Biographical Summary

Douwe Schipper is a historian whose work focuses on technology, science, and environment in post-World War II United States and Europe. He is particularly interested in the postwar history of urban transportation infrastructure and planning. In 2025 and 2026, he is a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at GHI Washington. He received his PhD in the History of Science and Technology from Johns Hopkins University in 2025. His dissertation examined citizen opposition to urban transportation planning from a transatlantic perspective, focusing on activist groups in different American and Western European cities in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Douwe also holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts & Sciences from Utrecht University’s University College Roosevelt (2013), an M.Sc. in History and Philosophy of Science from Utrecht University (2018), and an M.A. in American Studies from Leiden University (2019). He has published articles in the Journal of Transport History and the Journal of Urban History. His previous research has been supported by a Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellowship at the Anacostia Community Museum, a Johns Hopkins University Dean’s Teaching Fellowship, and a Northwestern University Transportation Library Travel Grant.