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IEEE History Center

In 1980, in anticipation of its Centennial celebration in 1984, IEEE established the IEEE History Center to be the staff arm of the IEEE History Committee. Through committee oversight, staff execute the mission of the Center, which is to preserve, research, and promote the history of information and electrical technologies. These activities comprise the bulk of IEEE’s central historical activities.

The Center maintains many useful resources for the engineer, for the historian of technology, and for anyone interested in the development of electrical and computer engineering and their role in modern society. Most of the Center’s resources are available online at the Engineering and Technology History Wiki. The Center’s physical holdings include the IEEE Archives, which consist of the unpublished records of IEEE, a collection of historical photographs relating to the history of electrical and computer technologies, a collection of oral history transcripts of pioneering engineers, and a small research library. The Center runs several other programs, internships, and fellowships relating to the history of IEEE and its technologies. Within IEEE, the History Center is part of IEEE Corporate Activities. The Center’s activities are documented by its Newsletter, published three times per year.

Learn more about the IEEE History Center’s history and see a timeline of major events since 1980.

IEEE History Center Staff

Nathan Brewer

Archival & Digital Content Manager

Nathan Brewer has been at the History Center since July 2008, and is responsible for the overall management of, and development of content for, the Engineering and Technology History Wiki (ETHW), the day to day operations of the IEEE archives and historical library, and the processing of donations. Nathan has bachelor’s degrees from Rutgers in Computer Science (B.S. 2004) and History (B.A. 2006) and an M.L.I.S., also from Rutgers (2008).

Robert Colburn

Research Coordinator

Robert Colburn began working at IEEE in 1985 and at the History Center in 1998. At the History Center, Rob is responsible for handling reference cases, and administrative support, and is particularly interested in the history of code breaking electronics and in usability and the human/machine interface. He is the author of The Marconi Century, a history of telecommunications from Marconi’s time until the present (also published in Italian as Il Secolo di Marconi), The Lens of a Spy (true espionage), and The Sultan’s Helmsman (a novel of the Ottoman Navy and Renaissance Italy).

Michael N. Geselowitz, Ph.D.

Senior Director

Michael N. Geselowitz is Senior Director of the IEEE History Center. Mike holds S.B. degrees in electrical engineering and in anthropology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in anthropology from Harvard University. He is also a registered Patent Agent. His research focus has been on the history and social relations of technology. He has worked as an electronics engineer, a market researcher, and he has held teaching and research positions relating to the social study of technology at M.I.T., Harvard, Yale University, Rutgers University, and Stevens Institute of Technology.

Mary Ann Hellrigel, Ph.D.

Institutional Historian and Archivist

Mary Ann has a B.A. in History from Rutgers University, a master’s in Public History from UC-Santa Barbara, and a Ph.D. in History of Technology and Science from Case Western Reserve University. She has served as Research Associate at the Thomas A. Edison Papers Project and has taught history of technology at a number of universities around the country. Mary Ann has widely published and presented papers on early electric power and has consulted on related exhibits and documentaries. She is also active in the Society for the History of Technology, having served on several prize committees.

Alexander Magoun, Ph.D.

Outreach Historian

Alex has a wide range of experience in the histories of technology, including public speaking, exhibits, editing, research, collecting, strategic planning, writing, oral histories, teaching, and peer review. His expertise ranges from consumer electronics to wireless communications, electronic components, and computing, and draws on archives, historians, practitioners, and collectors. He is the author of David Sarnoff Research Center: RCA Labs to Sarnoff Corporation (2003) and Television: The Life Story of a Technology (2009). Alex received the Ph.D. in American History from the University of Maryland, where he studied under Robert Friedel, the founding director of the IEEE History Center.

Kelly McKenna

REACH Sr. Program Manager

Kelly developed the IEEE REACH program and is responsible for its ongoing success. She has an MFA in Documentary Film from Wake Forest University, a BA in Communication Arts (Broadcasting) from the University of Dayton and holds a certificate in IDM (Inquiry Design Model). Kelly received the UNESCO OER Implementation Award for Excellence, 2021 OE Global. She regularly presents at national, regional, and international education conferences in both the STEM and Social Studies disciplines. In addition, she has presented at the United Nations, and has worked with UNESCO, NGOs, and Ministries of Education on IEEE REACH implementations. Self-described as passionately curious, Kelly aims to bring the same type of elevated inquiry and interest to educators and their students through the free resources found in the IEEE REACH program, with the goal to improve students’ technological literacy skills.

Daniel Jon Mitchell, D.Phil.

Senior Historian

Daniel Jon Mitchell holds a B.A. in physics and a D.Phil. in modern history from the University of Oxford (2010), and an M.A. in philosophy and history of science from the University of Bristol. He has held a teaching position at the University of Hong Kong and research fellowships at RWTH Aachen University in Germany; at the Science Museum, London and University of Cambridge in the UK; and at Harvard University. He also served as the Director of the Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

Contact

IEEE History Center
445 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854
+1 732 562 5468

Visiting scholars and researchers are welcome to use our research library and archives, by appointment only. To make an appointment, please contact and see the Center’s location and contact information.

For all non-history-related inquiries, please use the IEEE toll-free number:
+1 800 678 IEEE (4333)