MIWAO MATSUMOTO is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Tokyo. His books include The Failure of the Science-Technology-Society Interface. He is currently exploring theoretical frameworks to analyse the path-dependent dynamics of the social decision-making process with particular reference to the diffusion of wind turbines and human genome research.

The technological revolution in shipbuilding in the early twentieth century had a great impact on the military, industrial, commercial worlds. Matsumoto focuses on the relationship between this revolution and the structure and function of 'technology gatekeepers' during the transfer of marine science and technology from Britain to Japan.