Robert Middeke-Conlin

Robert is an historian of knowledge whose work concentrates on knowledge production, acquisition, and change in the ancient world, with a special focus on mathematics and knowledge systems in ancient Mesopotamia. Robert obtained his MA in Assyriology at Yale University and his PhD in the history and philosophy of science and technology at the University of Paris Diderot. Robert is a member of the Max Planck Research Group "Astral Sciences in Trans-Regional Asia" (ASTRA). His project, Surveying the Heavens, explores the translation of mathematical techniques local to the ancient surveyor’s tradition to a fully new science by the middle and late first Millennium BCE in Mesopotamia: Astronomy.

Robert brings a history of excellence. In his 2020 book, The Making of a Scribe: Errors, Mistakes, and Rounding Numbers in the Old Babylonian Kingdom of Larsa, Robert developed a technique to exploit numerical discrepancies found in cuneiform records to elucidate mathematical knowledge held by individual scribes. Next, as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Copenhagen, Robert focused on the intersection between numeracy, literacy, and textuality to shed new light on Mesopotamian education. His research in Copenhagen led to his 2023 book, Knowledge, Literacy, and Elementary Education in the Old Babylonian Period.

Beyond research, Robert is devoted to academic service. He has worked as an expert evaluating Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships for the European Research Council (2023-2025), the prize committee to award the International Association for Assyriology’s Prize for Best First Article (2018–2021), on election committees, as a peer-reviewer, and was elected the External Postdoctoral Representative for the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (2025–2026). In November 2025, Robert was elected to serve as the General Secretary to the Steering Committee of the Max Planck Institute PostdocNet.