James R. Hansen

Dr. James R. Hansen specializes in the history of science and technology and the impact of science and technology on society. He has published eight books and over two dozen articles and book chapters, plus numerous book reviews, on a wide variety of technological topics ranging from the early days of aviation to the first nuclear fusion reactors to the Moon landings to the environmental history of golf course development. His published books include: The Wind and Beyond: A Documentary Journey through the History of Aerodynamics in America (six volumes), the first volume of which appeared in 2003; The Bird is on the Wing: Aerodynamics and the Progress of the Airplane in America (Texas A&M University Press Centennial of Flight Series, 2003); Spaceflight Revolution (Washington: NASA SP-4308), which NASA nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; Engineer in Charge (Washington: NASA SP-4305); and From the Ground Up (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988), co- authored by American aviation pioneer Fred E. Weick. From the Ground Up won the Eugene Emme Prize in Astronautical Literature from the American Astronautical Society, and the latter received the History Book Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Hansen's articles have appeared in a number of national and international journals and magazines, including Air & Space Smithsonian, The Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Technology and Culture, American Heritage of Invention and Technology, and The National Forum.

Hansen's new book, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, is being published by Simon & Schuster. It will appear in bookstores nationwide on October 18, 2005. Already arrangements have been made for this biography to be published in China, Japan, Croatia, and the United Kingdom, with many additional countries to come.

Dr. Hansen is Professor of History in the Department of History at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. From 1992 to 1996 he served as chairman of the history department and was the first elected �chair� in the history of Auburn University. At Auburn, he teaches courses on the history of flight, history of science, space history, history of technological failure, as well as a large auditorium class that surveys the history of technology from ancient times to the present -- or, as he puts it, �from before Australopithecus to after Arthur Clarke.� In 1998 Auburn University named him winner of its inaugural Creative Research Award. In 2000 the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn presented him with its award as Outstanding Teacher in the Core Curriculum.

Hansen earned a B.A. degree, with High Honors from Indiana University (1974) and an M.A. (1976) and Ph.D. (1981) from The Ohio State University. He served as historian for NASA Langley Research in Hampton, Virginia, from 1981 to 1984, and as a professor at the University of Maine in 1984-85. He has taught in the Auburn University history department since 1986.

Professor Hansen has received a number of citations for his historical scholarship, including the Robert H. Goddard Award from the National Space Club and distinctions of excellence from the Air Force Historical Foundation. In 1986-87 he gave historical talks around the country as an AIAA Distinguished Lecturer. He has served on a number of important advisory boards and panels, including the Research Advisory Board of the National Air and Space Museum, the Editorial Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Institution Press, the Advisory Board for the Archives of Aerospace Exploration at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the Museum Advisory Board of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and the board of directors of the Space Restoration Society. He is a past vice-president of the board of directors of the Virginia Air and Space Museum and Hampton Roads History Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Jim has also been working on a history of American golf course development and in the past eight years has become a recognized expert on the history of golf course development and the environmental impact of golf courses. He has presented lectures on the subjects at international meetings in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and the United States. An avid golfer with a five handicap, Hansen has been a contributor to Golfweek magazine and its subsidiary publication, Superintendent News. He also serves on Golfweek's Top 100 course ratings panel and is a member of the World Scientific Congress of Golf based at the University of St. Andrews.

He has been married for 28 years to Peggy Miller-Hansen, a nurse at the Auburn University Student Health Center. Both are natives of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and graduates of Elmhurst High School. Together, they have two children, Nathaniel, a 2001 graduate of Duke University who is currently in medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Jennifer, a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University who is studying art history at New York University.

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