John Krige Named Regents Professor

Posted June 3, 2019

John Krige, Kranzberg professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of History and Sociology (HSOC), has been appointed a Regents’ Professor upon recommendation by the Provost and approval by the University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents. 

“Professor Krige is known worldwide for his scholarship on the history of science and technology,” said Ivan Allen College Dean Jacqueline Royster. “He has helped shape the field of Cold War science while leadng the way in transnational history of twentieth-century science and technology.” 

Regents’ Professorships are bestowed by the Board of Regents on distinguished faculty whose scholarship or creative activity is recognized both nationally and internationally as innovative and pace-setting.

Both Dean Royster and HSOC Chair Eric Schatzberg nominated Krige for his pioneering research on the history of science and technology, his many scholarly awards and prestigious fellowships, and the praise he receives from students for being a compelling and supportive teacher.

“Krige is not just an outstanding scholar and intellectual leader, but also a great teacher,” Schatzberg said. “He is a cornerstone of the graduate program in the School of History and Technology, attracting graduate students from around the world... Krige is a shining light for Georgia Tech and for the entire University System of Georgia.”

Prior to joining Georgia Tech as a Kranzberg professor in 2000, Krige directed a research group in the history of science and technology at the Cité des sceinces et de l’industrie in Paris, and was the project leader of a team that wrote the history of the European Space Agency. Krige’s research focuses on the intersection between science, technology and foreign policy.

Since being at Georgia Tech he has expanded his interest beyond the study of intergovernmental organizations in Western Europe to include an analysis of U.S. - European relations during the Cold War. Krige has written numerous books and monographs over his career, including American Hegemony and the Postwar Reconstruction of Science in Europe (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006), and Sharing Knowledge, Shaping Europe: US Technological Collaboration and Nonproliferation (Cambridge: MIT Press, July 2016). NASA invited him to write its history on the occasion of its 50th anniversary resulting in the book NASA in the World. Fifty Years of International Collaboration in Space (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), co-authored with two of his graduate students, Angelina Long Callahan and Ashok Maharaj.

Krige also served a two-year term as president of the Society for the History of
Technology (SHOT), the largest organization for this field in the world. 

“Drawing on his extensive international connections,” Schatzberg said, “Krige helped transform SHOT into a truly international organization.”