Today@Dal

The 2023-24 MacKay History Lecture will welcome Kate Brown, Distinguished Professor in History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to present on the topic, “From Nuclear Power to Nuclear War: Ukraine's History as a Nuclear Colony”.

Professor Kate Brown is a historian of science whose most recent book, Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future, was a finalist for prizes including the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The author of three other enthusiastically-received books, Professor Brown’s path-breaking research has addressed the production of nuclear weapons within planned communities, the health and environmental consequences of nuclear fallout, and the intersections of science, technology, and bio-politics. She has held several fellowships, including most recently at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Amsterdam. She is also co-founder of “History Unclassified,” a special section of the American Historical Review incorporating contributions beyond the usual research article format. Professor Brown is currently working on a history of the people and plants involved in urban agriculture and gardening in the 20th century.

This free, public lecture will take place on Thursday, October 26 at 7:15 p.m. in the Ondaatje Auditorium of the Marion McCain Arts and Social Sciences Building. The event is co-presented by Dalhousie’s Department of History, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and the College of Sustainability.

Contact Professor Will Langford in the History department with any questions: w.langford@dal.ca

The annual MacKay Lecture Series features up to four lectures given by internationally renowned speakers, addressing subjects related to the liberal and performing arts. Three of the lectures revolve around a common interdisciplinary theme chosen each year by the Faculty's Research Development Committee from a selection of faculty proposals. The fourth lecture is on a broadly based historical theme, in recognition of the generous donation funding the lecture series that was given by Gladys MacKay in appreciation of the education that her husband, the Reverend Malcolm Ross MacKay, received at Dalhousie as a B.A. student in History (1927).