William M. McBride, Professor
History of Science and Technology; Naval History
The United States Naval Academy
572 Holloway Road, Annapolis, MD 21402
(410) 293-6290
Education:
- Ph.D. - The Johns Hopkins University (History of Science and Technology)
- M.Sc. in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
- B.Sc. in Naval Architecture - U.S. Naval Academy
Selected Publications:
"Powering the U.S. Fleet: Propulsion Machinery Design and American Engineering Culture, 1890-1945," forthcoming, early 2014.
"Nineteenth-Century American Warships: The Pursuit of Exceptionalist Design," in Reinventing the Ship: Science, Technology and the Maritime World, ed. Don Leggett and Richard Dunn (Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 2012).
“From Measuring Progress to Technological Innovation: The Prewar Annapolis Engineering Experiment Station,” in Instrumental in War: Scientific Research and Instrumentation between Knowledge and the World, ed. Steven A. Walton (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers, 2005)
"Innovation and the Warrior Ethos" in the inaugural issue of Topic magazine published by the Gates-Cambridge Scholars of the University of Cambridge.
Technological Change and the United States Navy, 1865-1945 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000). Received 2002 Engineer-Historian Award presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International.
Good Night Officially: The Pacific War Letters of a Destroyer Sailor (HarperCollins/Westview (1994) and Texas A&M University Press (2001), a selection of the Military Book Club and on the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy’s Required Reading List for Naval Heritage and Core Values.
Editor, New Interpretations in Naval History (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998).
Research Focus:
The relationships among technology, strategic philosophy, and professional culture within post-1800 militaries, especially navies.
Current Projects:
"A Historical Perspective on Educating Midshipmen for the 21st Century: The Varying Culture of Engineering and Science at USNA, 1865-1986"
"Superheat: The Social Construction of the Propulsion Machinery that Won World War Two"
Selected Professional Awards
Inaugural Edna T. Shaeffer Distinguished Humanist, James Madison University
Engineer-Historian Award, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International
IEEE Life Members' Prize, Society for the History of Technology
Inaugural Biennial Prize (now the Fishel-Calhoun Prize), Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
Moncado Prize for Excellence, Society for Military History
Courses
Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Military and Strategic History
History of Engineering
History of Technology
History of Science
American Naval History
Selected Presentations
Keynote Address, Centennial Celebration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Graduate Program in Naval Construction and Engineering.
Colligan Lecture, Miami University.
