Ernest Braun (technology researcher)

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Ernest Braun (2013)

Ernest Braun (born March 9, 1925 in Vienna ; † March 3, 2015 in Bruckneudorf near Vienna) was a British-Czech-Austrian technology researcher.

Life

Ernst Braun was born on March 9, 1925 in Vienna as a Czechoslovak citizen and grew up in Czechoslovakia. He studied physics in Prague (1952 MSc, Dr. rer. Nat.), Obtained his doctorate in solid state physics in Bristol (1959 PhD), became a British citizen and from then on often used the English version of his first name (Ernest). First he did research in industry, but then embarked on an academic career. In 1967 Braun was appointed professor of physics at Aston University in Birmingham. From 1973 he founded and headed a research group for technology policy (“Technology Policy Unit”). In the same year he founded an inter-university research and teaching group with Bill Williams and Michael Gibbons under the name "Science in a Social Context" (SISCON). The Technology Policy Unit (TPU) organized an interdisciplinary MSc course entitled “Social Aspects of Science and Technology” and supervised several doctoral students. Many of the former participants are now professors in UK universities. Even David Collingridge worked on the TPU. Technology assessment was one of the research topics at the TPU.

In 1982/1983 Braun was visiting professor at the Technical University of Vienna . He retired from Aston University in 1984. After a visiting professorship at the University of Vienna and various research activities, he carried out research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences from 1985–1991 , where he first founded a technology assessment working group and from 1988 headed the newly established Research Center for Technology Assessment (FTB) . The Institute for Technology Assessment (ITA) emerged from the FTB in 1994 (under his successor Gunther Tichy) . Braun returned to England in 1991 and was visiting professor at the Open University in Milton Keynes for a few years before his final retirement . He wrote more books while he was still retired. Braun last lived in Austria near Vienna ; he was married to the Viennese painter Doris Braun (née Luttenberger) and had two daughters.

Services

Braun is one of the first European technology impact assessors and was the initiator and founder of technology assessment in Austria in 1987 . He wrote several books and numerous articles. His best-known books are probably Futile Progress (1995) and Technology in Context (1998). His last book, From Need to Greed. The Changing Role of Technology in Society , was published in the summer of 2010.

Fonts

swell

  • W. Peissl, M. Nentwich: 20 years of technology assessment in Austria . In: W. Peissl, M. Nentwich (Hrsg.): Technology assessment in Austrian practice. Festschrift for Gunther Tichy . Verlag der Österr. Akad. Der Wiss., Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7001-3613-7 , pp. 11–32.
  • obituary

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of Emeritus Professors at Aston University ( Memento of the original from February 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www1.aston.ac.uk
  2. ↑ List of Emeritus Professors at Aston University ( Memento of the original from February 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www1.aston.ac.uk
  3. ↑ Nentwich / Peissl (PDF file; 272 kB) p. 12/13
personal data
SURNAME Braun, Ernest
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Braun, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-Austrian technology researcher
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 2015
Place of death Bruckneudorf