Path-breaking historian Pauline Maier dies at age 75
MIT professor’s work illuminated the richness and complexity of Revolutionary-era America and the origins of democracy in the U.S.

Peter Dizikes, MIT News Office

The eminent historian Pauline Maier, whose award-winning books cast new light on Revolutionary-era America and the foundations of U.S. democracy, died Aug. 12 in Cambridge, Mass., after a battle with lung cancer. She was 75.

Maier, who served as the William Kenan Jr. Professor of History at MIT, had been a member of the Institute’s faculty since 1978. Her work often recast conventional wisdom about 18th-century America, reconstructing long-forgotten public debates over the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution while bringing crucial figures in American political history into sharper focus. Read more.

Professor Maier contributed much to the MIT community and was a significant contributor to OpenCourseWare.  Our condolences to her family and friends.  Courses she contributed to OCW include: