Dr. Robert R. Johnson speaks on “Romancing the Atom,” Thursday, November 8, 2012, at 4:30 p.m. in the East Reading Room of the Van Pelt and Opie Library.
Johnson will speak on the development and writing of his recently released book, “Romancing the atom: nuclear infatuation from the radium girls to Fukushima.” The book chronicles over one hundred years of atomic and nuclear development focusing on what he depicts as the human love affair with the atom.
“I’m also looking forward to being a part of a movement to educate people of all ages about the history and current events regarding the atomic age: what we did, what we have left behind, what we’re still doing,” said Johnson. Drawing examples from the uranium dial painters of the early 1900s right up to the recent nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, Johnson seeks to engage readers and listeners in deep thinking about the atom, nuclear energy and choice.
More on the book can be found at: www.romancingtheatom.com
Before coming to Michigan Tech, Johnson was a professor at the Miami University, Ohio, where he directed a graduate program. At Michigan Tech, Johnson served as Chair of Humanities for nine years and has been instrumental in the Reading as Inquiry program for first-year students, now entering its tenth year of operation. He has also consulted with a number of corporations, including Microsoft, Lenscrafters, and General Foods. His published works include articles in virtually every major journal in his respective disciplines and the book User-Centered Technology: A Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other Mundane Artifacts, won the 1999 Best Book Award in Scientific and Technical Communication from the National Council of Teachers of English.
The event is part of the library’s series “Nexus: the Scholar and the Library” which illuminates ways scholars and scientists productively use libraries and archives. It is open to the public and is sponsored by the Van Pelt and Opie Library. Join us for free refreshments. For further information: (906) 487-2500, library@mtu.edu or www.mtu.edu/library