Berlin Center for the History of Knowledge

The Berlin Center for the History of Knowledge is a joint initiative of the MPIWG and the Freie Universität Berlin (FU), the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU), and the Technische Universität Berlin (TU). As a forum for new research endeavors and as a platform for public discussion, the Berlin Center will increase the visibility of Berlin’s multidisciplinary research potential in the history of knowledge. The aim of the four partner institutions is to exploit this potential through a significant expansion of activities, a considerable strengthening of institutional ties, and a long-lasting consolidation of heretofore dispersed resources in Berlin.

Along with a number of research and teaching appointments made by Berlin’s universities in the history of knowledge and science, a number of new professorships at the partner universities and new positions as Research Group Director at the MPIWG have been created. Efforts to make a long-lasting impact on institutional structures are complemented by a number of initiatives to foster dialogue between pre- and postdoctoral scholars based in Berlin: for example, the “Studientag Literatur und Wissenschaftsgeschichte” in cooperation with the chair for New German Literature at the FU (Professor Jutta Müller-Tamm) and the “Berliner DoktorandInnenforum für Wissensgeschichte,” which is jointly organized by all four partner institutions.

Cooperation in Teaching

Cooperation in teaching is also one of the Berlin Center’s goals. Since 2010, the cooperation partners have compiled an annotated list of all courses offered at the Berlin universities in the field of the history of knowledge (printing the “Berliner Vorlesungsverzeichnis Wissenschaftsgeschichte (KVV)” each semester). The course list (in German) lists current lectures and courses relating to the history of science and the history of knowledge at the FU, HU, and TU that provide students with the relevant methodological training in the history of science.The Berliner Zentrum website provides a wide range of helpful information to researchers with a primary interest in the history of knowledge, as well as a calendar of events in Berlin.

Postdoctoral Fellows

Since August 2016, nine postdoctoral scholars have been hosted by the Berlin Center partner institutions, listed below.