Ken Alder

Ken Alder is a Professor of History and the Milton H. Wilson Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University. He is also affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin, where he is conducting research on global technology history from material object perspectives. Alder founded and directs the interdisciplinary Science in Human Culture Program at Northwestern.

He holds a PhD in History of Science from Harvard University (1991). His research focuses on the history of forensic sciences, technology, and material culture. Key projects include a comparative history of forensic methods from Renaissance to modern DNA-typing and a material object-centered global history of technology.

Alder’s major publications include The Lie Detectors (2017), The Measure of All Things (2002), and Engineering the Revolution (1997). He has received prestigious fellowships from the NSF, Guggenheim, and NEH, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

His academic career includes visiting appointments at NYU and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. Alder’s work bridges historical methodologies with interdisciplinary science studies, emphasizing the societal and cultural dimensions of scientific and technological advancements.