Doctoral Research

The doctoral students at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Predoctoral Scholars, Predoctoral Fellows and Visiting Predoctoral Fellows) undertake dissertation projects that form an integral part of the main research projects of the Institute. They are affiliated with one of the Departments or Research Groups or with the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) of the Institute and undertake their research as part of the research activities of their respective unit. At the same time, and as part of the cross-departmental activities of the Institute, they meet once a month for a joint colloquium. During these meetings, one doctoral student usually presents their work or work samples according to the progress of their dissertation, or the group discusses select texts or films. The meetings are intended to be as informal as possible in order to provide an open and cooperative platform for exchange. The meetings also serve for exchange of information about life and work as a doctoral student in general and in the Max Planck Society in particular.

In addition to the monthly colloquium, all doctoral students at the MPIWG are invited to join the "Writing Wednesdays" that take place every Wednesday in the IMPRS seminar room (Boltzmannstraße 16, all day).

The central activities of the predoctoral community at the Institute are coordinated by the Academic Coordinator of the IMPRS, Sophie Schwarzmaier, together with the Predoctoral Scholars' Representative of the Institute, Christopher Klauke. If you have any questions about life and work as a doctoral student at the Institute, please feel free to contact them.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Group Foto of MPIWG Predoctoral Fellows

MPIWG Predoctoral Fellows 2022–23. Source: MPIWG, September 2022

Predoctoral Fellows

Predoctoral Fellow (1 May 2024-30 Jun 2024)

Visiting Predoctoral Fellows

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Mar 2024-30 Sep 2025)

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (15 Feb 2023-30 Jun 2024)

Erfassung der Psyche und Einhegung von Körperlichkeit: Die Geschichte apparativen, psychologischen Testens und das Verhältnis von Hand- und Kopfarbeit

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (15 Oct 2023-31 Jan 2026)

Epistemic Everyday Life: A Feminist Analysis of Germany’s Early Modern Printing Business

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Dec 2022-31 Aug 2024)

Standardization in Post-War Life Sciences

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Jul 2020-30 Sep 2025)

The Geopolitics of Chinese Arctic Research

taeiterjord@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (15 Sep 2023-31 Jul 2024)

Fabricating Modern Fibers: Metaphors, Models, and Artifacts in Molecular Biology, 1920-1958

efreedman@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (16 Jan 2023-31 Dec 2024)

Doctoral candidate at Ruprecht-Karls University Heidelberg Research Fellow at Ca' Foscari Università Venezia in the ERC-project Early Modern Cosmology Editorial Manager for Verum Factum: Studies and Sources on Political Epistemology (EOA book series).

The Unity of Science in the Anthropocene

sfreyberg@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Apr 2022-31 Jan 2025)

The Classical Age of Quantum Gravity: from Dirac to Wheeler

sfurlan@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Nov 2023-31 Jan 2025)

Historical epistemology and the evolution of the ether

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (15 Jul 2020-30 Sep 2025)

Forging ahead under a Changing Sky: Meteorological Services and Crop Seed Breeding as Climate Change Adaptation in China

jgrossebley@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Sep 2023-31 Aug 2026)

Cellulosenitrat: Eine Materialgeschichte der Geisteswissenschaften, 1849–1951

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (15 Nov 2020-30 Sep 2025)

Scientific Journals and the Transparency of Research: From 20th Century to Open Science

mmhan@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 May 2024-31 Jan 2025)

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Sep 2023-31 Aug 2026)

Beyond Leaves: Cultivating Knowledge in Books of Hours (1470–1520)

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Sep 2023-31 Aug 2024)

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (25 Dec 2022-31 Jul 2024)

Open Science in University-Industry Research Collaboration in the EU and China

aslattu@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (10 Dec 2023-10 Dec 2024)

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Dec 2022-31 Jan 2025)

Philip Anderson Against the Big Machines: And How Emergence Made its Way into Physics

ngargante@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Sep 2023-31 Aug 2026)

Agrochemical Transformations and their Knowledge Resources in Egypt, 1882–1952

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Apr 2019-31 Dec 2024)

Symbiotic Worlding: Theories and Practices of Coexistence in Lynn Margulis and Donna Haraway

srodeck@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Sep 2021-31 Jul 2025)

The Evolution of Visual Language in Early Modern Cosmology

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (15 Oct 2023-31 Dec 2024)

The Analysis, Interpretation, and Mediation of History Using Digital Research Methods and Tools. An Investigation into their History-Producing Mechanisms

asiebold@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Nov 2023-31 Oct 2024)

The Other Ancient Egypt. Writing Histories in the Sciences and Humanities of Deep Time, 1800-1920.

asimon-stickley@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Sep 2023-31 Aug 2026)

Contestation of Knowledge in the Collection and Exhibition of Indigenous Objects by Catholic Mission Museums

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (15 Oct 2023-31 Oct 2024)

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Mar 2020-30 Sep 2025)

The Coimbra Commentaries' Doctrine of Sense Perception

ytao@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (1 Jul 2023-30 Sep 2025)

Number Governance: The Institutionalization of Journal Metrics in the Chinese Science Assessment

Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (3 Jan 2024-3 Jan 2025)

Comparative Study of Mission-Oriented R&D Organizations

xizhou@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de