Jürgen Renn
Director (Since 1994)
Dr., Professor, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Jürgen Renn, together with his group, researches structural changes in systems of knowledge. The aim is to develop a theoretical understanding of knowledge evolution, taking into account its epistemic, social, and material dimensions. As groundwork for such a theoretical approach to the history of knowledge, he has been studying some of the great transformations of systems of physical knowledge, such as the origin of theoretical science in antiquity, the emergence of classical mechanics in the early modern period, and the revolutions of modern physics in the early twentieth century. In addition to this longitudinal perspective on the evolution of knowledge, he and his collaborators have developed a transversal approach, studying dissemination and transformation processes of knowledge across cultural boundaries.
He has been engaged from the very start in the Digital Humanities and the Open Access Movement. He is a co-initiator of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities launched by the MPG in 2003 and has created, together with his colleagues, the Edition Open Access platform for open access publication. He has also been responsible for numerous major exhibitions on the history of science, from Albert Einstein—Chief Engineer of the Universe to Archimede. Arte e scienza dell'invenzione.
Jürgen Renn is honorary professor for History of Science at both the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Freie Universität Berlin. He has taught at Boston University, at the ETH in Zurich, and at the University of Tel Aviv. He has held visiting positions in Vienna, Bergamo, Pavia, and at CalTech. He is a member of the Leopoldina as well as of further national and international scientific and editorial boards. In 2011 he won the Premio Anassilaos International. In 2014, he won the ESHS Neuenschwander Prize and the Premio Internazionale Marco & Alberto Ippolito and was awarded the Max Planck Communitas Award and the Francis Bacon Award. Jürgen Renn is currently serving as Chairperson of the Humanities Sciences Section of the Max Planck Society.
Projects
Anthropocene Curriculum
Anthropocene Knowledge: Earth History in the Making
Atlas of Innovations
Berlin Center for Machine Learning (BZML)
Convivencia. Iberian to Global Dynamics (500–1750)
History and Foundations of Quantum Field Theory
IV. Knowledge in and of the Anthropocene
Leonardo's Intellectual Cosmos
Continuity and Epistemic Developments of Astronomical Knowledge in the Longue Durée: The Sphaera-tradition
Development of Mechanical Knowledge in China
Early Modern Mechanics: Benedetti
Knowledge as a Fellow Traveler
Knowledge of Astronomy and the Invention of the Telescope: International Year of Astronomy 2009
The Genesis of General Relativity (Four-Volume Edition)
Selected Publications
Gutfreund, H., & Renn, J. (2019). 相对论之路. The road to relativity. 长沙市，中国 (Changsha): 湖南科学技术出版社.
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Renn, J. (2019). Peter Damerow (1939–2011). In J. Renn, & M. Schemmel (Eds.), Culture and cognition: essays in honor of Peter Damerow (pp. 259-266). Berlin: Edition Open Access.
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Renn, J., & Schemmel, M. (Eds.). (2019). Culture and cognition: essays in honor of Peter Damerow. Berlin: Edition Open Access.
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Renn, J. (2019). Learning from Kushim about the origins of writing and farming. In J. Renn, & M. Schemmel (Eds.), Culture and cognition: essays in honor of Peter Damerow (pp. 11-27). Berlin: Edition Open Access.
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News & Press
Selected Media
Institute Events
Symposium
How Do New Concepts Emerge? On New Knowledge, Old Patterns of Thought, and Structural Changes
MORESymposium
- Institute Event
25 Years of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
MORE500th Anniversary Event
Leonardo da Vinci. An Inquisitive Man: Technologist, Scientist, and Artist
MORESymposium
- Institute Event
Freunde der offenen Gesellschaft
MORELecture
Wie entsteht die moderne Wissenschaft / Wie entstehen wissenschaftliche Disziplinen?
MOREExternal/Cooperation Event
- Institute Event
Comenius-Garten: Eröffnung der Werkstatt mit Gewächshaus
MOREWorkshop
- Institute Event
Political Epistemology I
MOREWorkshop
Opening New Windows on the Cosmos: Astrophysics and Astronomy in the History of the Max Planck Society
MOREExternal/Cooperation Event
- Institute Event
Prehistoric Networks in the longue durée: Palaeolithic Innovations enabling the Neolithic Revolution
MOREPresentations, Talks, & Teaching Activities
FU Berlin, ABV Modul Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft, Vorlesung zu Wissenschaftsgeschichte
Lausanne,“Quand le droit rencontre la relativité Soirée Albert Einstein”
Hannover, Seventh International Conference on Integrated History and Philosophy of Science: The Evolution of Knowledge
Symposium at the Harnack Haus, Berlin
Göttinger Literaturherbst
International Symposium on China and the World in the Global History of Science and Technology
21. Leibniz-Kolleg Potsdam
Akademie der Wissenschaften, Hamburg
Leopoldina Jahresempfang 2017, Halle
Perspectives Committee Meeting Biology and Medicine Section, GV, Munich
Secularity and the Disciplines: A Farewell Conference for Gabriel Motzkin
Jahresversammlung der Leopoldina, Halle
GDNÄ Jahresversammlung, Greifswald
Konferenz Towards a Global History of Ideas, Erfurt
Cycle de conférence: Les mécanos de la Générale: Einstein, 100 ans de relativité générale, Paris
Colloquium am Albert Einstein Institut, Golm
Conference Series: Gravitation 2015, University of Vienna
Salzburger Hochschulwochen
DPG Lehrerfortbildung Bad Honnef
Conference: Convergence. Im Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada
CPT and GSHS- Section, Meeting at the Annual Assembly, Berlin
Die Zukunft der Wissensspeicher, Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und Künste, Düsseldorf
Conference: 100th Anniversary of General Relativity, Cambridge
Minerva Advisory Board Meeting, Tel Aviv
Paris, Séminaire d’Historie et Philosophie de la Physique-Paris
Jerusalem Meeting on Space—Time Theories
Jerusalem Meeting on Space—Time Theories
Conference on Einstein and the relation between physics and mathematics, Chicago
Workshop on Online Publishing in Florence, Italy
6th International Conference for the European Society for the History of Science, Lisbon
Integrated History and Philosophy of Science—&HPS5 in Wien
Knowledge in this Era: Historical Perspecitves, Contemporary Challenges and the Future of Higher Education, Tel Aviv
Seven Pines Symposium: The Conceptual Development of Quantum Physics, Minnesota
UNESCO, First WSIS+10 Review Meeting, Paris
XIV. Colloquio del Lessico Intellettuale Europeo (ILIESI), Roma
The 5th conference of the European Society for the History of Science, University of Athens
„Wissenschaftsakademien im Zeitalter der Ideologien“, LEOPOLDINA und HU Berlin, Halle
Biblioteca Leonardiana di Vinci, VINCI
The International Radiation Symposium 2012, Berlin
8th meeting of STEP ( Science and Technology in the European Periphery), Corfu National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Keynote Lecture
Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, Halle
8th meeting of STEP (Science and Technology in the European Periphery), Corfu National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Keynote Lecture
Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, Tagung „Himmels(t)raum“
FU Berlin, Akademische Abschlussfeier des Fachbereichs Physik, Berlin