Updated on 2026/01/06

写真a

 
KAWANISHI TOMA
 
Organization
Academy for Leadership Lecturer
Title
Lecturer
Profile

My research field includes the history of technology, science, and their interrelationship. I also have an interest in the history of the thoughts or ideologies of engineering. 

Until the first half of my doctoral studies, I focused on the history of information science, especially the development in the pre-WWII German-speaking world. I am now specializing in electrical engineering history (especially that of communication) from the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century.

My basic research interest is the history of technology during and after the second industrial revolution. I am studying the history of electrical technology and engineering as its prime example. The main research interest is what the relationship was like (both epistemologically and socially) during this period.

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Degree

  • Ph.D ( 2023.3   Kyoto University )

Research Interests

  • 工学史

  • 技術史

  • History of Science

Research Areas

  • Humanities & Social Sciences / Historical studies in general  / History of Science and Technology

Education

  • Kyoto University   Graduate School of Letters

    2017.4 - 2020.3

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  • Kyoto University   Graduate School of Letters

    2015.4 - 2017.3

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  • Kyoto University   Faculty of Letters

    2008.4 - 2013.3

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Research History

  • Meiji University   School of Political Science and Economics   Adjunct Lecturer

    2024.4

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  • Tokyo Institute of Technology   Institute for Liberal Arts   Lecturer

    2022.4

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  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,   Department of Science, Technology, and Society   Visiting Researcher

    2021.3 - 2021.12

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    Country：United States

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  • Kyoto University   Graduate School of Letters   Adjunct Lecturer

    2020.4 - 2021.3

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  • Kyoto Junior College of Foreign Languages   Adjunct Lecturer

    2019.4 - 2019.8

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  • Kyoto Junior College of Foreign Languages   Adjunct Lecturer

    2018.4 - 2018.8

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  • 日本学術振興会特別研究員（DC1）

    2017.4 - 2020.3

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  • Bank of Mitsubishi-Tokyo UFJ Ltd.

    2013.4 - 2014.6

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Professional Memberships

Papers

  • Engineering a Unity of Science: Reconsidering Cybernetics as Engineering Imperialism Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    La revue de la pensée d'aujourd'hui   52 ( 10 )   22 - 35   2024.7

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    Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese  

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  • Multiple Meanings of the "Computation": Focusing on the Formative Era of Computer Science Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    La revue de la pensée d'aujourd'hui   51 ( 8 )   36 - 50   2023.7

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    Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese  

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  • A History of Communication Engineering in Prewar Japan, 1891-1937

    Toma KAWANISHI

    2023.3

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    Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Doctoral thesis  

    DOI： 10.14989/doctor.k24335

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  • Conceptualizing Engineering as an Applied Science: Hidetsugu Yagi as a Promoter of Engineering Research Reviewed

    Toma KAWANISHI

    PHS Studies   ( 14 )   1 - 24   2020.3

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    Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (bulletin of university, research institution)  

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  • The Making of the Concept of Information Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    La revue de la pensée d'aujourd'hui   48 ( 2 )   196 - 210   2020.2

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    Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese  

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  • Prehistory of Switching Theory in Japan: Akira Nakashima and his Relay-Circuit Theory Reviewed

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Historia Scientiarum   29 ( 1 )   136 - 162   2019.8

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    Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

    File： Kawanishi2019.pdf

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  • How Konrad Zuse viewed the computer: From numerical calculator to general information processing machine Reviewed

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Philosophy and History of Science Studies   ( 10 )   1 - 24   2016.4

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    Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

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Books

  • Research and Development in a “Late Developer": Telecommunications, Engineers, and Nationalism Reviewed

    Toma KAWANISHI（ Role： Sole author）

    The University of Nagoya Press  2024.8  （ ISBN:9784815811686 ）

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    Total pages：384   Responsible for pages：384   Language：Japanese   Book type：Scholarly book

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MISC

  • Research and Development in a "Late Developer" Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Journal of History of Science, Japan   64 ( 315 )   281 - 286   2025.10

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    Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (scientific journal)  

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  • Review: Mai Sugimoto, Before "Artificial Intelligence" — Are Computers and Brains Alike? Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Journal of History of Science, Japan   63 ( 309 )   117   2024.4

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    Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

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  • Review: Eric Schatzberg, Technology: Critical History of a Concept Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Tokyo Academic Review of Books   2021.2

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    Authorship：Lead author   Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

    File： TARB_kawanishi.pdf

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  • Soni, Jimmy and Goodman, Rob. : A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age (Simon & Schuster, 2017)

    Toma KAWANISHI

    PHS Studies   ( 13 )   53 - 56   2019.3

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    Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

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  • Edger Daylight: Turing Tales

    Toma KAWANISHI

    PHS Studies   ( 12 )   97 - 100   2018.3

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    Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

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  • Concerning the historical position of Alan Turing

    Toma KAWANISHI

    PHS Studies   ( 12 )   67 - 89   2018.3

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    Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (bulletin of university, research institution)  

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  • Reconsidering Plankalkül

    Toma KAWANISHI

    PHS Studies   ( 11 )   17 - 34   2017.3

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    Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Rapid communication, short report, research note, etc. (scientific journal)  

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  • Matti Tedre: The science of computing; shaping a discipline.

    Toma KAWANISHI

    PHS Studies   ( 11 )   65 - 68   2017.3

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    Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Book review, literature introduction, etc.  

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Presentations

  • The Rise of Technological Self: Creativity, Morality, and the Making of Inventive Agency in Modern Japan Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Decentering the Circulations and Transregional Encounters: Knowledge, Things, and Intermediaries in East Asia  2025.12 

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    Event date： 2025.12

    Language：English   Presentation type：Symposium, workshop panel (nominated)  

    File： 20251212_KSHS-WS.pdf

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  • The Formation of the "Technological Self" in Japan and Its Implications for the Modern History of East Asia Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Japan Society for the History of Industrial Technology  2025.6 

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    Event date： 2025.6

    Presentation type：Oral presentation (invited, special)  

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  • De-colorizing Science and Technology: Matsumae Shigeyoshi on Technology

    Toma KAWANISHI

    The History of Science Society of Japan  2025.5 

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    Event date： 2025.5

    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

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  • 科学史・技術史と軍事技術の関係：戦後80年の中でのデュアルユース問題 Invited

    山崎文徳, 瀬戸口明久, 河村豊, 小林真実子, 河西棟馬, 水沢光

    日本科学史学会  2025.5 

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    Event date： 2025.5

    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Symposium, workshop panel (nominated)  

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  • From Samurai to Engineer: The Social Position and Professionalization of Engineers in Modern Japan Invited

    KAWANISHI Toma

    Tsinghua Lecture Series on the History and Philosophy of Science"  2025.5 

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    Event date： 2025.5

    Language：English   Presentation type：Public lecture, seminar, tutorial, course, or other speech  

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  • Industry as Self-Cultivation: The Adaptation of Confucian Ethics in Nakamura Masanao’s Saigoku Risshihen Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Sino-Japanese Symposium in STS, History of Science, and Philosophy of Science  2025.3 

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    Event date： 2025.3

    Language：English   Presentation type：Symposium, workshop panel (nominated)  

    File： 20250325Draft_full.docx

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  • 科学史・科学論から考えるパクス・ブリタニカ後 — 1930 ～ 40 年代の新潮流 Invited

    小長谷大介, 金山浩司, 河村豊, 山崎正勝, 河西棟馬, 橋口豊, 中島秀人

    日本科学史学会  2024.5 

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    Event date： 2024.5

    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Symposium, workshop panel (nominated)  

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  • Objects, Knowledge, and Archives in the History of Technology Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    2023.12 

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    Event date： 2023.12

    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Symposium, workshop panel (nominated)  

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  • On Veblen's concept of "technology": from the perspective of the history of technology Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    2023.12 

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    Event date： 2023.12

    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Public lecture, seminar, tutorial, course, or other speech  

    File： 20231202大分ヴェブレン発表.pdf

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  • Kenjiro Takayanagi's Research on "Television'': What is "television 遠視"? Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Techniques of the Shichōsha: On the Technoscientific Formation of Cultural Subjects  2023.6 

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    Event date： 2023.6

    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Symposium, workshop panel (public)  

    File： テレビWS_2023-6_河西.pdf

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  • Pre-War Japan's Television Research

    Toma KAWANISHI

    The History of Science Society of Japan  2023.5 

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    Event date： 2023.5

    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

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  • Appropriating a Tool of Empire: A History of Communication Technology in Imperial Japan

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Society For The History of Technology Annual Meeting  2021.11 

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    Event date： 2021.11

    Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

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  • Cybernetics and Electrical Engineering

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Annual Meeting of The History of Science Society of Japan  2019.5 

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    Language：Japanese  

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  • Ralph Hartley and the concept of Information

    Toma KAWANISHI

    2018.12 

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    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

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  • An Origin of Switching Circuit Theory: Nakashima and Shannon

    Toma KAWANISHI

    Japan Society for the History of Industrial Technology  2018.6 

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    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

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  • "Numerical Analysis" in 1950s Europe

    Toma KAWANISHI

    History of Science Society of Japan  2017.6 

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    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

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  • Reconsidering Plankalkül

    Toma KAWANISHI

    2016.12 

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    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

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  • Engineering a Unity of Science: Reconsidering Cybernetics as Engineering Imperialism Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    The History and Philosophy of Science and Technology of Computing and Algorithmic Environments.  2024.6 

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    Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (invited, special)  

    File： 20240614_Engineering a Unity of Science.pdf

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  • Lewis Mumford's Philosophy of History—Technics and Civilization (1934) revisited Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    2024.1 

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    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Public lecture, seminar, tutorial, course, or other speech  

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  • 戦前日本の電気通信技術にみる文化的多元性—電気通信工学とテレビジョン Invited

    河西棟馬

    日本科学史学会技術史分科会  2023.9 

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    Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (invited, special)  

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  • Research and Development in a "Late Developer" Invited

    Toma KAWANISHI

    2024.12 

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    Presentation type：Public lecture, seminar, tutorial, course, or other speech  

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Awards

  • Academic Award

    2025.6   Japan Society for the History of Industrial Technology   Research and Development in a “Late Developer": Telecommunications, Engineers, and Nationalism (University of Nagoya Press 2024)

    Toma KAWANISHI

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Research Projects

  • 戦中期における「科学技術」としての「大東亜通信網」形成過程の研究

    Grant number：25K16160  2025.4 - 2028.3

    日本学術振興会  科学研究費助成事業  若手研究

    河西 棟馬

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    Grant amount：\3120000 （ Direct Cost: \2400000 、 Indirect Cost：\720000 ）

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  • Research and Development in the Latecomer Nation: Telecommunications, Engineers, and Nationalism

    Grant number：24HP5110  2024

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Grant-in-Aid for Publication of Scientific Research Results (Publication of Research Results) 

    Toma KAWANISHI

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    Authorship：Principal investigator  Grant type：Competitive

    Grant amount：\2300000

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  • A comparative history of American and Japanese communication engineering in the pre-WWII period

    2021.1 - 2021.12

    THE JAPAN-UNITED STATES EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION  Fulbright Program 

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  • Formation and development of theoretical computer science in post-World War II Europe

    2017.4 - 2020.3

    Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  Research Fellowship for Young Scientists 

    Toma KAWANISHI

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    Authorship：Principal investigator  Grant type：Competitive

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Teaching Experience

  • introduction to contemporary culture studies (seminar I)

    2020.4 Institution：Kyoto University

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  • 現代社会と情報

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