Hans-Jörg Rheinberger
Emeritus Scientific Member (Since 2022)
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 (2024). “Wie rauschen doch die Flügel bei Hitchcock. Review of: Jackson, Myles W.: Broadcasting Fidelity: German Radio and the Rise of Early Electronic Music. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 2024.” Frankfurter…
Read More
Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2024). Epistemología histórica: una introducción, trans. Nicolás Silva and Nicolás Trujillo Osorio. Santiago de Chile: Ediciones Universidad Alberto Hurtado.
Read More
Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg (2024). “Bruno Latour. Ein Liebhaber der Wissenschaften.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, April 2, 2024.
Read More
Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg and Hanns Zischler (2024). “‘Monogramma.’” In Shadow of the Tree, ed. E. Hounshell and R. Amstutz, I/20-I/23. Zürich: Intercomverlag.
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