Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

For our new #ResearchReels series, we invited scholars across the institute to pitch their recent publications!⚡️
To find more of our #ResearchReels or to learn more about our scholars and the MPIWG, visit our Mediathek:

🔗 www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/mediathek/re...

#HistSci #SciComm

MPIWG Research Reels: Women Patients in Early Medieval Arabic Gynecological Recipes "The extent to which women engage with gynecological recipes depended in large part on their socio-economic class." IMPRS researcher Leonie Böttiger presents her recent work on female patients in…

#ResearchReels: 1 publication—3 minutes🏅
IMPRS researcher @leonieboettiger.bsky.social presents her article "'And let her use it': Women patients in early medieval Arabic gynecological recipes," published in the @postmedieval.bsky.social journal. 📃 🌱

🔗 youtu.be/NTcaoT0W4zY

#HistSci #HistMed

Apply to be the Berlin *half* of the scientific coordination team as the Max Planck-NTU Singapore Center for Biocultural Worlding gets set up! Need to be versed in research concerning history art environment law science. Languages: EN + DE; Asian language a + See also www.ntu.edu.sg/hass/researc...

Annie Maunder at the telescope ahead of the 1900 Total Solar Eclipse, Source: Maunder 1901 p.61 (full title of the book: The Total Solar Eclipse, 1900: Report of the Expeditions Organized by the British Astronomical Association to Observe the Total Solar Eclipse of 1900, May 28)

Researcher Meg Briers participates in Brewing Minds in Vagabund Brauerei Kesselhaus! "Women Who Chased The Sun" deals with hidden & forgotten figures of 19th-century astronomical expeditions.

🗓️ Mar 18 (18:30–21:30)
📍 Oudenarder Str. 16–20 (Berlin)
🔗 bit.ly/4u3ASd
🎫 10.90–45.00€

#HistSci #Astronomy

Collage of three images. The first reads: “Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Career. We’re hiring.” The second image shows a two people holding a thread. Image by: Mattheus Vaz (2022). The third image shows a scholar giving a talk at the MPIWG library. Image by: Anna Ruhnow (2025)

The Max Planck NTU Singapore Center for #Biocultural Worlding is hiring a Scientific Coordinator.

🤝 coordinate research programs
🚀 facilitate collaboration with cultural and research institutions
🛰️ amplify #SciComm

🗓️ Deadline: open until filled
📍 Workplace: MPIWG Berlin
🔗 bit.ly/4k5DWSs

#HistSci

Cover image of Isis Volume 115 (1) by History of Science Society (HSS) from March 2024. It depicts a painting of a bug sitting on a tree.

Picture of Sayori Ghoshal sitting at a table, holding a coffee

🎉 We congratulate Sayori Ghoshal, who has received the Derek Price/Rod Webster Prize by the History of Science Society (HSS) for an "outstanding" article on #Racism, #Anthropology, and #Colonialism in 20th century India. Published in @isisjournal.bsky.social Vol. 115 (1).

🔗 bit.ly/4rETTlj

#HistSci

📢: Our new ASTRA Talks series starts tomorrow! Paul Iversen will deliver a lecture entitled “Seeing Through Greek Time: The Antikythera Mechanism in 3D” followed by a hands-on demonstration of the HoloLens 3D mechanism.

🔗: www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/event/seeing...

@mpiwg.bsky.social

📢: Our Spring 2026 ASTRA colloquium series "Occult Sciences in South Asia: A Non-Western History" kicks off tomorrow with Fabrizio Speziale's talk "Mahouts’ Secret Language: Human–Elephant Communication in Persianate South Asia"

🔗: www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/event/mahout...

@mpiwg.bsky.social

For our new #ResearchReels series, we invited scholars across the institute to pitch their recent publications!⚡️
To find more of our #ResearchReels or to learn more about our scholars and the MPIWG, visit our Mediathek:

🔗 www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/mediathek/re...

#HistSci #SciComm

#ResearchReels: 1 publication—3 minutes🏅
Researcher Razieh S. Mousavi presents her article "Calculation & Power: Engagement of Astronomers in Water Management,” published in “Science and Praxis” in @degruyterbrill.bsky.social “Intersections” series.🔭🚰

🔗 youtu.be/trNfyui58dY

#HistSci #HistAstro

@nytopinion.nytimes.com @gnrosenberg.bsky.social
#AgSci #AgHis #HistSci

Opinion | We Shouldn’t Want to Eat Like Our Great-Great-Grandparents They were at a much higher risk of malnutrition and missed out on the joy of a fresh Sumo orange in February.

Are industrial foods really the problem? Writing in The New York Times, Senior Research Fellow Gabriel N. Rosenberg argues with Jan Dutkiewicz that rather than idealizing the past, policy and technology should come into play to improve today’s food systems. 🥯 🍇

🔗 buff.ly/WEU1bc1

The cover of the book shows a drawing of a swan holding a tobacco pipe in its beak.

📚 New #OpenAccess book “Signs and Signification in a Global Comparative Perspective” edited by Maria Avxentevskaya and Glenn W. Most

It examines premodern theories of signs across cultures and reveals universal concerns and unique cultural features that shaped semiotics.

🔗 bit.ly/4rj6d
#HistPhil

Next in our Institute's Colloquium series 2025/26 "Rethinking #Time in the History of Science": Caroline Winterer on "Catastrophe and #DeepTime." 🌀

🗓️ Mar 3, 2026 (14:00 CET)
📍 Harnack Haus, Berlin

🔗 buff.ly/pQqWD9C

#HistSci #USHistory

Brill Publishes New Open-Access Series "Agriculture and the Making of Sciences" with Support from Max Planck Institute for History of Science | MPIWG Academic publisher Brill releases new open-access series Agriculture and the Making of Sciences

This book is the first in the #OpenAccess series "Agriculture and the Making of Sciences 1100–1700: Texts, Practices, and Transcultural Transmission of Knowledge in Asia," published by @degruyterbrill.bsky.social @dgb-history.bsky.social and supported by the MPIWG.

🔗 bit.ly/3OaNq2B

Book cover titled "Toward a Global History of Soil Sciences, Practices, and Materialities, 1300–1750" with a historical painting depicting an agricultural scene in the lower left corner. People can be seen working outdoors with animals and baskets

📘 New #OpenAccess book edited by Justin Niermeier-Dohoney & Aleksandar Shopov:
“Toward a Global History of Soil. Sciences, Practices, and Materialities, 1300–1750" examines how early modern studies of soil radically transformed scientific knowledge and practice. 🌱

🔗 bit.ly/46mFQb
#HistSci #AgHist

In Memoriam: Wolfgang Lefèvre (1941–2025) | MPIWG In Memoriam: Wolfgang Lefèvre (1941–2025)

Wolfgang Lefèvre, who sadly passed away last December, was an esteemed colleague. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. Wolfgang will be deeply missed and remembered with the utmost respect and affection.

🔗 bit.ly/3Hb2a (Obituary for Wolfgang Lefèvre)

The book cover shows three figures in blue and red, drawn in an abstract manner, holding a flag. Two buildings can be seen behind them.

📗 First English translation of the book “Theory of Nature and Mode of Production” by Wolfgang Lefèvre

It reinterprets the Scientific Revolution through a critical historical materialist perspective.

🔗 bit.ly/45Qty

#HistSci

The special issue's cover shows a black chalk sketch of an elephant's head with people in the background.

📙🐘 Humanimalia special issue “Elephant (Research) Routes” edited by Marianna Szczygielska and Violette Pouillard.

It contributes to a rereading of scientific narratives about elephants, seeking to strengthen multidisciplinary dialogue and promote co-existence.

🔗 bit.ly/4Io8V

#SocSci #OpenAccess

📢: Our Spring 2026 Colloquium "Occult Sciences in South Asia: A Non-Western History" starts in three weeks. On Wed 25 Feb 2026, Fabrizio Speziale will talk about "Mahouts’ Secret Language: Human–Elephant Communication in Persianate South Asia" (online).

🔗: tinyurl.com/3enrjt9t

@mpiwg.bsky.social

In @theatlantic.com, @vauhinivara.bsky.social decodes how #OpenAI approaches #Objectivity, with insights from director emerita Lorraine Daston. What happens when corporations encode their values as neutral guidelines?

#HistSci #Rationality #Epistemology #AI #DeepLearning

Associate/Full Professor of Curatorial Practice Director of Centre for Art, Science and Biocultural Ecologies (CASBE) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Young, research intensive, and outward-looking Nanyang Technological University, Singa...

Center for Art, Science, and Biocultural Ecologies Directorship call! This Center in Singapore also collaborates w Max Planck Inst. History of Science @mpiwg.bsky.social. Pls share w folks committed to putting interdisciplinary research results into action! #HistSci #art #EnvHum Deadline 5 Feb

Collage of three images. The first reads: “Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Career. We’re hiring.” The second image shows a group of people at the institute’s courtyard. Image by: MPIWG, 2021. The third image shows the building of the MPIWG. Image by: Reinhard Goerner.

Department “Artifacts, Action, Knowledge” seeks to appoint a #PublicationsManager with work experience in:

✍️ Editorial leadership
📚 Publication management
🌐 Multilingual experience

🗓️ Deadline: Feb 28, 2026
🔗 bit.ly/4k5DWSs

#HistSci #STS #SocSci #Humanities

Collage of three images. The first reads: "Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Career. We're hiring." The second image (kamboompics.com/Pexels (Canva)) shows a symbolic image of electronic circuit in shades of green. Picture by Pexels (pixabay). The third image (setform 2017) displays the MPIWG main building.

New #StudentJob opportunity 🦸‍♀️
Dept. "Artifacts, Action, Knowledge" seeks to hire a #StudentAssistant in #DigitalHumanities with an academic background in #CompSci, #DataScience, #DigiHum, or related disciplines 🦾💻

🗓 Deadline: March 31, 2026
🔗 bit.ly/4eDRUq4

#Sinology #DeepLearning #MachineLearning

Poster of the MPIWG Institute’s Colloquium. It features the titles of its five events below an image that shows a colorful mixture of liquids in red, orange, yellow, green, and violet.

Next in our Institute's Colloquium series 2025/26 "Rethinking #Time in the History of Science": @profemmakowal.bsky.social on "Freezing Time: A Decade of #Cryopolitics" ❄️🕰️

🗓️ Jan 27, 2025 (14:00 CET)
📍 Harnack Haus, Berlin

🔗 bit.ly/48w3WAR

#HistSci #Anthropology @deakinuniversity.bsky.social

We have recently launched our "10 Questions for the Historian of Science"-interview series, in which we ask historians of science about their research, methodologies, impact, and the state of the field today. Check out our first interview with Fangyi Cheng:

www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/feature-stor...

📢 : If you missed Prof. Chihyung Nam"s lecture on "The Origin of the Game of Go" last December, you can now catch it on our YouTube channel.

🔗 : www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kR-...

@mpiwg.bsky.social

17th Forum on Literature and the History of Science | MPIWG Founded in 1994, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin is one of the more than 80 research institutes administered by the Max Planck Society. It is dedicated to the…

💡📚 #CfP: 17th Forum on Literature and the History of Science (Jun 19, 2026)

👩‍🎓 Early career scholars are invited to submit and discuss their works-in-progress in #HistSci, #HistLit, and related topics
👀 Feedback will be provided by experts in the field

🔗 bit.ly/9JWS
🗓️ Deadline: Feb 16, 2026

Experts of Identity: Race, Ethnicity, and Science in India, 1910s–1940s | Isis: Vol 115, No 1 Abstract During 1910s–1940s, Indian intellectuals developed physical anthropology as a modern nationalist discipline for the subcontinent. Through their contributions, they sought to construct themsel...

The Derek Price/Rod Webster Prize for an excellent @isisjournal.bsky.social article goes to Sayori Ghoshal, author of "Experts of Identity: Race, Ethnicity, and Science in India, 1910s-1940s"

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

#HSS2025

Feuerwerk hat eine jahrtausendealte Geschichte - das Böllern zu Silvester gehört aber nicht dazu Trotz vieler Nachteile ist die Böllerei zu Silvester sehr beliebt. Die Befürworter können sich auf eine jahrtausendealte Geschichte des Feuerwerks berufen.

Director Dagmar Schäfer talks to @anhspruch.bsky.social of the "Der Rest ist Geschichte" podcast about the origins of black powder in Chinese medicine 🎇

She is one of several scholars who join the show's holiday episode on the cultural history of fireworks.

🔗 bit.ly/4qsB0k (GER)

#HistSci #HistMed