Ernest Braun facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Professor
Ernest Braun
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Braun, on his 88th birthday
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| Born | 9 March 1925 Vienna, Austria
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| Died | 3 March 2015 (aged 89) Bruckneudorf, Austria
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| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Ernst Braun |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Academic physicist |
Ernest Braun (born March 9, 1925 – died March 3, 2015) was a smart British-Austrian scientist. He studied how technology affects society and how we can make good choices about it. This field is called technology policy and assessment.
Contents
Ernest Braun's Life Story
Ernest Braun was born in Vienna, Austria. He grew up in Czechoslovakia. He loved to learn and studied physics at Charles University in Prague. He earned his first degree there in 1952. Later, he got his PhD in physics from the University of Bristol in England in 1959.
After working in a science lab, he decided to become a university professor. In 1967, he became a physics professor at Aston University in Birmingham, England.
Studying Technology and Society
In 1973, Professor Braun started a special research group at Aston University. It was called the Technology Policy Unit (TPU). This group looked at all the ways technology impacts our lives. They studied how new inventions come about and what effects they have. They also explored how governments and people make decisions about technology.
Around the same time, he helped start a group called “Science in a Social Context” (SISCON). This group created teaching materials to help students understand how science and technology connect with society. Many students from his doctoral program at Aston University later became professors themselves.
Later Years and Legacy
Professor Braun visited other universities, like Vienna Technical University and the University of Vienna. In 1985, he joined the Austrian Academy of Sciences. There, he started a new group focused on technology assessment. This group grew and became the Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA).
He retired in 1991 and moved back to England. He continued to teach as a visiting professor at the Open University. Later, he lived in Portugal and then returned to Austria. Ernest Braun passed away on March 3, 2015, just before his 90th birthday.
What Ernest Braun Achieved
Ernest Braun is seen as a leader in the field of "social studies in science and technology." This means he was one of the first to really study how science and technology change our world and how we live. In Austria, many people see him as the person who started the idea of technology assessment.
He wrote many books and articles. Some of his most famous books include:
- Revolution in Miniature (1978)
- Futile Progress (1995)
- Technology in Context (1998)
- From Need to Greed (2010)
These books helped people understand the big changes technology brings to society.
Books by Ernest Braun
- Science and Survival, 1977.
- Revolution in Miniature, 1978.
- Assessment of Technological Decisions, 1979.
- Wayward Technology, 1984.
- Futile Progress, 1995.
- Technology in Context, 1998.
- From Need to Greed, 2010.
