Eric S. Hintz

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  • Historian and Acting Director, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, Smithsonian Institution

Eric S. Hintz, PhD is a historian and the acting director of the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. Eric has served as a co-curator on several exhibitions, including Change Your Game / Cambia tu juego (which opened March 2024) and the award-winning Places of Invention (2015-2023). In addition, Eric produces the Center’s annual symposium series, New Perspectives on Invention and Innovation; helps coordinate the Center’s fellowship and grant programs; and assists in the collection of historically significant artifacts and documents. He is the co-editor (with Arthur A. Daemmrich) of Inventing for Sports (Smithsonian Institution scholarly Press, 2025); author of American Independent Inventors in an Era of Corporate R&D (MIT Press, 2021), winner of the Smithsonian Secretary’s Research Prize (2022); and co-editor (with Matthew Wisnioski and Marie Stettler Kleine) of Does America Need More Innovators? (MIT Press, 2019). Eric earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in the history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Experience

  • 2010–present
    Historian and Acting Director, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, Smithsonian Institution

Education

  • 2010 
    University of Pennsylvania, PhD, History and Sociology of Science
  • 2005 
    University of Pennsylvania, MA, History and Sociology of Science
  • 1996 
    University of Notre Dame, BS, Aerospace Engineering

Publications

  • 2025
    Inventing for Sports, Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
  • 2021
    American Independent Inventors in an Era of Corporate R&D, MIT Press
  • 2019
    Does America Need More Innovators?, MIT Press

Professional Memberships

  • Society for the History of Technology (SHOT)
  • Business History Conference (BHC)

Honours

Dibner Exhibition Prize (SHOT, 2016); Krooss Diss. Prize Finalist (BHC, 2011); Levinson Prize (SHOT, 2007); Kerr Prize (BHC, 2007)

Contact Eric for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision