Theresa Levitt

Cook Chair and Professor of History

• Faculty
• Instructor

• Email:

  tlevitt@olemiss.edu

• Office Location:

  328B Bishop

• Phone:

  662-915-3792

Dr. Theresa Levitt is a Professor of History in the Department of History at the University of Mississippi.

Research Interests

• History of science and technology 

• France in the revolutionary era 

• Visual and olfactory culture 

Biography

Dr. Levitt studied physics as an undergraduate at M.I.T., but was always interested in the bigger question of how scientific knowledge was constructed. She studied history at Iowa State University, and ultimately got a degree in the History of Science at Harvard. 

Publications

Books
Elixir: A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life (Harvard University Press and Basic Books, 2023) 

A Short Bright Flash:  Augustin Fresnel and the Invention of the Modern Lighthouse (W.W. Norton, 2013) 

The Shadow of Enlightenment:  Optical and Political Transparency in France, 1789 – 1848 (Oxford University Press, 2009) 

Courses Taught

• HST 102 History of Europe Since 1648
• HST 121 Intro to European History since 1648
• HST 340 Science in the Modern World
• Phad 478 History of Pharmacy

• Office, Department or Center

  Department of History

• School

  College of Liberal Arts

• Campuses

  Oxford