Roger Turner
Curator of Instruments and Artifacts
Roger Turner is an historian and storyteller. His particular scholarly expertise is in 20th-century atmospheric science, scientific instruments, and environmental monitoring.
At the Science History Institute, Roger helped launch the student role-playing game Conflicts in Chemistry: The Case of Rare Earth Elements, worked on the film The Instrumental Chemist, developed the playful online experience Instruments of Change, and contributes to museum exhibitions. He wrote and curated Mechanochemistry: The Science of Crush for Google Arts & Culture and also authors the occasional Distillations magazine story.
Before coming to the Institute, Roger taught at colleges and worked as a public history consultant, advising on oral history preservation, collections development, and public communications. His research on weather forecasting has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the American Meteorological Society, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. You can read the bits with neat pictures at PicturingMeteorology.com.
More from Roger Turner
AstroTurf: A Surface of Contention
This digital exhibition explores the history of artificial grass playing surfaces and the controversies they sprout.
Transitioning to a Sustainable Chemical Industry: Lessons from History
At the T. T. Chao Symposium on Innovation experts in the history of the chemical industry will convene to identify a path to netzero, biodiversity protection, and the alleviation of chemical pollution.
A Crushing Task
On the hunt for the historical sources of an underappreciated field: mechanochemistry.
The Dinosaurs Died in Spring
Science that ushered in a new epoch also revealed stunning details from Earth’s distant past.
The Nuclear Family
Two instruments evoke memories of being a child during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Is the Plastic Bag History?
In this Roundtable course, the Institute’s Roger Turner shows what an ordinary shopping bag reveals about the science and politics of plastic.