Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Benno van Dalen
May 2013-now
Employer: Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Munich) / Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg.
Function: Research leader in the project Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus.
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, Symposia and Workshops
- Certainty, Doubt, Error: The production of knowledge and its impediments in the practice of pre- and early modern science, Frankfurt, 17 and 18 November 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. The proceedings of this conference were published in a special issue of Early Science and Medicine.
- Symposium Aspects of Early Astronomy and Mathematics: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Islamic Middle Ages, Frankfurt, 7 July 2006 (with Dr. Petra Schmidl).
- Symposium India and Islam. Episodes from the History of Pre-Modern Astronomy, Frankfurt, 16 July 2007 (with Dr. Petra Schmidl).
- Between Orient and Occident: Transformation of Knowledge, Munich, 6 and 7 November 2009. With financial support of the DFG and the Münchener Universitätsgesellschaft. The proceedings of this conference were published in a special issue of Annals of Science.
- Pre-Modern Astronomical and Astrological Data in Tabular Form: Storage, Edition and Mathematical Analysis, first international workshop of the project Ptolemaeus Arabis et Latinus, organised in collaboration with Matthieu Husson (Observatoire de Paris) and the ERC project Alfonsine Astronomy, Munich, 19-21 November 2018.
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. J. Len Berggren) 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:
- Commission on History of Science & Technology in Islamic Societies (CHOSTIS)
- International Society for the History of East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine (ISHEASTM)
Last modification: 16 January 2019.
Benno van Dalen
Islamic Astronomy
Family History