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  1. Employees

Språkvelger

Norsk

Thomas Brandt

Thomas Brandt

Professor
Department of Historical and Classical Studies
Faculty of Humanities

thomas.brandt@ntnu.no
+4773598363 +4741042622 Dragvoll 3, Bygg 11 - 12 Dragvoll, Trondheim
About Publications Media

About

CV

I am a Professor of History at NTNU. I am working within the history of science and technology, broadly defined. My main research interests are related to the history of knowledge. More specifically, I have been concerned with modern Norwegian and European knowledge institutions, such as universities and research councils, and with ocean science and technology.

I have also published on topics ranging from military-industrial history to media history and urban waterfront development history. I have also published works that may be labeled design history, business history, and the history of higher education.

I have taught courses in digital history, historiography, history of science and technology, and cultural heritage studies. Apart from teaching, supervising, and research, I also have experience with creating museum exhibitions through the NTNU Faros Knowledge Park. I was part of the team behind the exhibition Klima X at the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo, which received the Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Award in 2009.

I received my doctoral degree from NTNU in 2006, where my dissertation examined the cultural production, mediation, and consumption of the Italian 'Vespa' scooter in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 2002, I was a visiting scholar at the Zentralinstitut für Geschichte der Technik, at TU Munich.

In 2004, I was project coordinator of the interdisciplinary research project 'The Factory' ('Fabrikken'), resulting in a series of working papers and the book Fabrikken, for which I was co-editor, as well as translator and contributor. In 2004 the book Fabrikken was awarded the annual best non-fiction book prize by the Norwegian newspaper Klassekampen.

In 2010 I published a book on the history of my own alma mater NTNU, covering 250 years of science, scholarship, engineering, and higher education, in collaboration with historian Ola Nordal.

Between 2014-2019, I was PI for the project 'The history of the Norwegian Research Councils, 1946-2016'.

I also participated in the NRC SAMKUL research project 'The High Seas and the Deep Oceans: Representations, Resources and Regulatory Practice' (3ROceans).  (2016-2022)

Since 2022, I have participated in the NRC research project "Maritime Modernities - Formats of Oceanic Knowledge."

I am PI for a pilot project exploring the significance of the office room in academic knowledge production, 'The Office as a Mileu for Ideas and a Theatre of Memory.' 

I am/have been part of the supervising team for the following doctoral candidates:

Frode Weium (Thesis defended 2017)
Tirza Meyer (Thesis defended 2018)
Christina Næss (Thesis defended 2022)
Kim K. Ménage
Widar Aa. Kristoffersen
Ingebjørg Eidhammer
Dag Andreassen
 

 

 

Competencies

  • Cultural History
  • History of Science
  • History of Universities
  • History of knowledge
  • History of technology

Publications

  • Chronological
  • By category
  • See all publications in Cristin

2019

  • Brandt, Thomas; Ingulstad, Mats; Mangset, Marte; Larsen, Eirinn; Schwach, Vera. (2019) Avhengig av forskning - De norske forskningsrådenes historie. Fagbokforlaget Fagbokforlaget
    Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
  • Brandt, Thomas. (2019) "Fremragende" som ledeord i norsk kunnskapspolitikk. Novus Forlag
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

2017

  • Thue, Fredrik W.; Brandt, Thomas; Hansen, Else; Matthíasdóttir, Sigríður. (2017) The Peaceful Revolts: 1968 in the Nordic Welfare States. Routledge
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Brandt, Thomas. (2017) Envisioning a national infrastructure for science – academic entrepreneurship in 1890s–1950s Norway. Management & Organizational History
    Academic article

2014

  • Brandt, Thomas. (2014) 1968 as a turning point in Trondheim's university history. Brill Academic Publishers
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Brandt, Thomas. (2014) Forskningsrådenes historie 1946-2016 - et overblikk og en invitasjon. Forskningspolitikk
    Popular scientific article

2013

  • Brandt, Thomas. (2013) A Vehicle for 'Good Italians': User Design and the Vespa Clubs in Italy. Bloomsbury Academic
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

2010

  • Brandt, Thomas; Nordal, Ola. (2010) Turbulens og tankekraft. Historien om NTNU. Pax Forlag Pax Forlag
    Academic monograph

2009

  • Brandt, Thomas. (2009) Skjult havn åpnes - et essay om havna og byen i utstillingskatalog til Elin Andreassens utstilling "Trondheim Verft". Trondheim Verft AS - Separatutstilling av Elin Andreassens arbeider
    Art exhibition

2006

  • Brandt, Thomas. (2006) Frie hjerter og små motorer. Kulturell produksjon, formidling og bruk av den italienske Vespa-scooteren i Italia, 1946-1969. NTNU
    Doctoral dissertation
  • Brandt, Thomas. (2006) La Vespa negli Stati Uniti: il trasporto culturale di una merce italiana. Memoria e Ricerca. Rivista di Storia Contemporanea
    Academic article

2004

  • Andersen, Håkon With; Borgersen, Terje; Brandt, Thomas; Eliassen, Knut Ove; Stugu, Ola Svein; Øfsti, Audun. (2004) Fabrikken. Spartacus Spartacus
    Academic anthology/Conference proceedings

2002

  • Brandt, Thomas. (2002) "Centaur, Venus or Centauress - Gendering the Vespa scooter in Italy in the 1940s-1960s.". Skriftserie fra prosjektet Fabrikken
    Academic article

Journal publications

  • Brandt, Thomas. (2017) Envisioning a national infrastructure for science – academic entrepreneurship in 1890s–1950s Norway. Management & Organizational History
    Academic article
  • Brandt, Thomas. (2014) Forskningsrådenes historie 1946-2016 - et overblikk og en invitasjon. Forskningspolitikk
    Popular scientific article
  • Brandt, Thomas. (2006) La Vespa negli Stati Uniti: il trasporto culturale di una merce italiana. Memoria e Ricerca. Rivista di Storia Contemporanea
    Academic article
  • Brandt, Thomas. (2002) "Centaur, Venus or Centauress - Gendering the Vespa scooter in Italy in the 1940s-1960s.". Skriftserie fra prosjektet Fabrikken
    Academic article

Artistic productions

  • Brandt, Thomas. (2009) Skjult havn åpnes - et essay om havna og byen i utstillingskatalog til Elin Andreassens utstilling "Trondheim Verft". Trondheim Verft AS - Separatutstilling av Elin Andreassens arbeider
    Art exhibition

Books

  • Brandt, Thomas; Ingulstad, Mats; Mangset, Marte; Larsen, Eirinn; Schwach, Vera. (2019) Avhengig av forskning - De norske forskningsrådenes historie. Fagbokforlaget Fagbokforlaget
    Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
  • Brandt, Thomas; Nordal, Ola. (2010) Turbulens og tankekraft. Historien om NTNU. Pax Forlag Pax Forlag
    Academic monograph
  • Andersen, Håkon With; Borgersen, Terje; Brandt, Thomas; Eliassen, Knut Ove; Stugu, Ola Svein; Øfsti, Audun. (2004) Fabrikken. Spartacus Spartacus
    Academic anthology/Conference proceedings

Part of book/report

  • Brandt, Thomas. (2019) "Fremragende" som ledeord i norsk kunnskapspolitikk. Novus Forlag
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Thue, Fredrik W.; Brandt, Thomas; Hansen, Else; Matthíasdóttir, Sigríður. (2017) The Peaceful Revolts: 1968 in the Nordic Welfare States. Routledge
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Brandt, Thomas. (2014) 1968 as a turning point in Trondheim's university history. Brill Academic Publishers
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Brandt, Thomas. (2013) A Vehicle for 'Good Italians': User Design and the Vespa Clubs in Italy. Bloomsbury Academic
    Academic chapter/article/Conference paper

Report

  • Brandt, Thomas. (2006) Frie hjerter og små motorer. Kulturell produksjon, formidling og bruk av den italienske Vespa-scooteren i Italia, 1946-1969. NTNU
    Doctoral dissertation

Media

2017

  • Academic lecture
    Brandt, Thomas. (2017) The Ocean as an Alternative Energy Future: Ocean Wave Energy Conversion in Norway since the 1970s. The Portuguese Centre for Humanities (CHAM) /NomadIT CHAM III "Oceans and Shores: Heritage, People and Environment" , Lisboa 2017-07-12 - 2017-07-15

2016

  • Academic lecture
    Brandt, Thomas. (2016) Capturing the Power of the Ocean Waves: The Rise and Demise of a Research and Development Project for Ocean Wave Energy Conversion in Norway, 1970s–1990s. Society for the History of Technology SHOT 2016 Society for the history of Technology Annual Meeting , Singapore / Tembusu College NUS 2016-06-22 - 2016-06-26

2015

  • Academic lecture
    Brandt, Thomas. (2015) Building an Infrastructure for Industrial Research in Interwar Norway – Academic Entrepreneurship from Science Funds and Industry Laboratories to Research Councils. University of Gent “Academic entrepreneurship in history. An international survey of current research” , Ghent 2015-03-11 - 2015-03-13

2012

  • Academic lecture
    Ballal, Amritha; Brandt, Thomas; af Gijerstam, Jan; Joshi, Moulshri; Lagerqvist, Bosse; Walters, Diana. (2012) Contested heritage sites - rethinking methodology and practice. The case of the former Union Carbide site in Bhopal, India. Association of Critical Heritage Studies, Gøteborgs Univ Association of Critical Heritage Studies Inaugural Conference , Gøteborg 2012-06-05 - 2012-06-08

2011

  • Academic lecture
    Christophersen, Axel; Børresen, Anne Kristine; Brandt, Thomas; Overskaug, Kristian. (2011) Collecting scientific instruments – why and for whom?. Universeum + Universitetet i Padova XII Universeum network Meeting , Padova 2011-05-26 - 2011-05-29

2010

  • Academic lecture
    Brandt, Thomas. (2010) Chemical Engineering versus Industrial Chemistry at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, 1930s-1950s. European Society for the History of Science 4ESHS , Barcelona 2010-11-18 - 2010-11-20
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