> About_Me
Dr. Adam Quinn is a postdoctoral fellow at the Science History Institute. His research focuses on the history of computing, with an emphasis on the roles of workers and nature in creating the digital economy. By incorporating traditionally-overlooked figures like manufacturing and recycling workers, his research points to historical and ongoing issues surrounding labor exploitation and environmental injustice in high-tech industries. Adam earned his doctorate in history from the University of Oregon, his master's in history from the University of Vermont, and his interdisciplinary bachelor's degree in critical social inquiry from Hampshire College. His work has been published in TIME, the Radical History Review, and Smithsonian Contributions to History and Technology.
His current work on computing builds on his earlier research featured below, which examined the roles of media, science, and the environment in earlier periods of labor history. For academic inquiries, speaking engagements, or media requests, please get in touch.
> Current_Research
Computer Capitalism: Labor, Nature, and the Making of the American Computer Industry
My forthcoming book project tells the history of everyday people who transformed natural materials like silicon into digital technology. Tracing the entire computer production cycle from mining to recycling electronic waste, this book uncovers the hidden costs of the digital economy. Although the digital economy often appears to be immaterial and even "post-industrial," this book argues that the rise of computing entailed resource extraction, occupational illness, pollution, and the expansion of industrial capitalism.
> Publications
“To ‘Win the Future,’ the U.S. Needs a Semiconductor Industry That Learns From the Past”
TIME, January 3, 2024
As the US government invests billions into chipmaking, we should learn from history to shape a more sustainable and equitable future for the industry.
[Read Article]“Four Tips from History for a Cleaner, Safer Chipmaking Industry”
Oregon Quarterly, February 26, 2024
This brief, public-facing article offers historical lessons for ways to improve environmental and labor standards in modern semiconductor manufacturing.
[Read Article]“‘Abolish the Monopolizing of the Earth’: Nature, Science, and the Environmental Politics of Transnational Anarchism.”
Radical History Review, no. 145 (January 2023)
Late-19th and early-20th century radicals, informed by the natural sciences, surprisingly shaped environmental politics in Europe, the US, and Mexico.
[Download PDF]“The Revolution Will Not Be Mailed: The US Post Office’s Role in Antiradicalism During and After World War I.”
Smithsonian Contributions to History and Technology (May 2022)
As the US federal government attempted to suppress radical labor unions and political organizations in the 1910s-20s, the Post Office's role in mass surveillance and censorship helped spark the modern civil liberties movement.
[Download PDF]“‘Aboveground, Underground, and Locked Down’: Radical Prison Newspapers in Washington, 1975–90.”
Radical History Review, no. 141 (October 2021)
A look into the understudied world of radical newspapers published behind bars reveals how incarcerated people understood the prison system and linked it to their critiques of capitalism, racism, and imperialism.
[Download PDF]“Chronicling Subversion: The Cronaca Sovversiva as Both Seditious Rag and Community Paper.”
Radical Americas 3, no. 1, 2018
The Cronaca Sovversiva was an Italian-American anarchist newspaper, noted as a criminalized "incendiary rag" for its connections to political violence. By shifting our attention to the less controversial aspects of the newspaper, this article underscores how it grew an audience and built a network of labor activists.
[Download PDF]> Curriculum_Vitae
See Adam's CV for a detailed overview of his writing, speaking, and teaching experiences.
DOWNLOAD_CV.PDF