Research staff

Sabrina Engert

Position Description

Website at the department of History of Science and Technology

Biography

2017–2021: Combined Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and History at the University of Wuppertal, thesis topic: Per aspera ad astra — the Barmen Planetarium between the World Wars

2021–2024: Master of Education for teaching at Gymnasien and Gesamtschulen in Philosophy and History at the University of Wuppertal

2022–2024: Master of Arts in Humanities and Cultural Studies in the fields of History of Science and Technology and Methods of Historical Research, thesis topic: Vesalius' Legacy — A Study on the Visual Reception of the Fabrica in the Scientific Revolution

Since December 2024: Research Associate in the History of Science and Technology and doctoral candidate supervised by Prof. Dr. Volker Remmert, University of Wuppertal

Since June 2025: Santorio Fellow

Research Interests:

• Transformations of authorities and the significance and function of traditions and strategies of legitimation in the so-called Scientific Revolution
• The development of celestial representations and planetariums, in particular the development of optical planetariums during the Weimar Republic
• The popularisation and communication of science in astronomy

Dissertation Project:

Cosmos, Body, Canon – Scientific Authorities between Dissection and Reordering

The dissertation project examines the transformation and significance of (epistemic) authorities during the so-called Scientific Revolution. The turn towards empiricism and an ostensibly objective practice, alongside the simultaneous — albeit gradual — departure from traditions and authorities, was still a novelty in 1543 and is, from today's perspective, a defining characteristic of the Scientific Revolution. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed a profound transformation, ignited by the extensive reception of ancient texts in Latin Europe during the age of Humanism. This transformation, however, did not manifest solely through new discoveries at the epistemic level within individual fields of knowledge. Alongside new theories and models, one of the most consequential outcomes of these processes was the shift in scholars' self-understanding and, with it, in their conception of their respective fields. The gradual departure from and transformation of authorities is therefore just as groundbreaking and epoch-defining as the scientific discoveries themselves. Drawing on examples from astronomy and anatomy, the project examines whether, when, and in what ways structures of authority changed. It further seeks to illuminate the significance of authorities, traditions, and legitimation within the context of the Scientific Revolution. These fields of knowledge — whose categorisation is understood here in anachronistic terms — represent the macro- and microcosm of scholarly interest at the outset of the so-called Scientific Revolution. While anatomy unlocked "God's creation" on a small scale (microcosm), astronomy devoted itself to the greatest of "God's creations": the universe (macrocosm).