---
People

Hans-Jörg Rheinberger

Emeritus Scientific Member (Apr 2022-Apr 2027)

Dr., Honorarprofessor für Wissenschaftsgeschichte an der TU Berlin, Dr.h.c. ETH Zürich, MPIWG Director 1997–2014

The main focus of Hans-Jörg Rheinberger’s research lies in the history and epistemology of experimentation in the life sciences. By bridging the gap between the study of history and contemporary cutting-edge sciences, such as molecular biology, his work represents an example of transdisciplinarity as emerging in the present knowledge-based society. The Swiss-born scientist studied philosophy and biology in Tübingen and Berlin, Germany. He received his MA in philosophy in 1973, his PhD in biology in 1982, and his habilitation in molecular biology in 1987. He was Assistant Professor at the University of Lübeck, Germany, and Associate Professor at the University of Salzburg, Austria. Since 1997, he has been a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society and Director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.

Hans-Jörg Rheinberger has been a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin and of the Collegium Helveticum in Zürich. He is honorary professor at the Institute for Philosophy and History of Science of the Technical University Berlin, a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of the Sciences, a member of the Leopoldina, the German Academy of Natural Scientists, and a doctor honoris causa at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

 

Projekte

No current projects were found for this scholar.

A Cultural History of Heredity

MEHR

Experimentalization of Life

MEHR

Generating Experimental Knowledge: Experimental Systems, Concept Formation and the Pivotal Role of Error

MEHR

Knowledge in the Making. Drawing and Writing as Research Techniques

MEHR

Landscapes of Experimentation. Heredity Research in Early Twentieth-Century Germany

MEHR

Selected Publications

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2023). “Spotlight: Die Metaphernwelt der Molekularbiologie und molekularen Medizin.” In Gen- und Zelltherapie 2.023 — Forschung, klinische Anwendung und Gesellschaft: AG Gentechnologiebericht mit freundlicher Unterstützung…

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2023). “Etwas über die Rolle von Nichtwissen in der naturwissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisgewinnung.” In ‘Ich lehne mich jetzt mal ganz konkret aus dem Fenster: […]’: eine Festschrift für Thomas Potthast, ed. C. Brand, S. Meisch,…

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2023). “Ordnung ins Naturreich bringen. Review of: Broberg, Gunnar: The Man Who Organized Nature: The Life of Linnaeus. Oxford: Princeton University Press 2023.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, no. 197.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2023). “Ein Mann zweier Welten. Review of: Glaubrecht, Matthias: Dichter, Naturkundler, Welterforscher: Adelbert von Chamisso und die Suche nach der Nordostpassage. Berlin: Galiani Verlag 2023 and of: Chamisso, Adelbert von:…

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2015). Die Farben des Tastens. Einsichten im Dialog 3. Frankfurt am Main: Edition Faust.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2016). Der Kupferstecher und der Philosoph. Zürich: Diaphanes.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2010). “Biologie in Berlin um 1900.” In Transformation der Wissensordnung, ed. H.-E. Tenorth, 735–775. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2010). “Recent orientations and reorientations in the life sciences.” In Science in the context of application, ed. M. Carrier and A. Nordmann, 161–168. Dordrecht: Springer.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2010). “The art of exploring the unknown : views on contemporary research in the life sciences.” In Science as cultural practice. Vol. 1: Cultures and politics of research from the early modern period to the age of extremes, ed. M. Epple and K. Zittel, 141–151. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2011). “Infra-experimentality : from traces to data, from data to patterning facts.” History of Science 49 (3): 337–348.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2012). “A plea for a historical epistemology of research.” Journal for General Philosophy of Science 43 (1): 105–111.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2012). “Zettelwirtschaft.” In Schreiben als Kulturtechnik, ed. S. Zanetti, 441–452. Berlin: Suhrkamp.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2013). “Heredity in the twentieth century : some epistemological considerations.” Public Culture 25 (3 (71)): 477–493. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-2144616.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2013). “Gaston Bachelard et Albert Flocon : la rencontre d’un philosophe avec un graveur.” Revue de synthèse 134 (3): 355–372.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2013). “Wissenskulturen : über Bachelards Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Marc Blochs Geschichtswissenschaft.” Geschichte der Germanistik : historische Zeitschrift für die Philologien 43/44: 118–126.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2013). “My road to history of science.” Science in Context 26 (4): 639–648.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2014). “Experimentalanordnungen in Wissenschaft und Kunst.” In ArteFakte : Wissen ist Kunst - Kunst ist Wissen ; Reflexionen und Praktiken wissenschaftlich-künstlerischer Begegnungen, ed. H. Parzinger, S. Aue, and G. Stock, 307–319. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2015). “Experimentalsysteme und epistemische Dinge.” In Jahrbuch Technikphilosophie 2015 : Ding und System, ed. G. Gamm, P. Gehring, C. Hubig, and A. Kaminski, 71–79. Zürich: Diaphanes.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2015). “Re-discovering Mendel : the case of Carl Correns.” Science & Education 24 (1): 51–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-013-9665-7.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2015). “Über den Eigensinn epistemischer Dinge.” In Vom Eigensinn der Dinge : für eine neue Perspektive auf die Welt des Materiellen, ed. H. P. Hahn, 147–162. Berlin: Neofelis Verlag.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2015). “Preparations, models, and simulations.” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 36 (3): 321–334. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-014-0049-3.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2015). “Difference machines : time in experimental systems.” Configurations 23 (2): 165–176. https://doi.org/10.1353/con.2015.0013.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg and Peter Schöttler (2015). “Empirie vor Theorie : Leopold von Ranke und Hermann von Helmholtz.” In Berlins wilde Energien : Porträts aus der Geschichte der Leibnizschen Wissenschaftsakademie, ed. S. Leibfried, C. Markschies, E. Osterkamp, and G. Stock, 190–211. Berlin: De Gruyter.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2016). “Patterns of the international and the national, the global and the local in the history of molecular biology.” In The local configuration of new research fields : on regional and national diversity, ed. M. Merz and P. Sormani, 193–204. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22683-5_11.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2016). “Culture and nature in the prism of knowledge.” History of Humanities 1 (1): 155–181. https://doi.org/10.1086/685064.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg and Staffan Müller-Wille (2016). “Heredity before genetics.” In Heredity explored : between public domain and experimental science, 1850-1930, ed. S. Müller-Wille and C. Brandt, 143–166. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.

Read More

Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2016). “Heidegger und Cassirer über die Wissenschaften nach der Begegnung in Davos.” Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 64 (4): 655–666. https://doi.org/10.1515/dzph-2016-0047.

Read More

Media