Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway

Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway are both prominent historians of science. Beyond their well-known joint work on the relationship between corporate power, media, and policymaking in the contemporary U.S., their research also focuses on the history of geology (Oreskes) and the history of aviation and spaceflight (Conway). Naomi Oreskes studied geology at London’s Imperial College and briefly worked for a mining company in Australia before earning a PhD in Geological Research and History of Science at Stanford University. She has taught at Dartmouth College, New York University, the University of California, San Diego, and Harvard University, where she is currently the Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science. Most of her work has focused on the history of plate tectonics and climate science. She writes frequently for the popular press and has given hundreds of public lectures, interviews, and seminars (including a popular TED Talk) about her work. Erik M. Conway has been the resident historian at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California since 2004. After working as an engineer in the U.S. Navy for several years, Conway earned a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Minnesota for a dissertation about the history of aircraft landing gear technology. Ever since, his work has focused on the political priorities, research institutions, and scientific discoveries that have driven modern technological innovation in American spaceflight and aviation. Oreskes and Conway’s most recent project, The Magic of the Marketplace: The True History of a False Idea, is supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship, and they are also working on a project called The Big Myth.