Lydia Barnett

Lydia Barnett is an Associate Professor of History at Northwestern University, affiliated with the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. She explores intersections of science, religion, and the environment in early modern Europe and the Atlantic World, with a focus on global natural disasters and environmental consciousness.

• Program in Science and Human Culture
• Program in Environmental Policy and Culture
• Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy
• Co-leader of the Shifting Shorelines project (2024-2028)

Her research spans environmental history, history of science, gender, religious history, and material culture. Current projects investigate local knowledge, transnational science networks, and the Little Ice Age.

Her publications analyze global environmental imagination, wetlands, fossils, and archives. Articles focus on transnational science, material culture, and early Anthropocene thought.

• 2023-24 Buffett Institute Global Connections Seed Grant
• 2022 E. Leroy Hall Award for Excellence in Teaching
• 2021-22 Howard Foundation Fellowship
• 2019 Morris D. Forkosch Prize for After the Flood

She mentors graduate students in history of science, environmental history, and decolonial approaches, teaching courses on natural disasters, gender, and global environmental history.