W. Patrick McCray
Encyclopedia
W. Patrick McCray is a historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara
. He researches, writes about, and teaches the history of science
and the history of technology
.
McCray grew up in rural southwestern Pennsylvania and later attended graduate school at the University of Arizona where he studied with W. David Kingery and Michael Schiffer. After working at George Washington University's Center for History of Recent Science and the American Institute of Physics' Center for History of Physics, he took a professorship at UCSB.
McCray is the author of three books and several articles. His first book detailed the history of Venetian glass
technology during the Renaissance. His interest in glass making got him interested in how large mirrors for modern telescopes are made. This led him to write about the politics and technologies associated with astronomers' efforts to build modern giant telescopeshttp://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/MCCGIA.html. He has written about science and technology during the Cold War
. An example is his 2008 book on Operation Moonwatch
(Keep Watching the Skies! The Story of Operation Moonwatch and the Dawn of the Space Age) and amateur scientists in the period following the 1957 launch of Sputnik. In 2005, McCray co-founded the Center for Nanotechnology in Society http://www.cns.ucsb.edu/home/ with a grant from the National Science Foundation
and leads a research group focusing on the history of nanotechnology
. In 2010, he was the co-recipient of a Collaborative Research Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies
for this work. In 2011, he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
.
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
. He researches, writes about, and teaches the history of science
History of science
The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....
and the history of technology
History of technology
The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques, and is similar in many ways to the history of humanity. Background knowledge has enabled people to create new things, and conversely, many scientific endeavors have become possible through technologies which assist...
.
McCray grew up in rural southwestern Pennsylvania and later attended graduate school at the University of Arizona where he studied with W. David Kingery and Michael Schiffer. After working at George Washington University's Center for History of Recent Science and the American Institute of Physics' Center for History of Physics, he took a professorship at UCSB.
McCray is the author of three books and several articles. His first book detailed the history of Venetian glass
Venetian glass
Venetian glass is a type of glass object made in Venice, Italy, primarily on the island of Murano. It is world-renowned for being colourful, elaborate, and skillfully made....
technology during the Renaissance. His interest in glass making got him interested in how large mirrors for modern telescopes are made. This led him to write about the politics and technologies associated with astronomers' efforts to build modern giant telescopeshttp://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/MCCGIA.html. He has written about science and technology during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. An example is his 2008 book on Operation Moonwatch
Operation Moonwatch
Operation Moonwatch was an amateur science program formally initiated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1956 . The SAO organized Moonwatch as part of the International Geophysical Year which was probably the largest single scientific undertaking in history...
(Keep Watching the Skies! The Story of Operation Moonwatch and the Dawn of the Space Age) and amateur scientists in the period following the 1957 launch of Sputnik. In 2005, McCray co-founded the Center for Nanotechnology in Society http://www.cns.ucsb.edu/home/ with a grant from the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
and leads a research group focusing on the history of nanotechnology
History of nanotechnology
The history of nanotechnology traces the development of the concepts and experimental work falling under the broad category of nanotechnology. Although nanotechnology is a relatively recent development in scientific research, the development of its central concepts happened over a longer period of...
. In 2010, he was the co-recipient of a Collaborative Research Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies
American Council of Learned Societies
The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...
for this work. In 2011, he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
.