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.
Projects
A Cultural History of Heredity
Experimentalization of Life
Generating Experimental Knowledge: Experimental Systems, Concept Formation and the Pivotal Role of Error
Knowledge in the Making. Drawing and Writing as Research Techniques
Landscapes of Experimentation. Heredity Research in Early Twentieth-Century Germany
Selected Publications
Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2023). “Ein Liebhaber der Wissenschaften: Warum wir nie modern gewesen sind, eine Erinnerung an Werk und Wirkung Bruno Latours.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, April 1, 2023.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2023). “Zellen im Verbund.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, March 31, 2023.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2023). “Review of: Truwant, Simon: Cassirer and Heidegger in Davos: The Philosophical Arguments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2022.” The Review of Metaphysics 76 (3, 303): 562–563. https://doi.org/10.1353/rvm.2023…
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2023). “Claude Bernard and Life in the Laboratory.” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 45 (Article 11). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-023-00570-x.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2015). Die Farben des Tastens. Einsichten im Dialog 3. Frankfurt am Main: Edition Faust.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2016). Der Kupferstecher und der Philosoph. Zürich: Diaphanes.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2010). “Biologie in Berlin um 1900.” In Transformation der Wissensordnung, ed. H.-E. Tenorth, 735–775. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
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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.
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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.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2011). “Infra-experimentality : from traces to data, from data to patterning facts.” History of Science 49 (3): 337–348.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2012). “A plea for a historical epistemology of research.” Journal for General Philosophy of Science 43 (1): 105–111.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2012). “Zettelwirtschaft.” In Schreiben als Kulturtechnik, ed. S. Zanetti, 441–452. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
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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.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2013). “Gaston Bachelard et Albert Flocon : la rencontre d’un philosophe avec un graveur.” Revue de synthèse 134 (3): 355–372.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2013). “Wissenskulturen : über Bachelards Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Marc Blochs Geschichtswissenschaft.” Geschichte der Germanistik : historische Zeitschrift für die Philologien 43/44: 118–126.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2013). “My road to history of science.” Science in Context 26 (4): 639–648.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2015). “Difference machines : time in experimental systems.” Configurations 23 (2): 165–176. https://doi.org/10.1353/con.2015.0013.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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