MICHAEL F. MCGOVERN

Historian of data.

Photo Credit: Lisa Festa

I am a PhD Candidate in Princeton University’s Program in the History of Science. I study how science is used to construct and contest theories of human difference, particularly in social statistics and other quantitative enterprises.

My research spans the history of medical genetics, laboratory studies of cognition, and the use of statistical evidence and concepts to challenge racial discrimination in the late twentieth century United States. I am broadly interested in the development and adoption of computing technologies, as well as the moral and epistemological hazards of efforts to render the organization and production of knowledge more efficient, even objective. Here is my latest CV.

After stints in Chicago (as a software developer) and the UK, I now live in ☀️ Sunnyside, Queens where I sing in choirs 🎵 and volunteer for Team AOC‍ 🙋🏻‍♂️.