Understanding Disasters

This seminar will investigate four disasters: the Titanic shipwreck, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, and the implosion of the submersible Titan in 2023. Using original sources, it will study how conscientious responses to previous disasters may indirectly contribute to new ones. How can we improve priorities of risks to address? How does the cultural aftermath of events affect decisions? The seminar will introduce and draw on concepts from the humanities, social sciences, and engineering suggesting how history synthesizes diverse ideas.