Ferguson, Eugene S.

Eugene S. Ferguson was one of the founders of the discipline of the history of technology, both through teaching at Iowa State University and the University of Delaware and by working at the Smithsonian Institution and the Hagley Museum.

Eugene Shallcross Ferguson was born in Wilmington, Del., on January 24, 1916, received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1937, and began his career as a practicing mechanical engineer with Western Electric and Du Pont before joining the Navy in World War II. During a period of recuperation, a roommate interested him in naval history, and thus began his growing interest in the history of technology. After the war, Ferguson taught mechanical engineering at Iowa State College, where he completed his M.S. in 1955, but by this time he was set on a career in the history rather than the practice of engineering.

...