Curriculum Vitae

Work Experience (on contract basis)

January 2008-September 2010

Employer: Ludwig Maximilians University (Munich).
Function: Research associate at the Lehrstuhl für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften.
Project: Der Wissenstransfer zwischen Orient und Okzident, funded by the initiative of excellence LMUexcellent.
Tasks: Research related to the transmission of knowledge between the Islamic world and surrounding regions; coordination of the research visits of two guest professors and one guest researcher; organisation of the conference Between Orient and Occident: Transformation of Knowledge in November 2009.

January 2006-December 2007

Employer: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
Function: Research associate at the Institut für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main.
Tasks: Research project for the preparation of a monograph on the transmission of Islamic astronomy to China.
 

January 2000-September 2005

Employer: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
Function: Research associate at the Institut für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main.
Tasks: Research project for the preparation of a new Survey of Islamic Astronomical Tables; three seminars on ancient and medieval mathematical astronomy.

December 1989-June 1993

Employer: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (abbreviated NWO).
Function: «Scientific assistant» at the Mathematical Institute, University of Utrecht.
Tasks: Doctoral research, teacher of mathematical exercises for mathematics majors and minors, freshman and sophomore level.

December 1987-January 1989

Employer: University of Utrecht.
Function: «Scientific assistant» at the Mathematical Institute.
Tasks: Doctoral research, teacher of mathematical exercises for mathematics majors and minors, freshman and sophomore level.

September 1985-November 1987

Employer: University of Utrecht.
Function: «Student assistant» at the Mathematical Institute (part-time).
Tasks: Assistant teacher of exercises for mathematics majors, freshman level.

Post-doctoral scholarships

September 1998-December 1999:

Institution: Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology (Massachussetts Institute of Technology), Cambridge MA (USA).
Project: Research on the role played by Muslim astronomers in Mongol China (ca. 1270) on the basis of an Arabic astronomical handbook written in Tibet in 1366.

April 1998-August 1998

Institution: Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Sciences, Frankfurt am Main (Germany).
Research: Various aspects of Islamic mathematical geography.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. F. Sezgin.

September 1997-February 1998

Foundation: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany).
Institution: Institute for History of Science, Frankfurt am Main (Germany).
Project: Development of a computer database of astronomical parameters occurring in medieval Islamic sources.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. D.A. King.

September 1995-August 1997

Foundation: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
Institution: International Institute for Linguistic Sciences, Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto (Japan).
Project: Research on Islamic astronomical tables extant in Chinese and the interaction between Islamic and Chinese science in the 13/14th century. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Michio Yano.

January 1994-June 1995

Foundation: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany).
Institution: Institute for History of Science, Frankfurt am Main (Germany).
Project: The early-Islamic astronomical handbook of Habash al-Hasib (9th century); reconstruction of some of the lost tables of Abu´l-Wafa´ (10th century).
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. D.A. King.

February 1989-November 1989

Foundation: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
Station: Institute for History of Science, Frankfurt am Main (Germany).
Project: Investigation of various historical aspects of my doctoral research; study of scientific Arabic texts.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. D.A. King.

Education

Ph.D. (September 1993)

Institution: Mathematical Institute, University of Utrecht.
Supervisors: Prof. H.J.M. Bos and Dr. J.P. Hogendijk.
Dissertation: «Ancient and Mediaeval Astronomical Tables: mathematical structure and parameter values».

M.Sc. (November 1987)

Institution: Mathematical Institute, University of Utrecht.
Supervisors: Prof. H.J.M. Bos and Dr. J.P. Hogendijk.
Master´s thesis: «Mathematical Analysis of Medieval Islamic Astronomical Tables» (in Dutch).
Major: mathematics, concentration history of mathematics, statistics.
Minor: computer science, especially theoretical informatics.

B.S. (May 1983)

Institution: Mathematical Institute, University of Utrecht (cum laude).
Major: mathematics.
Minor: computer science.

Organisation of Conferences and Symposia

• Certainty, Doubt, Error: The production of knowledge and its impedi­ments in the practice of pre- and early modern science, Frankfurt, November 17 and 18, 2001 (with Dr. Sonja Brentjes and Dr. Fran­çois Charette). With financial support of the DFG, the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, and Arbor Scientiarum e.V.
• Symposium Aspects of Early Astro­nomy and Mathematics: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Islamic Middle Ages, Frankfurt, July 7, 2006 (with Dr. Petra Schmidl).
• Symposium India and Islam. Episodes from the History of Pre-Modern Astronomy, Frank­furt, July 16, 2007 (with Dr. Petra Schmid).
• Between Orient and Occident: Transformation of Knowledge, Munich, November 6 and 7, 2009. With financial support of the DFG and the Münchener Universitätsgesellschaft.
  

Assignments, Nominations, Memberships, Invitations, etc.

• Editor (2007–2009) of Historia Mathematica, International Jour­nal of History of Mathe­matics, published by Elsevier Science. Historia Mathematica is a publication of the Inter­national Commis­sion on the History of Mathematics of the Division of History of Science and Technology of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science.
• Managing Editor (2004­–2006) of Historia Mathematica.
• Elected member (2001–2009) of the Governing Council of the Commission on History of Science & Technology in Islamic Societies (current President: Prof. Dr. Jan P. Hogendijk) of the Division of His­tory of Science and Technology of the Inter­national Union of History and Philosophy of Science.
• Consultant (2005–) of the ISMI (International Scientific Manuscripts Inititiative) project of McGill University (Montreal) and the Max Planck Institute for History of Science (Berlin).
• Corresponding member (2008–) of the Académie Internationale des Histoires des Sciences.
• Invited speaker in the section History of Mathematics at the International Congress of Mathe­maticians, Hyderabad, India, 19–27 August, 2010.
• Memberships of professional organisations:
• British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM);
• Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics (CSHPM);
• Commission on History of Science & Technology in Islamic Societies (CHSTIC);
• International Society for the History of East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine (ISHEASTM);
• International Astronomical Union (IAU).

On my homepage you will find more information about my research interests and links to my complete list of publications as well as to the descriptions of the computer programs that I have written. For further information, please mail to the address above.