Emma Georgina Rothschild (born 16 May 1948) is an English

economic historian Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of ...

, a professor of history at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. She is director of the Joint Centre for History and Economics at Harvard, and an honorary Professor of History and Economics at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. She formerly served as board member of

United Nations Foundation The United Nations Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., that supports the United Nations and its activities. It was established in 1998 with a $1billion gift to the United Nations by philanthropist Ted Turn ...

and as a professor at the

École des hautes études en sciences sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (, EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The school awards Master and PhD degrees alone and conj ...

(EHESS) in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. She is a member of the

Rothschild banking family of England The Rothschild banking family of England is the British branch of the Rothschild family. It was founded in 1798 by Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836), who first settled in Manchester before moving to London, Kingdom of Great Britain (in pre ...

and a trustee of the Rothschild Archive, the international centre in London for research into the history of the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...

Early life and education

Rothschild was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, the daughter of Victor Rothschild (1910–1990) and his second wife, Teresa Georgina Rothschild (née Mayor; 1915–1996). On her father's side, she descends from the

. Her maternal grandfather, Robert John Grote Mayor, was the brother of English novelist F. M. Mayor and a great-nephew of philosopher and clergyman John Grote. Her maternal grandmother, Katherine Beatrice Meinertzhagen, was the sister of soldier

Richard Meinertzhagen Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, CBE, DSO (3 March 1878 – 17 June 1967) was a British soldier, intelligence officer, and ornithologist. He had a decorated military career spanning Africa and the Middle East. He was credited with creating an ...

and the niece of author

Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociology, sociologist, economist, feminism, feminist and reformism (historical), social reformer. She was among the founders of the Lo ...

. She is the sister of Amschel Mayor James Rothschild and the half-sister of Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild. At the age of 15, she became the youngest woman ever admitted to

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

, from which she graduated with a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1967. She was a

Kennedy Scholar Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the scho ...

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT).

Professorships

She was an associate professor at MIT in the Department of Humanities and the Program on Science, Technology, and Society and also taught at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. She then was a Fellow at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, and continues to be an honorary Professor of History and Economics at the Cambridge History faculty.

Academic achievements, awards and honours

She was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 2002. She is a fellow of

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

. She is an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford.

Personal life

In 1991, Rothschild married the Indian economist and

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...

Publications

She has written extensively on economic history and the history of economic thought. Some of her publications are: * ''Paradise Lost: The Decline of the Auto-Industrial Age'' (1973) * '' Common Security and Civil Society in Africa'' (1999) (Co-Editor) * ''Economic Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet and the Enlightenment'' (2001) * "Language and Empire, circa 1800" (Historical Research, 2005) * "A Horrible Tragedy in the French Atlantic" (''Past and Present'') (2006) * ''The Inner Life of Empires: An Eighteenth-Century History'' (2011) * ''An Infinite History. The Story of a Family in France over Three Centuries'' (2021)

References

External links

*
Curriculum Vitae, Emma Rothschild, Cambridge University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothschild, Emma Georgina 1948 births Living people English people of Jewish descent British economic historians English historians English economists British women economists Harvard University Department of History faculty Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Emma Georgina Daughters of barons Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of history Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford English women historians Members of the American Philosophical Society