Michael Gordin specializes in the history of the modern physical sciences and Russian, European, and American history; as of July 2024, he serves as Dean of the College. He came to Princeton in 2003 after earning his A.B. (1996) and his Ph.D. (2001) from Harvard University, and serving a term at the Harvard Society of Fellows. He has published articles on a variety of topics, such as the introduction of science into Russia in the early 18th century, the history of biological warfare in the late Soviet period, the relations between Russian literature and science, as well as a series of studies on the life and chemistry of Dmitrii I. Mendeleev, formulator of the periodic system of chemical elements.
He previously taught HUM 218/219, Interdisciplinary Approaches to Western Culture II: Literature and the Arts, History, Philosophy and Religion in the Spring of 2017 and will teach it again in the Spring of 2025.
See full bio on the History Department website.
