Kendrick Oliver

Professor Kendrick Oliver is a faculty member in the Department of History at the University of Southampton, holding the rank of Professor of American History. His research focuses on 20th-century American political, social, and cultural responses to existential questions, with emphasis on scientific cosmology, space history, communication technology, evangelical religious history, and the Vietnam War. He has served as Head of the Department of History from 2018 to 2022 and contributed to founding the Historians of the Twentieth Century United States organization (2000s). Current research examines the social and cultural history of the Big Bang theory, supported by grants from the American Philosophical Society and others.

Teaching responsibilities include undergraduate modules on McCarthyism, the Space Age, and America's global role since 1945, alongside a master's-level course on conspiracies and paranoia in American history. He is developing the MA Global Challenges program launching in 2024. Supervision includes four PhD students across history disciplines. Oliver has authored three books, including *The My Lai Massacre in American History and Memory* and *To Touch the Face of God: the Sacred, the Profane and the American Space Program, 1957-75*.

His scholarship bridges science and religion, analyzing topics like prison ministry origins, cosmic microwave background discovery narratives, and evangelical globalization. Oliver’s work frequently intersects with broader themes of memory, technology, and Cold War context.