Imberman Lecture

Hosted annually by the Department of History, this lecture was made possible by a gift in memory of Eli Woodruff Imberman, AM65  PhD73 History.

2026: Joel Mokyr, 2025 Nobel Laureate and the Robert H. Strotz Professor of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University

In The Market for Ideas, Then and Now, Mokyr discussed how the emergence of a market for ideas — or the competition of ideas in free, transparent public discourse — has been crucial for the production of useful knowledge and the economic development of the western world. He also explored the history of the supply of ideas and the demand for ideas, from the emergence of the Republic of Letters in the fifteenth century, through the Industrial Revolution, and up to today.