Email me     Research Interests Education Publications Lectures & Talks Book Reviews Dr. Hermione Giffard Research Interests: My research deals with the history of technology, paying particular attention to production, industry and military technology. In my work, I have explored technical change or the emergence of novelty and the role of (heroic) inventors in the historiography of technology. My work focuses on the history of Britain, Germany and the United States, and I have carried out research in archives in all three countries. Education: 'The Development and Production of Turbojet Aero-Engines in Britain, Germany and the United States, 1936-1945.' [ABSTRACT] PhD, History of Technology Imperial College, London March 2011 'The Adoption of Tungsten Carbide Tools in Britain, 1927-1945.' MSc with distinction, History of Science, Technology and Medicine Imperial College, London October 2006 'Preliminary Study of Magnesium Thin Films for Hydrogen Storage.' [ABSTRACT] MS, Materials Science and Engineering June 2005 Stanford University, Stanford, CA BS, Physics Stanford University, Stanford, CA June 2005 Publications: 'The World's First Jet Engines: The Serious Pursuit of Innovation in Military Aviation, 1936-1945,' accepted for publication in The Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal, forthcoming 2012. 'Power Jets,' in Shaping the Future: Frank Whittle and the Jet Engine, Richard Morris editor (London: Newsdesk Communications, 2011): 10-14. 'Power Jets: spreading the knowledge,' in Shaping the Future: Frank Whittle and the Jet Engine, Richard Morris editor (London: Newsdesk Communications, 2011): 24-28. Link to Previous Scientific Publications Selected Lectures and Talks: 'The World's First Jet Engines: The Serious Pursuit of Innovation in Military Aviation, 1936-1945.' The RAF in the early years of the jet era, seminar at the Royal Air Force Historical Society, Hendon, October 2011 'What museums want: a critical review of the National Air and Space Museum's jet aviation gallery.' Transport and Mobility on Display, 9th international conference of the International Association for the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility (T2M), Berlin, October 2011 'Gadget or ersatz? The early history of the turbojet aero-engine in Britain, Germany and the United States, 1936-1945.' Royal Aeronautical Society Historical Group, London, March 2011. 'Why we should study production: new insights into the early history of the turbojet aero-engine.' Imperial College, London, May 2010. '"A Most Intimate Technical Collaboration": The first American turbojet and Anglo-American technical cooperation during WWII.' Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C., October 2009. 'Wind tunnel envy: A comparison of scientific and industrial collaboration in aircraft development in Britain and Nazi Germany.' British Society for the History of Science Annual Conference, Leicester, July 2009. 'Invention for political gain: the competition between Heinkel and the Air Ministry over the German jet (1936-1943).' Imperial College, London, May 2009. 'The adoption of tungsten carbide cutting tools, 1927-1945.' Towards a Global History of Production I: Machine Tools and the International Transfer of Industrial Technology, University of Cambridge, March 2009. 'Flying the Flag: The Whittle "Myth" and the historiography of the jet engine.' Colloque Culture Aérienne, Paris, November 2008. 'Fighting over invention: The Whittle myth and the historiography of the jet engine.' Society for the History of Technology Conference, Lisbon, October 2008. Book Reviews: 'Aerial Life: Spaces, Mobilities, Affects (review).' The Aerospace Professional (Forthcoming 2011). 'Missiles for the Fatherland: Peenemünde, National Socialism and the V-2 Missile (review).' Centaurus (online February 2011). 'The Jet Race and the Second World War (review).' War in History 15 (2008): 504-506. 'Alfred Herbert Ltd. and the British Machine Tool Industry, 1887-1983 (review).' Technology and Culture 48 no 3 (2007): 644-646.