49 (2008): 449-55. - ## People Categories [Department Associates](/people/associates)