Dr Shankar Nair, postdoctoral researcher
My work on the AHRC-funded Colonial Standards project uses scientific instrument collections here at the History of Science Museum, the UK more broadly, and India to understand the effect of colonial standardisation of measurements on local communities by using land measurement practices in South India in the 1800s as a case study.
The project seeks to trace a social and material history of measurement to the present day.
Research summary
Dr Shankar Nair, postdoctoral researcher
My research focuses on the social and economic history of science and technology and its relation to the history of empire in South Asia in the 1800s and 1900s. I am particularly interested in histories of agricultural and industrial production and the history of scientific and commercial standardisation in a transnational and comparative perspective.
CV
Shankar worked as a Lecturer in the History of Science and Technology at King’s College London (2024-25). During his time at King's he co-convened the Centre for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (CHoSTM).
He previously completed his PhD and MA in Modern History at King’s College London on a Hans Rausing scholarship, and an MSc. in Theoretical Physics from Uppsala University.
He became a Linda Hall Library Fellow in the History of Science and Technology in 2025.
