Cet animal américain, bien différent de la faune connue en Europe, a suscité la curiosité des Occidentaux dès sa découverte à l’époque moderne et a figuré dans la plupart des cabinets de curiosité.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Founded in 1994, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin is one of the more than 80 research institutes administered by the Max Planck Society in the sciences and humanities.
Since its inception, the institute has approached the fundamental questions of the history of knowledge from the Neolithic era to the present day. Researchers at the institute pursue an historical epistemology in their study of how new categories of thought, proof, and experience have emerged in interactions between the sciences and their ambient cultures.
The institute’s research projects span all eras of human history, as well as all cultures north, south, east, and west. The institute’s projects canvass an array of scientific areas, ranging from the origins of continuity systems in Mesopotamia to present-day neuroscience, Renaissance natural history, and the origins of quantum mechanics.
MPIWG researchers explore the changing meaning of fundamental scientific concepts (for example number, force, heredity, space) as well as how cultural developments shape fundamental scientific practices (for example argument, proof, experiment, classification). They examine how bodies of knowledge originally devised to address specific local problems became universalized.
The work of MPIWG scholars forms the basis of a theoretically oriented history of science which considers scientific thinking from a variety of methodological and interdisciplinary perspectives. The institute draws on the reflective potential of the history of science to address current challenges in scientific scholarship.
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The beginnings of measuring fever go back more than 400 years.
Terrorism hasn’t always been associated with individuals – in the past, it has described violence used by the state against its subjects.
Wild boars are being scapegoated for an epidemic of African swine flu that threatens the pork industry.
Recycling on a large scale is a Bronze Age invention.
Reports of demonic possession are once again on the rise. But during the devil’s last apogee in early modern Europe, demonic afflictions were taken seriously by both priests and physicians.
The crucial phase of our discovery of black holes took place in a suitably dark period of human history – World War II.
Stories of substitution and surrogates are all too common in the wildlife trade, especially when it comes to medicines derived from animal parts.
The slaughtered tigers were not bred in zoos, yet their story should put captive breeding in general into question.
They were discovered over 100 years ago – but we still don’t know exactly what genes are.
The internet has not only changed the kinds of answers historical study can provide, but also what questions can be asked.
Kita baru berhasil terbang ke luar angkasa pada abad kemarin, tetapi manusia sudah sejak lama mendamba mengunjungi Bulan.
Parasites are not only a personal health problem – they are political too.
We’ve only travelled into space in the last century, but humanity’s desire to reach the moon is far from recent.
Devoting all energies to fight over an imaginary border deflects attention from the real issues.
771,945 have been infected.
A forest that is also a disturbing memorial to Mussolini recently burned down.
The Korean peninsula has a lengthy history of exchanging insults.
Apprendre à vivre avec l’ours brun n’est pas impossible. C’est même une nécessité si l’on veut préserver ce grand prédateur de l’extinction en Europe de l’Ouest.
Bear-man conflicts have made news in the Alps but history tells a story of a possible cohabitation.
Authors
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Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Emeritus Scientific Member, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Visiting Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Chancellor's Fellow in History, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Visiting Predoctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Researcher in Early Modern Studies, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Visiting Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Senior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Research Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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Senior Research Scholar, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
