Ruthengänger nach dem Berg-Kostümbuch von Chr. Weigel (1721). Quelle: Chr. Weibel, Abbildung und Beschreibung derer sämtlichen Berg-Wercks-Beamten und Bediensteten nach ihrem gewöhnlichen Rang und Ordnung im gehörigen Berg-Habit. Nürnberg 1721.

Generations of historians of science have engaged with the notion of “tacit knowledge” in scientific change. However, they either deny the usefulness of this concept altogether or their investigations more or less imply that great achievements of individual scientists remain to certain degree a secret which is stored in this mythical tacit knowledge. In my own research on a major scientific change in early Victorian England I drew the attention to scientific practices and the notion of embodiment of knowledge. With the introduction of the concept of “gestural knowledge” - a concept that aims at overcoming the mind-body dichotomy and to describe a working knowledge that reaches beyond the literary tradition of the past by using enactments of past experimental performances of scientific work - I have pushed this research onto a new level: Most importantly with the historical reconstruction of gestural knowledge I was able to acknowledge the singularity of a past researcher’s scientific knowledge. Moreover, I could reveal the so-called tacit dimensions as hitherto unrecognised cultural repertoires of knowledge communities merging together and creating a singular stance of the past researcher that allowed him to achieve outstanding contributions in science. These findings have led not only to rethinking the meaning of tacit knowledge but also to look anew at the relation between knowledge and science. In particular the role of traditional knowledge in science and the historically changing demarcation practices that were employed to distinguish between knowledge and science require further investigation.

The new project is drawing substantially on this historical and epistemological inquiry of embodied knowledge, but in a new field of research, i.e. the history of dowsing. Since the 17th century we know of the dowsers as the main experts in the German mining industry. Their practices of collecting data about the earth’ mineral resources and water drainages were part of the dowsers embodied knowledge. According to the records these specially skilled persons were able to detect hidden minerals and water drainages in the earth by either employing wooden sticks of a certain shape or their mere hands. Furthermore in the 17th century at the Freiberg Mining Academy dowser had to pass formal examinations before they became employed at the mining companies. In fact their knowledge was of such a high esteem that this profession gained the highest status within that community. However, during the centuries this way of knowing spread throughout the countries but most remarkably over time it underwent dramatic changes: during the enlightenment it became for example discarded as devils incarnation. In the early 20th century physicists suggested to investigate it through state funded means. Archival documents about this practical knowledge, its changing credibility over time and the often secret scientific investigation of this technique by leading natural scientists until today provides an important resource for investigating the notion of embodiment of knowledge and the difficulties in demarcating science from knowledge in history.