Ruth Oldenziel


Ruth Oldenziel is a Dutch historian of technology whose research interests include gender issues in technology, the technology exchange between the US and Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the history of cycling. She is professor in the history of technology at the Eindhoven University of Technology, and editor-in-chief of Technology and Culture.

Education and career

Oldenziel was born in Amsterdam in 1958. After her undergraduate studies, Oldenziel earned a graduate diploma in American studies from Smith College in 1982, a master's degree in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Ph.D. in 1992 from Yale University.
She was an associate professor at the University of Amsterdam before taking her present position in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences at the Eindhoven University of Technology.
In 2019 she was named as the editor-in-chief of Technology and Culture, succeeding Suzanne Moon in that position.

Books

Oldenziel is the author of:
Her edited volumes include:
  • Crossing Boundaries, Building Bridges: Comparing the History of Women Engineers 1870s – 1990s
  • Gender and Technology: A Reader
  • Cold War Kitchen: Americanization, Technology, and European Users
  • Manufacturing Technology, Manufacturing Consumers: The Making of Dutch Consumer Society
  • Hacking Europe: From Computer Cultures to Demoscenes
  • Cycling and Recycling: Histories of Sustainable Practices
  • Cycling Cities: The European Experience : Hundred Years of Policy and Practice
  • ''A U-Turn to the Future: Sustainable Urban Mobility since 1850''

Recognition

Oldenziel was the 2002 recipient of the Margaret W. Rossiter History of Women in Science Prize of the History of Science Society, for “Multiple-Entry Visas: Gender and Engineering in the U.S., 1870-1945,” in Crossing Boundaries, Building Bridges: Comparing the History of Women Engineers, 1870s-1990s, ed. Annie Canel, Ruth Oldenziel, and Karin Zachmann.