Abbott Usher

Abbott Payson Usher (1883  – June 18, 1965) was an American economic historian. The Society of the History of Technology has awarded the Abbott Payson Usher Prize, named in his honor, annually since 1961.

In the late 1920s Usher, the American historian Lewis Mumford and the Swiss art historian Sigfried Giedion began to systematically investigate the social consequences of technology. In A History of Mechanical Inventions he argued that technological innovation was a slow, collective process with many contributors, not relying on the genius of great inventors.

In 1963 Usher was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Medal by the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT).

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