mistakes that were made along the way, and the victories that have led to our current knowledge of the field.

Understanding the history of a particular field also helps us to get the most use out of that field today. For example, if you are reading this answer on an iPad or smartphone, you are using the skills that you learned when you were working on a desktop computer.

Students and others who take a career path in a different direction from fields in the humanities often ask why the study of history is relevant to their chosen profession. The trend toward specialization over the past fifty years has produced highly technically competent graduates in the sciences. Studies and anecdotal data provided by employers suggest de-emphasizing the humanities harms critical thinking skills as a vital component of innovation. One place in higher education universities are making an effort to improve is in the area of providing a more rounded educational experience for all students. Here are some reasons why incorporating history into higher education curriculum is significant.

If you think of innovation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM education), nearly all innovation builds on the foundation of the previous work of others. Having a historical record of the pioneers in the field provides insight and direction for current studies. If you think of the scientific method, the record the scientist creates of their observation is a historical record. By studying the history, modern experiments can account for things in the environment, implicit bias, and other parts of the record that may have influenced the conclusion. Context is important when examining a person's work.

Thomas Edison, when asked by a reporter about the number of times it took him to develop a practical model of a light bulb, supposedly responded, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." If you have a choice, would you experiment ten thousand times or begin with the one that finally worked? Having a complete record of the work of several people working in the field helps to avoid wasting time. History is the source of the record.

Edison's point was that a failure when working through complicated processes is not necessarily bad. History encourages us, just like Edison, to persevere. Failure is not necessarily the end of the experiment but the beginning of new lines for inquiry. Seeing how others work through problems provides insight into possible solutions for our own.

History provides an ethical framework from which to pursue science. Understanding how the world operates from a scientific perspective is not inherently harmful. Not understanding the potential consequences is. History teaches us to think about what we create before introducing it to our environment. There are intended and unintended consequences to science.

Incorporating the study of history or any of the humanities is not a wasted effort any more than requiring humanities educators to include more STEM in their instruction. The world is complicated. We need not be experts in every field, and it doesn't hurt to have a general knowledge of several.