Research Projects by Volker Remmert
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Volker Remmert (BU Wuppertal) and Rebecca Waldecker (MLU Halle-Wittenberg)
Big Mathematics? The ... more Volker Remmert (BU Wuppertal) and Rebecca Waldecker (MLU Halle-Wittenberg)
Big Mathematics? The Classification of Finite Simple Groups, 1950s to 1980
The Classification of Finite Simple Groups (CFSG), also known as the enormous theorem, is a highlight of 20 th-century mathematics, both with respect to its mathematical content and to the complex process of proving the result. From a historical perspective, it offers an excellent opportunity to focus on more general developments in the history of 20 th-century mathematics,
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Call for papers, 2024
Mathematicians have long maintained a unique relationship to their past. The libraries of most ma... more Mathematicians have long maintained a unique relationship to their past. The libraries of most mathematical departments, unlike those of their counterparts in, say, physics or biology, continue to harbor copies of sources from ancient or early modern times; sources that still hold a place of honor as common sources of inspiration and learning. Examples of this abound: André Weil, for instance, famously recounted in his autobiography Souvenirs d’apprentissage (1991) how meditating on Fermat’s texts and methods led him to a deeper understanding of Diophantine equations and thus to one of the central insights of his dissertation. A century prior, the Danish geometer Hieronymous Zeuthen had also jointly pursued mathematical research and historical investigations, whilst expounding the virtues of the latter as a tool for developing mathematical understanding of a given topic in its own right–within students and scholars alike.
As recent scholarship has abundantly shown, mathematicians’ interest in their past has taken many forms, and has been directed towards different goals, far beyond that of a repository of inspiring examples. The historiography of mathematics, however, took new and distinct forms as the history of science grew into a distinct, professional discipline of its own, from the end of the 19th century onward. In some cases–for instance the Bourbaki group–detours via historical investigations were borne out of a desire to improve on the knowledge that mathematical research could impart. In most cases, however, the development of historical research programs was partially autonomous from mathematical considerations.
The disciplinarization of the history of mathematics was a multifaceted development, and our understanding of this process–as well as of its impact on the development of mathematics itself–can and should be improved. New historical endeavors were influenced by various disciplinary (beyond history itself, one thinks for instance of philosophy and sociology), political and methodological considerations. Building on recent historiography and two previous conferences held at the University of Wuppertal (2013: Historiography of mathematics in the 19th and 20th centuries, 2016: Before Montucla: Historiography of Science in the Early Modern Era), this conference will focus on the extraordinary variety of movements, schools and methods that developed during the long 20th century.
Themes of interest include–but are not restricted to–the use of historical arguments during mathematical controversies, debates surrounding the edition of collected works, the development of historical traditions during the interwar period and in the aftermath of WWII, the self-historicization of modern mathematical research, as well as the effect of 20th century archival or archaeological discoveries on classical historical narratives.
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Project with Thomas Heinze (Sociology, University of Wuppertal) funded by the German Reseach Foun... more Project with Thomas Heinze (Sociology, University of Wuppertal) funded by the German Reseach Foundation. Abstract.
The project focuses on the history of mathematics in Germany between 1920 and 1960, a period characterised by political crises (Weimar period: 1920-1933, Nazi period, 1933-1945, postwar period: 1945-1960), with special attention to internal developments as well as to institutional and human resources. The project aims at a detailed mapping of the field from a combined perspective of history of science and sociology of science geared towards a fine-grained analysis of a particular discipline within the German university system(s) between 1920 and 1960. It will be of considerable interest to mathematicians and historians of mathematics. However, it is at the same time reaching further being designed as a model project aiming at a detailed analysis of particular disciplines in the context of national and global research systems. The final result – besides several publications – will be an open access database.
The project will offer answers to the deeply intertwined questions of who has worked when on what subjects in collaboration with whom in specific research fields. This will allow to map specific disciplinary fields as well as the role of mathematics as a transdisciplinary resource. The project pursues specific case studies in the history of science/mathematics as, for instance, with respect to the history of war related research in mathematics in Germany in (and before) World War II and the history of re-internationalisation of German academia after 1945, both of which are not yet sufficiently understood. From a more general perspective the project allows for an in-depth analysis of disciplinary structures and their development by mapping processes of migration (people, research fields).
The co-operation between history of science and sociology of science as reflected by the intertwining of an archive-based prosopographic approach with bibliometric methods seems particularly fruitful. It will allow both to systematically charter the historical development of a specific discipline and to develop and test a research tool, that can be transferred to other disciplines and periods. In future research we intend to extend the time frame of the project to 1989/90 (methodologically adapted) as well as to analyse the discipline of economics with the set of tools designed and tested in the project. Moreover, the project is conceived as a pilot project: after its completion, we intend to extend it to other disciplines, for instances, to physics and chemistry in the sciences and, besides economics, to sociology in the social sciences and the humanities.
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The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics, 1944-1963: From „National Institute for Mathe... more The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics, 1944-1963: From „National Institute for Mathematics“ to an international „social infrastructure for research“, research project funded by the German Research Foundation
The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics (Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach/MFO) has been a member of the Leibniz Association since 2005 and is internationally highly renowned. Founded in late 1944 by the Freiburg mathematician Wilhelm Süss (1895-1958) as „Reichsinstitut für Mathematik“, in the 1950s and 1960s the MFO developed into an increasingly international conference centre. While the history of its foundation has been analysed the development after 1945 has scarcely been touched on by historians of mathematics/science.
The project aims at filling this gap, namely to analyse the history of the MFO as it institutionally changed from a projected National Institute for Mathematics with a wide, but standard range of responsibilities to an international social infrastructure for research. That was completely new in the framework of German academia. The project focusses on the evolvement of the institutional identity of the MFO between 1944 and the early 1960s, namely the development and importance of the MFO’s scientific programme (workshops, team work, Bourbaki) and the instruments of research employed (library, workshops) as well as the corresponding strategies to safeguard the MFO’s existence (for instance under the wings of the MGP). These topics are closely connected to the topic of the perception of mathematics in the public and political realms in the 1950s and 1960s.
The year 1963 marks the end of the project as in 1963 the MFO’s directorship was handed over from Theodor Schneider (1911-1988) to Martin Barner (* 1921, director 1963-1994). At this point the MFO was basically institutionally secured. In the methodological framework of the analysis of the development of a new and permanent institutional identity of the MFO three aspects will be key to the project, namely the analyses of the historical processes of (1) the development and shaping of the MFO’s workshop activities, (2) the (complex) institutional safeguarding of the MFO, and (3) the role the MFO played for the re-internationalisation of mathematics in Germany. Thus the project opens a window on topics of more general relevance in the history of science such as the complexity of science funding and the re-internationalisation of the sciences in the early years of the Federal Republic of Germany.
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The historical science studies gained their modern form during the long twentieth century. The ai... more The historical science studies gained their modern form during the long twentieth century. The aim of this workshop is to explore the history of this field of study. The term “modern historical science studies” should be understood as a heuristic concept, which indicates a difference from more traditional forms of history of science. The reason behind the choice of this concept is that modern historical science studies are characterized by an interdisciplinary approach to the historical objects of the sciences, whereas more traditional history of science was mainly written as an experience-based reflection by representatives of the respective scientific disciplines themselves. For example, only from the late nineteenth and especially the twentieth century, social science approaches have played an increasingly important role in the historical reflection on the sciences. The contributions to the workshop focus on practices, the circulation processes of concepts, and individual representatives of different approaches to the history of science. Hereby, also the humanities are considered. Furthermore, a purely ‘western’ focus is to be avoided, and the historical science studies in Eastern Europe is to be equally taken into account.
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Staatliche Forschungsfinanzierung in der Bundesrepublik nach 1945, Workshop, Wuppertal, [11./12. ... more Staatliche Forschungsfinanzierung in der Bundesrepublik nach 1945, Workshop, Wuppertal, [11./12. März, 2021]
Das Jahr 1945 bedeutete für die staatliche Forschungsfinanzierung in Deutschland einen tiefen Einschnitt. Zentralstaatlich finanzierte Forschungseinrichtungen, wie Reichsinstitute und die Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft, verloren den Mittelfluss aus Berlin ebenso wie zentrale Institutionen der Forschungsförderung, z.B. die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Forschungs¬förderung wurde daher zunächst in erster Linie Ländersache. Ab 1949 begann in Westdeutschland der Bund dann zunehmend forschungspolitische Initiativen zu entwickeln, über die Ansiedelung von Forschungsförderung im Atomministerium (Ressortforschung) bis hin zur Gründung eines entsprechenden Ministeriums für wissenschaftliche Forschung 1962. In diese Phase fällt auch der Beginn einer beispiellosen Expansion des Hochschulwesens in den 1960er und 1970er Jahren sowie die Gründung zweier solventer forschungsfördernder Institutionen, der Thyssen-Stiftung (1959) und der Volkswagen-Stiftung (1961).
Jenseits eines solch groben Rasters sind die Rahmenbedingungen staatlicher Forschungsfinanzierung in der Bundesrepublik nach 1945 aus wissenschaftshistorischer und wissenschaftssoziologischer Perspektive noch unzureichend erforscht. Der Workshop Geschichte der staatlichen Forschungsfinanzierung in der Bundesrepublik nach 1945 zielt einerseits auf eine überblicksartige Bestandsaufnahme des Bekannten und andererseits auf die Identifizierung von künftigen Forschungsfeldern in diesem Bereich.
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Manipulating the Sun: Picturing Astronomical Miracles from the Bible in the Early Modern Era
Wo... more Manipulating the Sun: Picturing Astronomical Miracles from the Bible in the Early Modern Era
Workshop at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany, August 21-23, 2019
The workshop is being organized by the research project Iconography of the Imagery on Early Modern Scientific Instruments (funded by the German Research Foundation, DFG). One of the aspects being analysed in the project is biblical imagery that could be related to astronomy. Of particular interest is imagery that was used to argue against the Copernican system from the mid-16th century such as the miracles of the Sun reversing its course in II Kings 20:8-11/Isaiah 38:8 (Horologium Ahas) and the Sun standing still in Joshua 10:12.
The workshops aims at discussing these two passages – e.g. the development of the imagery (for instance in Bible illustrations, religious art, etc.), their genesis as anti-Copernican arguments (in text and image), their reception, their various cultural layers, etc. – in a workshop in Wuppertal/Germany from a broad perspective with a certain focus, however, on the history of art and the history of science in the 16th and 17th centuries.
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Iconography on early modern scientific instruments, research project funded by the German Researc... more Iconography on early modern scientific instruments, research project funded by the German Research Foundation
During the Scientific Revolution scientific instruments, such as astrolabes, air pumps, microscopes and telescopes became increasingly important for the study of nature. In the early modern period they had not yet reached the status of standardized and impersonal means to study nature. Rather they usually were unique items, which by their function as well as their design could serve the mediation between scholars, social elites and beyond. In this context the iconography on the instruments played a crucial role. In fact a great number of early modern instruments are adorned with images, that in themselves have no relevance for the use of the instruments, as for instance the depiction of Atlas and Hercules on an astrolabe by Praetorius (1568, Dresden) or the line of tradition in astronomy and geometry on Bürgi’s astronomical clock (1591, Kassel) stretching from the church fathers to Copernicus. As of now such imagery on instruments and its contexts have only sporadically been analysed.
The project Iconography on early modern scientific instruments specifically analyses the imagery on the instruments. It aims for the first time at a systematic analysis of the multifaceted visual material on the instruments asking for its role in the various contexts of the adorned instruments (genesis, function, use) and its importance for setting up or supporting stories/histories of success and relevance within the emerging field of the sciences. The iconography points to quite a few significant topics as, for instance, statements of specific positions in theoretical debates (e.g. Copernican question), mediation and illustration of knowledge, in particular by picturing the usability of the instruments, or the role of instruments as patronage artefacts with specific iconographic programmes.
The analysis of the imagery is likewise highly relevant in order to understand the intellectual, cultural and artistic contexts shaping and determining the production of instruments in the early modern period. It opens a window on the investigation of collaborative processes during the conception, design and construction of instruments in the multi-layered field between instrument makers, artists, artisans, patrons and scholars.
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Special issues in journals by Volker Remmert
Special issue of "Histories" (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/histories/special_issues/histories_of_science)), 2024
In this Special Issue, (New) Histories of Science, in and beyond Modern Europe, we do not attempt... more In this Special Issue, (New) Histories of Science, in and beyond Modern Europe, we do not attempt to provide an all-encompassing overview of all research areas, methodological and theoretical approaches, and narratives that constitute the histories of the various sciences. Instead, we present contributions on a broad spectrum of current research topics and (new) approaches, highlighting their ramifications and illustrating their ties to neighboring disciplines and (interdisciplinary) areas of research, e.g., philosophy of science, science and technology studies, gender studies, or intellectual history. Moreover, the contributions exemplify how histories of science can be written in ways that not only move across but also challenge temporal and spatial categories and categorizations, including hegemonic understandings of “modernity”, Eurocentric views of the development of science and the humanities, or certain notions of center-periphery. They deal with histories of specific disciplines, specific research objects and phenomena, and with specific practices, while they also explore the historicity of certain ideals of scientificity (in the sense of the German Wissenschaftlichkeit). Furthermore, some papers are dedicated to selected methods and perspectives of current approaches in the histories of science. Among them is a focus on practices, including the everyday actions involved in engaging in science, but also on the specific spaces and places of knowledge production, as well as on the media of knowledge transfer and communication.
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Special issue of "Nuncius. Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science" 30(2015), 1-194... more Special issue of "Nuncius. Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science" 30(2015), 1-194, edited by Arianna Borrelli, Michael Korey and Volker R. Remmert
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Books by Volker Remmert
A Cultural History of Mathematics in the Early Modern Age, 2024
ToC
Introduction, Jeanne Peiffer and Volker Remmert
1. Everyday Numeracy, Maryvonne Spiesser
2... more ToC
Introduction, Jeanne Peiffer and Volker Remmert
1. Everyday Numeracy, Maryvonne Spiesser
2. Practice and Profession, James Bennett
3. Inventing Mathematics, Sébastien Maronne
4. Mathematics and Worldviews, David Rabouin
5. Describing and Understanding the World, Antoni Malet
6. Mathematics and Technological Change, Thomas Morel
7. Representing Mathematics, Robert Goulding and Volker Remmert
Notes
Bibliography
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Nuncius Series. Studies in the Material and Visual History of Science 13, 2024
This volume puts two biblical miracles - the Sun reversing its course in II
Kings 20:8-11/Isaiah... more This volume puts two biblical miracles - the Sun reversing its course in II
Kings 20:8-11/Isaiah 38:8 (Horologium Ahaz) and the Sun standing still in
Joshua 10:12 -, in the early modern period centre stage. We pay special
attention to the development of related imagery, their role as anti-
Copernican arguments (in text and image), their reception, their treatment in the mathematical sciences, and their various cultural layers, with a focus on the history of art and the history of science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The material discussed spreads from rather prosaic mathematical reflections to highly appealing visual representations of the two miracles.
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Review: Isis 108(2017), S. 897f (F. Baldassarri)
Abstract: This volume focuses on the outstand... more Review: Isis 108(2017), S. 897f (F. Baldassarri)
Abstract: This volume focuses on the outstanding contributions made by botany and the mathematical sciences to the genesis and development of early modern garden art and garden culture. The many facets of the mathematical sciences and botany point to the increasingly “scientific” approach that was being adopted in and applied to garden art and garden culture in the early modern period. This development was deeply embedded in philosophical, religious, political and social contexts, running parallel to the beginning of processes of scientization so characteristic of modern European history. This volume strikingly shows how these various developments are intertwined in gardens for various purposes.
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Reviews: History of Humanties 2(2017), 522-525 (I. Smadja), British Journal for the History of Sc... more Reviews: History of Humanties 2(2017), 522-525 (I. Smadja), British Journal for the History of Science 51(2018), S. 165-167 (M. Sialaros), ISIS 109(2018), 370-372 (T. Archibald).
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Reviews: British Journal for the History of Science 45(2012), S. 288–290 (N. Kaoukji); Emblematic... more Reviews: British Journal for the History of Science 45(2012), S. 288–290 (N. Kaoukji); Emblematica. An Interdisciplinary Journal for Emblem Studies 19(2012), S. 327-333 (J. Sawday); Catholic Historical Review 98(2012), S. 573f (K. Howell); Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 74(2012), S. 200-202 (S. Taussig); Print Quarterly 29(2012), S. 454-458 (E. Reeves); Historians of Netherlandish Art Review of Books 2012 (E. Jorink).
Reviews of the German edition: The Library 7(2006), S. 473f (J. L. Flood); Journal for the History of Astronomy 37(2006), S. 471ff (N. Jardine); American Historical Review 112(2007), S. 265f (G. Scholz Williams); Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 120(2007), S. 252f (A. de Bruycker); Sehepunkte. Rezensionsjournal für die Ge¬schichtswissenschaften 7(2007), Nr. 9 (M. Bronscheuer); History of Universities 22(2007), S. 258-261 (A. de Bruycker); NTM. Internationale Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Ethik der Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin, N.S. 15(2007), S. 303f (A. Kleinert); Zeitschrift für historische Forschung 34(2007), S. 705-707 (A. Brendecke); Renaissance Quarterly 60(2007), S. 1416f (A. Mosley); Nuncius. Journal of the History of Science 22(2)(2007), S. 384f (H. Bredekamp); Morgen-Glantz. Zeitschrift der Christian Knorr von Rosenroth-Gesellschaft 18(2008), S. 228ff (J. J. Berns); Fachsprache. Internationale Zeitschrift für Fachsprachenforschung 30(2008), S. 200-202 (J. Engberg/P. Kastberg); Isis 99(2008), S. 844-846 (S. de Angelis); Zeitschrift für Ger¬ma¬nistik 19(2009), S. 483f (M. Neumann).
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Reviews: NTM. Internationale Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Ethik der Naturwissenschaften, Techni... more Reviews: NTM. Internationale Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Ethik der Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin, N.S. 19(2011), S. 226-228 (R. Tobies); Sehepunkte. Rezensionsjournal für die Geschichtswissenschaften 11(2011), Nr. 9 (V. Cirkel-Bartelt); IASLonline (http://www.iaslonline.de/index.php?vorgang_id=3493) (K.-H. Scholte); Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 34(2011), S. 385–387 (V. Peckhaus).
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Review: Journal for the History of Astronomy 47(2016), S. 424f (F. Barreca)
Die Figur Galileo ... more Review: Journal for the History of Astronomy 47(2016), S. 424f (F. Barreca)
Die Figur Galileo Galilei ist fur die europaische Wissenschaftsgeschichte, fur die Kulturwissenschaften und fur eine wissensgeschichtlich orientierte Literatur- und Kunstwissenschaft von grosem Interesse. In diesem Band werden die Uberschneidungen, Wechselwirkungen und Transferprozesse zwischen den wissenschaftlichen und kulturellen Dimensionen untersucht, die fur Galileis Profilierung als fruhneuzeitlicher Wissenschaftler ebenso wichtig sind wie fur die im weiteren Sinn kulturelle Wahrnehmung seiner Entdeckungen und seiner Schriften – vor allem in Literatur und Kunst. Der Band ist interdisziplinar konzipiert, um die fachlichen Einzelperspektiven von Literatur-, Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaftlern sowie Wissenschaftshistorikern zusammenzufuhren. Analysiert werden Formen und Funktionen der Produktion, Konzeptualisierung und Reprasentation von Wissen sowie Aspekte der Diskussion und Diffusion von Galileis Wissensanspruchen im Kontext der Fruhen Neuzeit. Mit dieser Fokussierung auf die im Schnittbereich verschiedener kultureller Formationen angesiedelte Etablierung Galileis liefert der Band somit einen Beitrag zur interdisziplinaren Erforschung von Galileis Rolle und Rezeption in der europaischen Kultur- und Wissensgeschichte des 17. Jahrhunderts.
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Reviews: Informationsmittel. Digitales Rezensionsorgan für Bibliothek und Wissenschaft 2011 (M. D... more Reviews: Informationsmittel. Digitales Rezensionsorgan für Bibliothek und Wissenschaft 2011 (M. D. Krüger); Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung 38(2011), S. 449f (M. Friedrich); Renaissance Quarterly 65(2012), S. 214f (A. C. Fleming); AETAS. Journal of History and Related Disciplines 27(2012), S. 256-262 (B. Ugry); Revue de l’Institut français d’histoire en Allemagne 5(2013) (M. Deschamp)
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Research Projects by Volker Remmert
Big Mathematics? The Classification of Finite Simple Groups, 1950s to 1980
The Classification of Finite Simple Groups (CFSG), also known as the enormous theorem, is a highlight of 20 th-century mathematics, both with respect to its mathematical content and to the complex process of proving the result. From a historical perspective, it offers an excellent opportunity to focus on more general developments in the history of 20 th-century mathematics,
As recent scholarship has abundantly shown, mathematicians’ interest in their past has taken many forms, and has been directed towards different goals, far beyond that of a repository of inspiring examples. The historiography of mathematics, however, took new and distinct forms as the history of science grew into a distinct, professional discipline of its own, from the end of the 19th century onward. In some cases–for instance the Bourbaki group–detours via historical investigations were borne out of a desire to improve on the knowledge that mathematical research could impart. In most cases, however, the development of historical research programs was partially autonomous from mathematical considerations.
The disciplinarization of the history of mathematics was a multifaceted development, and our understanding of this process–as well as of its impact on the development of mathematics itself–can and should be improved. New historical endeavors were influenced by various disciplinary (beyond history itself, one thinks for instance of philosophy and sociology), political and methodological considerations. Building on recent historiography and two previous conferences held at the University of Wuppertal (2013: Historiography of mathematics in the 19th and 20th centuries, 2016: Before Montucla: Historiography of Science in the Early Modern Era), this conference will focus on the extraordinary variety of movements, schools and methods that developed during the long 20th century.
Themes of interest include–but are not restricted to–the use of historical arguments during mathematical controversies, debates surrounding the edition of collected works, the development of historical traditions during the interwar period and in the aftermath of WWII, the self-historicization of modern mathematical research, as well as the effect of 20th century archival or archaeological discoveries on classical historical narratives.
The project focuses on the history of mathematics in Germany between 1920 and 1960, a period characterised by political crises (Weimar period: 1920-1933, Nazi period, 1933-1945, postwar period: 1945-1960), with special attention to internal developments as well as to institutional and human resources. The project aims at a detailed mapping of the field from a combined perspective of history of science and sociology of science geared towards a fine-grained analysis of a particular discipline within the German university system(s) between 1920 and 1960. It will be of considerable interest to mathematicians and historians of mathematics. However, it is at the same time reaching further being designed as a model project aiming at a detailed analysis of particular disciplines in the context of national and global research systems. The final result – besides several publications – will be an open access database.
The project will offer answers to the deeply intertwined questions of who has worked when on what subjects in collaboration with whom in specific research fields. This will allow to map specific disciplinary fields as well as the role of mathematics as a transdisciplinary resource. The project pursues specific case studies in the history of science/mathematics as, for instance, with respect to the history of war related research in mathematics in Germany in (and before) World War II and the history of re-internationalisation of German academia after 1945, both of which are not yet sufficiently understood. From a more general perspective the project allows for an in-depth analysis of disciplinary structures and their development by mapping processes of migration (people, research fields).
The co-operation between history of science and sociology of science as reflected by the intertwining of an archive-based prosopographic approach with bibliometric methods seems particularly fruitful. It will allow both to systematically charter the historical development of a specific discipline and to develop and test a research tool, that can be transferred to other disciplines and periods. In future research we intend to extend the time frame of the project to 1989/90 (methodologically adapted) as well as to analyse the discipline of economics with the set of tools designed and tested in the project. Moreover, the project is conceived as a pilot project: after its completion, we intend to extend it to other disciplines, for instances, to physics and chemistry in the sciences and, besides economics, to sociology in the social sciences and the humanities.
The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics (Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach/MFO) has been a member of the Leibniz Association since 2005 and is internationally highly renowned. Founded in late 1944 by the Freiburg mathematician Wilhelm Süss (1895-1958) as „Reichsinstitut für Mathematik“, in the 1950s and 1960s the MFO developed into an increasingly international conference centre. While the history of its foundation has been analysed the development after 1945 has scarcely been touched on by historians of mathematics/science.
The project aims at filling this gap, namely to analyse the history of the MFO as it institutionally changed from a projected National Institute for Mathematics with a wide, but standard range of responsibilities to an international social infrastructure for research. That was completely new in the framework of German academia. The project focusses on the evolvement of the institutional identity of the MFO between 1944 and the early 1960s, namely the development and importance of the MFO’s scientific programme (workshops, team work, Bourbaki) and the instruments of research employed (library, workshops) as well as the corresponding strategies to safeguard the MFO’s existence (for instance under the wings of the MGP). These topics are closely connected to the topic of the perception of mathematics in the public and political realms in the 1950s and 1960s.
The year 1963 marks the end of the project as in 1963 the MFO’s directorship was handed over from Theodor Schneider (1911-1988) to Martin Barner (* 1921, director 1963-1994). At this point the MFO was basically institutionally secured. In the methodological framework of the analysis of the development of a new and permanent institutional identity of the MFO three aspects will be key to the project, namely the analyses of the historical processes of (1) the development and shaping of the MFO’s workshop activities, (2) the (complex) institutional safeguarding of the MFO, and (3) the role the MFO played for the re-internationalisation of mathematics in Germany. Thus the project opens a window on topics of more general relevance in the history of science such as the complexity of science funding and the re-internationalisation of the sciences in the early years of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Das Jahr 1945 bedeutete für die staatliche Forschungsfinanzierung in Deutschland einen tiefen Einschnitt. Zentralstaatlich finanzierte Forschungseinrichtungen, wie Reichsinstitute und die Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft, verloren den Mittelfluss aus Berlin ebenso wie zentrale Institutionen der Forschungsförderung, z.B. die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Forschungs¬förderung wurde daher zunächst in erster Linie Ländersache. Ab 1949 begann in Westdeutschland der Bund dann zunehmend forschungspolitische Initiativen zu entwickeln, über die Ansiedelung von Forschungsförderung im Atomministerium (Ressortforschung) bis hin zur Gründung eines entsprechenden Ministeriums für wissenschaftliche Forschung 1962. In diese Phase fällt auch der Beginn einer beispiellosen Expansion des Hochschulwesens in den 1960er und 1970er Jahren sowie die Gründung zweier solventer forschungsfördernder Institutionen, der Thyssen-Stiftung (1959) und der Volkswagen-Stiftung (1961).
Jenseits eines solch groben Rasters sind die Rahmenbedingungen staatlicher Forschungsfinanzierung in der Bundesrepublik nach 1945 aus wissenschaftshistorischer und wissenschaftssoziologischer Perspektive noch unzureichend erforscht. Der Workshop Geschichte der staatlichen Forschungsfinanzierung in der Bundesrepublik nach 1945 zielt einerseits auf eine überblicksartige Bestandsaufnahme des Bekannten und andererseits auf die Identifizierung von künftigen Forschungsfeldern in diesem Bereich.
Workshop at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany, August 21-23, 2019
The workshop is being organized by the research project Iconography of the Imagery on Early Modern Scientific Instruments (funded by the German Research Foundation, DFG). One of the aspects being analysed in the project is biblical imagery that could be related to astronomy. Of particular interest is imagery that was used to argue against the Copernican system from the mid-16th century such as the miracles of the Sun reversing its course in II Kings 20:8-11/Isaiah 38:8 (Horologium Ahas) and the Sun standing still in Joshua 10:12.
The workshops aims at discussing these two passages – e.g. the development of the imagery (for instance in Bible illustrations, religious art, etc.), their genesis as anti-Copernican arguments (in text and image), their reception, their various cultural layers, etc. – in a workshop in Wuppertal/Germany from a broad perspective with a certain focus, however, on the history of art and the history of science in the 16th and 17th centuries.
During the Scientific Revolution scientific instruments, such as astrolabes, air pumps, microscopes and telescopes became increasingly important for the study of nature. In the early modern period they had not yet reached the status of standardized and impersonal means to study nature. Rather they usually were unique items, which by their function as well as their design could serve the mediation between scholars, social elites and beyond. In this context the iconography on the instruments played a crucial role. In fact a great number of early modern instruments are adorned with images, that in themselves have no relevance for the use of the instruments, as for instance the depiction of Atlas and Hercules on an astrolabe by Praetorius (1568, Dresden) or the line of tradition in astronomy and geometry on Bürgi’s astronomical clock (1591, Kassel) stretching from the church fathers to Copernicus. As of now such imagery on instruments and its contexts have only sporadically been analysed.
The project Iconography on early modern scientific instruments specifically analyses the imagery on the instruments. It aims for the first time at a systematic analysis of the multifaceted visual material on the instruments asking for its role in the various contexts of the adorned instruments (genesis, function, use) and its importance for setting up or supporting stories/histories of success and relevance within the emerging field of the sciences. The iconography points to quite a few significant topics as, for instance, statements of specific positions in theoretical debates (e.g. Copernican question), mediation and illustration of knowledge, in particular by picturing the usability of the instruments, or the role of instruments as patronage artefacts with specific iconographic programmes.
The analysis of the imagery is likewise highly relevant in order to understand the intellectual, cultural and artistic contexts shaping and determining the production of instruments in the early modern period. It opens a window on the investigation of collaborative processes during the conception, design and construction of instruments in the multi-layered field between instrument makers, artists, artisans, patrons and scholars.
Special issues in journals by Volker Remmert
Books by Volker Remmert
Introduction, Jeanne Peiffer and Volker Remmert
1. Everyday Numeracy, Maryvonne Spiesser
2. Practice and Profession, James Bennett
3. Inventing Mathematics, Sébastien Maronne
4. Mathematics and Worldviews, David Rabouin
5. Describing and Understanding the World, Antoni Malet
6. Mathematics and Technological Change, Thomas Morel
7. Representing Mathematics, Robert Goulding and Volker Remmert
Notes
Bibliography
Kings 20:8-11/Isaiah 38:8 (Horologium Ahaz) and the Sun standing still in
Joshua 10:12 -, in the early modern period centre stage. We pay special
attention to the development of related imagery, their role as anti-
Copernican arguments (in text and image), their reception, their treatment in the mathematical sciences, and their various cultural layers, with a focus on the history of art and the history of science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The material discussed spreads from rather prosaic mathematical reflections to highly appealing visual representations of the two miracles.
Abstract: This volume focuses on the outstanding contributions made by botany and the mathematical sciences to the genesis and development of early modern garden art and garden culture. The many facets of the mathematical sciences and botany point to the increasingly “scientific” approach that was being adopted in and applied to garden art and garden culture in the early modern period. This development was deeply embedded in philosophical, religious, political and social contexts, running parallel to the beginning of processes of scientization so characteristic of modern European history. This volume strikingly shows how these various developments are intertwined in gardens for various purposes.
Reviews of the German edition: The Library 7(2006), S. 473f (J. L. Flood); Journal for the History of Astronomy 37(2006), S. 471ff (N. Jardine); American Historical Review 112(2007), S. 265f (G. Scholz Williams); Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 120(2007), S. 252f (A. de Bruycker); Sehepunkte. Rezensionsjournal für die Ge¬schichtswissenschaften 7(2007), Nr. 9 (M. Bronscheuer); History of Universities 22(2007), S. 258-261 (A. de Bruycker); NTM. Internationale Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Ethik der Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin, N.S. 15(2007), S. 303f (A. Kleinert); Zeitschrift für historische Forschung 34(2007), S. 705-707 (A. Brendecke); Renaissance Quarterly 60(2007), S. 1416f (A. Mosley); Nuncius. Journal of the History of Science 22(2)(2007), S. 384f (H. Bredekamp); Morgen-Glantz. Zeitschrift der Christian Knorr von Rosenroth-Gesellschaft 18(2008), S. 228ff (J. J. Berns); Fachsprache. Internationale Zeitschrift für Fachsprachenforschung 30(2008), S. 200-202 (J. Engberg/P. Kastberg); Isis 99(2008), S. 844-846 (S. de Angelis); Zeitschrift für Ger¬ma¬nistik 19(2009), S. 483f (M. Neumann).
Die Figur Galileo Galilei ist fur die europaische Wissenschaftsgeschichte, fur die Kulturwissenschaften und fur eine wissensgeschichtlich orientierte Literatur- und Kunstwissenschaft von grosem Interesse. In diesem Band werden die Uberschneidungen, Wechselwirkungen und Transferprozesse zwischen den wissenschaftlichen und kulturellen Dimensionen untersucht, die fur Galileis Profilierung als fruhneuzeitlicher Wissenschaftler ebenso wichtig sind wie fur die im weiteren Sinn kulturelle Wahrnehmung seiner Entdeckungen und seiner Schriften – vor allem in Literatur und Kunst. Der Band ist interdisziplinar konzipiert, um die fachlichen Einzelperspektiven von Literatur-, Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaftlern sowie Wissenschaftshistorikern zusammenzufuhren. Analysiert werden Formen und Funktionen der Produktion, Konzeptualisierung und Reprasentation von Wissen sowie Aspekte der Diskussion und Diffusion von Galileis Wissensanspruchen im Kontext der Fruhen Neuzeit. Mit dieser Fokussierung auf die im Schnittbereich verschiedener kultureller Formationen angesiedelte Etablierung Galileis liefert der Band somit einen Beitrag zur interdisziplinaren Erforschung von Galileis Rolle und Rezeption in der europaischen Kultur- und Wissensgeschichte des 17. Jahrhunderts.
Big Mathematics? The Classification of Finite Simple Groups, 1950s to 1980
The Classification of Finite Simple Groups (CFSG), also known as the enormous theorem, is a highlight of 20 th-century mathematics, both with respect to its mathematical content and to the complex process of proving the result. From a historical perspective, it offers an excellent opportunity to focus on more general developments in the history of 20 th-century mathematics,
As recent scholarship has abundantly shown, mathematicians’ interest in their past has taken many forms, and has been directed towards different goals, far beyond that of a repository of inspiring examples. The historiography of mathematics, however, took new and distinct forms as the history of science grew into a distinct, professional discipline of its own, from the end of the 19th century onward. In some cases–for instance the Bourbaki group–detours via historical investigations were borne out of a desire to improve on the knowledge that mathematical research could impart. In most cases, however, the development of historical research programs was partially autonomous from mathematical considerations.
The disciplinarization of the history of mathematics was a multifaceted development, and our understanding of this process–as well as of its impact on the development of mathematics itself–can and should be improved. New historical endeavors were influenced by various disciplinary (beyond history itself, one thinks for instance of philosophy and sociology), political and methodological considerations. Building on recent historiography and two previous conferences held at the University of Wuppertal (2013: Historiography of mathematics in the 19th and 20th centuries, 2016: Before Montucla: Historiography of Science in the Early Modern Era), this conference will focus on the extraordinary variety of movements, schools and methods that developed during the long 20th century.
Themes of interest include–but are not restricted to–the use of historical arguments during mathematical controversies, debates surrounding the edition of collected works, the development of historical traditions during the interwar period and in the aftermath of WWII, the self-historicization of modern mathematical research, as well as the effect of 20th century archival or archaeological discoveries on classical historical narratives.
The project focuses on the history of mathematics in Germany between 1920 and 1960, a period characterised by political crises (Weimar period: 1920-1933, Nazi period, 1933-1945, postwar period: 1945-1960), with special attention to internal developments as well as to institutional and human resources. The project aims at a detailed mapping of the field from a combined perspective of history of science and sociology of science geared towards a fine-grained analysis of a particular discipline within the German university system(s) between 1920 and 1960. It will be of considerable interest to mathematicians and historians of mathematics. However, it is at the same time reaching further being designed as a model project aiming at a detailed analysis of particular disciplines in the context of national and global research systems. The final result – besides several publications – will be an open access database.
The project will offer answers to the deeply intertwined questions of who has worked when on what subjects in collaboration with whom in specific research fields. This will allow to map specific disciplinary fields as well as the role of mathematics as a transdisciplinary resource. The project pursues specific case studies in the history of science/mathematics as, for instance, with respect to the history of war related research in mathematics in Germany in (and before) World War II and the history of re-internationalisation of German academia after 1945, both of which are not yet sufficiently understood. From a more general perspective the project allows for an in-depth analysis of disciplinary structures and their development by mapping processes of migration (people, research fields).
The co-operation between history of science and sociology of science as reflected by the intertwining of an archive-based prosopographic approach with bibliometric methods seems particularly fruitful. It will allow both to systematically charter the historical development of a specific discipline and to develop and test a research tool, that can be transferred to other disciplines and periods. In future research we intend to extend the time frame of the project to 1989/90 (methodologically adapted) as well as to analyse the discipline of economics with the set of tools designed and tested in the project. Moreover, the project is conceived as a pilot project: after its completion, we intend to extend it to other disciplines, for instances, to physics and chemistry in the sciences and, besides economics, to sociology in the social sciences and the humanities.
The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics (Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach/MFO) has been a member of the Leibniz Association since 2005 and is internationally highly renowned. Founded in late 1944 by the Freiburg mathematician Wilhelm Süss (1895-1958) as „Reichsinstitut für Mathematik“, in the 1950s and 1960s the MFO developed into an increasingly international conference centre. While the history of its foundation has been analysed the development after 1945 has scarcely been touched on by historians of mathematics/science.
The project aims at filling this gap, namely to analyse the history of the MFO as it institutionally changed from a projected National Institute for Mathematics with a wide, but standard range of responsibilities to an international social infrastructure for research. That was completely new in the framework of German academia. The project focusses on the evolvement of the institutional identity of the MFO between 1944 and the early 1960s, namely the development and importance of the MFO’s scientific programme (workshops, team work, Bourbaki) and the instruments of research employed (library, workshops) as well as the corresponding strategies to safeguard the MFO’s existence (for instance under the wings of the MGP). These topics are closely connected to the topic of the perception of mathematics in the public and political realms in the 1950s and 1960s.
The year 1963 marks the end of the project as in 1963 the MFO’s directorship was handed over from Theodor Schneider (1911-1988) to Martin Barner (* 1921, director 1963-1994). At this point the MFO was basically institutionally secured. In the methodological framework of the analysis of the development of a new and permanent institutional identity of the MFO three aspects will be key to the project, namely the analyses of the historical processes of (1) the development and shaping of the MFO’s workshop activities, (2) the (complex) institutional safeguarding of the MFO, and (3) the role the MFO played for the re-internationalisation of mathematics in Germany. Thus the project opens a window on topics of more general relevance in the history of science such as the complexity of science funding and the re-internationalisation of the sciences in the early years of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Das Jahr 1945 bedeutete für die staatliche Forschungsfinanzierung in Deutschland einen tiefen Einschnitt. Zentralstaatlich finanzierte Forschungseinrichtungen, wie Reichsinstitute und die Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft, verloren den Mittelfluss aus Berlin ebenso wie zentrale Institutionen der Forschungsförderung, z.B. die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Forschungs¬förderung wurde daher zunächst in erster Linie Ländersache. Ab 1949 begann in Westdeutschland der Bund dann zunehmend forschungspolitische Initiativen zu entwickeln, über die Ansiedelung von Forschungsförderung im Atomministerium (Ressortforschung) bis hin zur Gründung eines entsprechenden Ministeriums für wissenschaftliche Forschung 1962. In diese Phase fällt auch der Beginn einer beispiellosen Expansion des Hochschulwesens in den 1960er und 1970er Jahren sowie die Gründung zweier solventer forschungsfördernder Institutionen, der Thyssen-Stiftung (1959) und der Volkswagen-Stiftung (1961).
Jenseits eines solch groben Rasters sind die Rahmenbedingungen staatlicher Forschungsfinanzierung in der Bundesrepublik nach 1945 aus wissenschaftshistorischer und wissenschaftssoziologischer Perspektive noch unzureichend erforscht. Der Workshop Geschichte der staatlichen Forschungsfinanzierung in der Bundesrepublik nach 1945 zielt einerseits auf eine überblicksartige Bestandsaufnahme des Bekannten und andererseits auf die Identifizierung von künftigen Forschungsfeldern in diesem Bereich.
Workshop at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany, August 21-23, 2019
The workshop is being organized by the research project Iconography of the Imagery on Early Modern Scientific Instruments (funded by the German Research Foundation, DFG). One of the aspects being analysed in the project is biblical imagery that could be related to astronomy. Of particular interest is imagery that was used to argue against the Copernican system from the mid-16th century such as the miracles of the Sun reversing its course in II Kings 20:8-11/Isaiah 38:8 (Horologium Ahas) and the Sun standing still in Joshua 10:12.
The workshops aims at discussing these two passages – e.g. the development of the imagery (for instance in Bible illustrations, religious art, etc.), their genesis as anti-Copernican arguments (in text and image), their reception, their various cultural layers, etc. – in a workshop in Wuppertal/Germany from a broad perspective with a certain focus, however, on the history of art and the history of science in the 16th and 17th centuries.
During the Scientific Revolution scientific instruments, such as astrolabes, air pumps, microscopes and telescopes became increasingly important for the study of nature. In the early modern period they had not yet reached the status of standardized and impersonal means to study nature. Rather they usually were unique items, which by their function as well as their design could serve the mediation between scholars, social elites and beyond. In this context the iconography on the instruments played a crucial role. In fact a great number of early modern instruments are adorned with images, that in themselves have no relevance for the use of the instruments, as for instance the depiction of Atlas and Hercules on an astrolabe by Praetorius (1568, Dresden) or the line of tradition in astronomy and geometry on Bürgi’s astronomical clock (1591, Kassel) stretching from the church fathers to Copernicus. As of now such imagery on instruments and its contexts have only sporadically been analysed.
The project Iconography on early modern scientific instruments specifically analyses the imagery on the instruments. It aims for the first time at a systematic analysis of the multifaceted visual material on the instruments asking for its role in the various contexts of the adorned instruments (genesis, function, use) and its importance for setting up or supporting stories/histories of success and relevance within the emerging field of the sciences. The iconography points to quite a few significant topics as, for instance, statements of specific positions in theoretical debates (e.g. Copernican question), mediation and illustration of knowledge, in particular by picturing the usability of the instruments, or the role of instruments as patronage artefacts with specific iconographic programmes.
The analysis of the imagery is likewise highly relevant in order to understand the intellectual, cultural and artistic contexts shaping and determining the production of instruments in the early modern period. It opens a window on the investigation of collaborative processes during the conception, design and construction of instruments in the multi-layered field between instrument makers, artists, artisans, patrons and scholars.
Introduction, Jeanne Peiffer and Volker Remmert
1. Everyday Numeracy, Maryvonne Spiesser
2. Practice and Profession, James Bennett
3. Inventing Mathematics, Sébastien Maronne
4. Mathematics and Worldviews, David Rabouin
5. Describing and Understanding the World, Antoni Malet
6. Mathematics and Technological Change, Thomas Morel
7. Representing Mathematics, Robert Goulding and Volker Remmert
Notes
Bibliography
Kings 20:8-11/Isaiah 38:8 (Horologium Ahaz) and the Sun standing still in
Joshua 10:12 -, in the early modern period centre stage. We pay special
attention to the development of related imagery, their role as anti-
Copernican arguments (in text and image), their reception, their treatment in the mathematical sciences, and their various cultural layers, with a focus on the history of art and the history of science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The material discussed spreads from rather prosaic mathematical reflections to highly appealing visual representations of the two miracles.
Abstract: This volume focuses on the outstanding contributions made by botany and the mathematical sciences to the genesis and development of early modern garden art and garden culture. The many facets of the mathematical sciences and botany point to the increasingly “scientific” approach that was being adopted in and applied to garden art and garden culture in the early modern period. This development was deeply embedded in philosophical, religious, political and social contexts, running parallel to the beginning of processes of scientization so characteristic of modern European history. This volume strikingly shows how these various developments are intertwined in gardens for various purposes.
Reviews of the German edition: The Library 7(2006), S. 473f (J. L. Flood); Journal for the History of Astronomy 37(2006), S. 471ff (N. Jardine); American Historical Review 112(2007), S. 265f (G. Scholz Williams); Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 120(2007), S. 252f (A. de Bruycker); Sehepunkte. Rezensionsjournal für die Ge¬schichtswissenschaften 7(2007), Nr. 9 (M. Bronscheuer); History of Universities 22(2007), S. 258-261 (A. de Bruycker); NTM. Internationale Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Ethik der Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin, N.S. 15(2007), S. 303f (A. Kleinert); Zeitschrift für historische Forschung 34(2007), S. 705-707 (A. Brendecke); Renaissance Quarterly 60(2007), S. 1416f (A. Mosley); Nuncius. Journal of the History of Science 22(2)(2007), S. 384f (H. Bredekamp); Morgen-Glantz. Zeitschrift der Christian Knorr von Rosenroth-Gesellschaft 18(2008), S. 228ff (J. J. Berns); Fachsprache. Internationale Zeitschrift für Fachsprachenforschung 30(2008), S. 200-202 (J. Engberg/P. Kastberg); Isis 99(2008), S. 844-846 (S. de Angelis); Zeitschrift für Ger¬ma¬nistik 19(2009), S. 483f (M. Neumann).
Die Figur Galileo Galilei ist fur die europaische Wissenschaftsgeschichte, fur die Kulturwissenschaften und fur eine wissensgeschichtlich orientierte Literatur- und Kunstwissenschaft von grosem Interesse. In diesem Band werden die Uberschneidungen, Wechselwirkungen und Transferprozesse zwischen den wissenschaftlichen und kulturellen Dimensionen untersucht, die fur Galileis Profilierung als fruhneuzeitlicher Wissenschaftler ebenso wichtig sind wie fur die im weiteren Sinn kulturelle Wahrnehmung seiner Entdeckungen und seiner Schriften – vor allem in Literatur und Kunst. Der Band ist interdisziplinar konzipiert, um die fachlichen Einzelperspektiven von Literatur-, Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaftlern sowie Wissenschaftshistorikern zusammenzufuhren. Analysiert werden Formen und Funktionen der Produktion, Konzeptualisierung und Reprasentation von Wissen sowie Aspekte der Diskussion und Diffusion von Galileis Wissensanspruchen im Kontext der Fruhen Neuzeit. Mit dieser Fokussierung auf die im Schnittbereich verschiedener kultureller Formationen angesiedelte Etablierung Galileis liefert der Band somit einen Beitrag zur interdisziplinaren Erforschung von Galileis Rolle und Rezeption in der europaischen Kultur- und Wissensgeschichte des 17. Jahrhunderts.
Mathematical Reviews 1999h: 01023 (Chr. Scriba); Isis 91(2000), S. 781 (A. Guillermo Ranea); NTM. Internationale Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Ethik der Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin, N.S. 8(2000), S. 50f (M. Segre).
Mario Biagioli compressed the Galileo story into two words with the title of his book Galileo, Courtier (1993). Biagioli, however, was not the first to do so as Pietro Redondi had already published Galileo eretico in 1983, and Galileo matematico had been treated in book-length in the sixties by Attilio Frajese (1964). The Nestor of Galileo studies, Stillman Drake, needed three words for Galileo, Pioneer Scientist (1990). All of these titles give us a clear idea of what to expect. Were we commis¬sioned to put other approaches in similar nutshells we would inevitably add the well-known Galileo Martyr, Alexandre Koyré’s Galileo Platonist, Paul Feyer¬abend’s Galileo Anarchist and might end up with fifteen to twenty Galileos without being any the wiser. The Galileo story has become so polymorphous during the last four hundred years that we would probably not be too surprised if we learned that Galileo had been a life-long spy of the Roman Inquisition and that the trial had only been a farce to solidify his credentials.
The apocryphal ‘And still it moves’, which Galileo allegedly uttered right after his public abjuration, is characteristic of another of the many pitfalls in Galileo studies: myths are omnipresent, even those that have long been debunked as such. This essay is not concerned with the often difficult questions of how to separate facts from myths, how to distinguish between vero and se non è vero è ben trovato. Rather, in what follows, I trace some aspects of the images of Galileo from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. My focus will be on the political instrumentalisation of Galileo.
Die Beziehungen zwischen Gärten und mathematischen Wissenschaften in der Frühen Neuzeit sind bisher noch kaum in den Blick historischer Forschung gerückt. In vorliegendem kleinen Einblick werde ich, um nicht einen Blumengarten in ein Diskurslabyrinth zu verwandeln, versuchen, in groben Zügen ein Bild davon zu zeichnen, was Gärten und mathematische Wissenschaften verbindet und warum diese Verbindungen von Interesse sind. Dies geschieht in drei Abschnitten: (A) einem einleitenden Teil, der der Motivation und B¬griffsklärung dient, (B) einem Hauptteil über Gärten und mathematische Wissenschaften und (C) einer vorläufigen Ertragslese.
Zu den Kernprozessen der Wissenschaftlichen Revolution gehörte der Streit um das richtige Weltsystem. Die verschiedenen Weltsysteme wurden zur Veranschaulichung häufig schematisch dargestellt. Unabhängig davon entwickelte sich im 17. Jahrhundert in den Titelbildern astronomischer Veröffentlichungen eine intensive visuelle Debatte um das richtige Weltsystem. Unter jesuitischen Astronomen wurde die Erdbewegung nach dem Verbot der kopernikanischen Lehre im Jahr 1616, aber auch schon zuvor abgelehnt. Diese Ablehnung wurde besonders in den Frontispizen dreier Werke kunstvoll ins Bild gesetzt, um die Einheit von theologischer und astronomischer Argumentation hervorzuheben: in den Opera mathematica von Christoph Clavius (1612), in der Rosa Ursina von Christoph Scheiner (1630) und im Almagestum novum von Giovanni Battista Riccioli (1651). Um diese drei Bilder interpretieren zu können, werde ich ausführlich auf den Kontext der Bibelexegese eingehen, ohne den insbesondere das Frontispiz von Clavius’ Opera mathematica nicht zu verstehen ist
https://www.academia.edu/45585407/Oberwolfach_in_the_French_Occupation_Zone_1945_to_early_1950s_in_Revue_dhistoire_des_math%C3%A9matiques_21_2020_121_172