On Thursday, January 8, Dr. Martin Schmitt, research associate at the Historical Institute of Paderborn University, will give a lecture on the topic of "The Early History of Data Centers: Historical Development and Environmental Impacts“. Tracking the proliferation of computers in the second half of the 20th Century, the talk will analyze the development of computer centres and their techno-environmental assemblages over time. The event will take place from 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in room L3.204 and will be held in English. Further information is available here.
The lecture is organised as part of a workshop by the team of the research project “Cultures of the Cryosphere”. The focus is on data centres, their growing importance in a networked world and the associated cooling requirements. The aim of the project is to understand the cultural factors and conditions of cooling in their historical development and to derive strategies for cooling less and differently from these findings. It has been funded by the European Research Council (ERC) with approximately 9.9 million euros since the beginning of 2024. On behalf of Paderborn University, Prof. Dr. Suzana Alpsancar, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of techno-scientific Cultures at the Heinz Nixdorf Institute, is the principal investigator involved in the project with her team.
Further information is available on the project website.
This text was translated automatically.
