Thomas Brandt
About
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
Publications
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 lectureBrandt, 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
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Academic lectureBrandt, 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
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Academic lectureBrandt, 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
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Academic lectureBallal, 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
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Academic lectureChristophersen, 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
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Academic lectureBrandt, 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