Rate My Professor Michael Smith

Michael G. Smith is Professor of History at Purdue University, where he has taught since 1996. He received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 1991. Smith teaches courses including History of Russia to 1861, History of Russia from 1861, History of Aviation, and History of the Space Age. His research focuses on Russian history and aerospace history.

Smith is the author of several books, including The Spacefaring Earth: A History of the Space Age (Routledge, 2025), The Rocket Lab: Maurice Zucrow, Purdue University, and America’s Race to Space (Purdue University Press, 2023), Rockets and Revolution: A Cultural History of Early Spaceflight (University of Nebraska Press, 2014), and Language and Power in the Creation of the USSR, 1917-1953 (Mouton de Gruyter, 1998). He has published numerous articles and book chapters on topics such as the Russian Revolution, Soviet language policy, and the cultural history of spaceflight. Smith has served as editor of special journal issues and contributed to encyclopedias and other publications on Russian and Soviet history.