In this lecture, Michael J. Halvorson considers the questions, how do individuals and organizations share breakthrough ideas with the public? Why is this process crucial for the funding and acceptance of new scientific discoveries, public health initiatives, and commercial products?

From Galileo to Albert Einstein to Grace Hopper, and from subway maps to vaccines to emerging AI tools, this lecture explores the crucial role that innovation rhetoric plays in the history of science and business. Drawing on careers in product development, technical writing, and teaching history and innovation, Professor Halvorson will explore how innovation is framed as a public discourse and why famous innovators sometimes struggle to promote pathbreaking discoveries.

This lecture free and open to the public. Learn more here!