Department I
Structural Changes in Systems of Knowledge
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Renn
Director
Department I studies the historical processes of structural changes in systems of knowledge over long periods. More
Department II
Ideals and Practices of Rationality
Prof. Dr. Lorraine Daston
Executive Director
Department II focuses on epistemological and ontological categories (including “scientific object,” “objectivity,” “demonstration” and “observation”) that shape scientific investigation and its standards. More
Department Rheinberger
Experimental Systems and Spaces of Knowledge
Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Rheinberger
Director
The research projects in Hans-Jörg Rheinberger’s department (formerly Department III) were completed in 2011. Since then Hans-Jörg Rheinberger has continued his scholarly work as director of the MPIWG. More
Max Planck Research Group
Twentieth Century Histories of Knowledge About Human Variation
Prof. Dr. Veronika Lipphardt
Research Group Director
This project examines how human biological diversity was imagined, researched, and described within transnational networks during the twentieth century. The five-year research project brings together scholars from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. More
Max Planck Research Group
Art and Knowledge in Pre-Modern Europe
Prof. Dr. Sven Dupré
Research Group Director
This Research Group investigates how artists invented and appropriated knowledge, conceived and categorized knowledge, and transmitted and circulated knowledge in the visual and decorative arts in the pre-modern period. It is part of the cooperation of the MPIWG with the three Berlin universities. More
Max Planck Research Group
Modern Geometry and the Concept of Space
Dr. Vicenzo De Risi
Research Group Director
The main research topic of the group concerns the birth of modern geometry as a theory of space in the 18th century, and extends to the scientific and philosophical development of the concept of space itself in the modern age. More
Max Planck Research Group
The Construction of Norms in 17th- to 19th-Century Europe and the United States
Dr. Sabine Arnaud
Research Group Director
This group investigates how writing practices and questions of competence led to the construction of norms about mankind. It focuses especially on hysteria and deafness in the Western world. Project participants include scholars from a broad background, including legal history, history of psychology, linguistics, disability studies, and history of medicine. More
MPG Minerva Research Group
Reading and Writing Nature in Early Modern Europe
Dr. Elaine Leong
Minerva Research Group Leader
This research group investigates how reading and writing practices shaped the transfer and codification of natural knowledge in early modern Europe. More
TOPOI Junior Research Group
Between Knowledge and Innovation: The Unequal-Armed Balance
Dr. Jochen Büttner
Research Group Director
In the course of this project, the development of the unequal-armed balance will be examined as a case study of an innovation process. The study will model this process on the basis of existing material evidence and will interpret it by reconstructing the historical circumstances under which it arose. More
Dilthey Fellowship
The Making of Acoustics in 16th to 19th Century Europe
Dr. Viktoria Tkaczyk
Dilthey Fellow
The 16th to 19th century represents a period that corresponds to a series of fundamental findings in acoustics. The aim of this project is to show, however, that the history of acoustics is not limited to the emergence of an exact science, but must also be located in a history of religious, cultural and artistic practices. The 'acoustic' is therefore of interest in its dual function as producer and object of science/knowledge. More
