Peder Anker

He is the author of From Bauhaus to Eco-House: A History of Ecological Design (Louisiana State University Press 2010), which explores the intersection of architecture and ecological science, and Imperial Ecology: Environmental Order in the British Empire, 1895-1945 (Harvard University Press, 2001), which investigates how the promising new science of ecology flourished in the British Empire. His upcoming book, The Power of The Periphery, will be released in 2020. This interdisciplinary piece explores the history of environmental sciences in Norway from the publishing of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring until the Rio Conference in 1992.

Peder Anker was born in Oslo, Norway. His mother, Bodil Borchsenius Anker, was a high-school teacher and researcher of pedagogy at the University of Oslo, while his father, Erik Anker, was a partner at the architectural office Anker & Hølaas. Peder attended the Rudolf Steiner-school and Persbraaten High School, both in Oslo. His older brother Espen Anker is a practicing psychiatrist while his younger sister Hedevig Anker is an artist. Peder has been married to Nina Edwards Anker since 2001. They have two children, Lukas and Theo.

Anker started his academic career at the University of Oslo, where he was a lecturer at the Department of Philosophy from 1993 to 1994. After receiving his Ph.D., he became a research fellow at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Oslo in 2000. He then taught at Harvard University, in the Department of History of Science from 2000 to 2001. During this time, he published his first book, Imperial Ecology: Environmental Order in the British Empire, 1895-1945. From here, he conducted Postdoctoral Research at the Center for Development and Environment at the University of Oslo until 2006. From 2006 to 2009, he continued at the University of Oslo where he was a research fellow for the Forum for the University History. Anker is currently an associate professor at The Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. While working at The Gallatin School of Individualized Study, he co-founded GLOBAL Design NYU, and is currently working as GDNYU Director along with Mitchell Joachim and Louise Harpman. While at New York University, he published From Bauhaus to Ecohouse: A History of Ecological Design and The Power of The Periphery. For his work in environmentalism, Anker was interviewed by Adam Curtis for a BBC TV Documentary, “How the ‘ecosystem’ myth has been used for sinister means." In 1995-1999, Anker participated in the Fulbright-Hays Fellowship Program, Bertram and Barbara Cohn Fellowship at Harvard University, and was a Dibner Institute Graduate Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Anker earned a B.A. in Environmental Philosophy in 1991 from the University of Oslo, a M.A. in Philosophy in 1993 from the University of Oslo, a M.A. in History of Science in 1998 from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in History of Science in 1999 from Harvard University.

Peder Anker (pronounced /PAY-dur anchor/; born May 27, 1966, in Oslo, Norway) is a historian of environmental sciences, specializing in the history of ecology and ecological architecture and design. Anker is currently an associate professor at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. Anker has received research fellowships from the Fulbright Program, the Dibner Institute and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, and been a visiting scholar at both Columbia University and University of Oslo.