Gabrielle Hecht

Bio

Gabrielle Hecht is Professor of History and (by courtesy) of Anthropology. She is President of the Society for the History of Technology, and Research Associate at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research in South Africa.

Hecht's current research explores the inside-out Earth and its wastes in order to reveal the hidden costs of the so-called "energy transition," with research sites in the Arctic, the Andes, southern Africa, and west Africa. Her 2023 book, *Residual Governance: How South African Foretells Planetary Futures,* received two 2024 PROSE Awards (for Excellence in Social Science and for Government and Politics) from the Association of American Publishers; it's a finalist for the 2024 Best Book Award from the African Studies Association.

Hecht's graduate courses include colloquia on "Power in the Anthropocene," "Infrastructure and Power in the Global South," "Technopolitics," and "Materiality and Power." She supervises dissertations in science and technology studies (STS), transnational history, and African studies. Her undergraduate course in "Racial Justice in the Nuclear Age" was built in partnership with the Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates (BVHPCA).

Hecht’s 2012 book *Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium Trade* offers new perspectives on the global nuclear order by focusing on African uranium mines and miners. It received awards from the Society for the Social Studies of Science, the American Historical Association, the American Sociological Association, and the Suzanne M. Glasscock Humanities Institute, as well as an honorable mention from the African Studies Association. An abridged version appeared in French as *Uranium Africain, une histoire globale* (Le Seuil 2016). Her first book, *The Radiance of France: Nuclear Power and National Identity* (1998/ 2nd ed 2009), explores how the French embedded nuclear policy in reactor technology, and nuclear culture in reactor operations. It received awards from the American Historical Association and the Society for the History of Technology, and has appeared in French as *Le rayonnement de la France: Énergie nucléaire et identité nationale après la seconde guerre mondiale* (2004/ 2014).

Her affiliations at Stanford include the Center for African Studies, the Program in Science, Technology, and Society, the Center for Global Ethnography, the Program on Urban Studies, and the Program in Modern Thought and Literature. Before returning to Stanford in 2017, Hecht taught in the University of Michigan’s History department for 18 years, where she helped to found and direct UM’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS) and served as associate director of UM’s African Studies Center.

Hecht holds a PhD in History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania (1992), and a bachelor’s degree in Physics from MIT (1986). She’s been a visiting scholar in universities in Australia, France, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, and Sweden. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council for Learned Societies, and the South African and Dutch national research foundations, among others.

Academic Appointments

• Professor, History

Honors & Awards

• Finalist, Best Book Award in African Studies, African Studies Association (2024)
• PROSE Award for Excellence in Social Science, Association of American Publishers (2024)
• PROSE Award in Government and Politics, Association of American Publishers (2024)
• Guggenheim Fellow, Guggenheim Foundation (2023)
• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, NEH (2022)
• General Anthropology Division Prize for Exemplary Cross-Field Scholarship, American Anthropological Association (2019)
• Rachel Carson Prize, Society for Social Studies of Science (2016)
• Susanne M. Glasscock Humanities Book Prize for Interdisciplinary Scholarship, Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research at Texas A&M University (2014)
• Honorable Mention, Melville J. Herskovits Prize, African Studies Association (2013)
• Robert K. Merton Prize, Science, Knowledge, and Technology Section, American Sociological Association (2013)
• Martin A. Klein Prize in African History, American Historical Association (2012)
• Michigan Humanities Award, University of Michigan (2012)
• Edelstein Prize, Society for the History of Technology (2001)
• Henry Baxter Adams Prize, American Historical Association (1999)
• Abbott Payson Usher Prize, Society for the History of Technology (1996)
• Dean's Award, Stanford University (1996)
• Levinson Prize, Society for the History of Technology (1991)
• Newcomen Prize, Newcomen Society (1991)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

• President, Society for the History of Technology (2023 - 2024)
• Advisory Board Member, RADIANT: Radioactive Ruins: Security in the Age of the Anthropocene, Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) (2018 - Present)
• Advisory Board Member, AnthroTOX Convergence Environment, University of Oslo (2017 - Present)
• Advisory Board Member, Chair of excellence in Security Studies, Sciences Po (2017 - Present)
• Member, Conseil Scientifique, ANDRA (Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs) (2015 - Present)
• Member, Comité Scientifique, Projet AGORAS (Amélioration de la Gouvernance des Organisations et des Réseaux d’Acteurs pour la Sûreté Nucléaire) (2014 - 2019)
• Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Sciences Po (2013 - 2017)
• Editorial Board Member, Technology’s Stories (2016 - Present)
• Editorial Board Member, Engaging Science, Technology, and Society (eSTS) (2015 - Present)
• Editorial Board Member, Feminist Technosciences book series, University of Washington Press (2014 - Present)
• Editorial Board Member, African Perspectives book series, University of Michigan Press (2014 - Present)
• Editorial Board Member, Global History and Culture: Medicine, Science and Technology book series, Manchester University Press (2013 - Present)
• Editorial Board Member, Hospodarske dejiny (2013 - Present)
• Editorial Board Member, History and Technology (2008 - Present)
• Member, Merton Prize Committee, Science, Knowledge and Technology Section, American Sociological Association (2014 - 2014)
• Member, Executive Council, Society for the Social Studies of Science (2006 - 2009)
• Member, Comité d’histoire d’électricité, Fondation Electricité de France (2001 - 2015)
• Member, Executive Council, Society for the History of Technology (2000 - 2003)
• Member, Transition and Coordinating Committees, Tensions of Europe (1999 - 2007)
• Theme Leader, “Colonialism, Decolonization, and Development,” Tensions of Europe (1999 - 2004)
• Member, Editorial Committee, Society for the History of Technology (1995 - 2000)
• Co-founder & Convener, Bay Area Technology & Culture discussion group (1993 - 1998)
• Member, Levinson Prize Committee, Society for the History of Technology (1993 - 1995)

Program Affiliations

• Center for African Studies
• Modern Thought and Literature
• Program in History & Philosophy of Science
• Program on Urban Studies
• Science, Technology and Society

Professional Education

• Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, History and Sociology of Science (1992)
• M.A., University of Pennsylvania, History and Sociology of Science (1988)
• S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Physics (1986)