Jews and Sciences in German Contexts

Case Studies from the 19th and 20th Centuries

edited by Ulrich Charpa and Ute Deichmann

Book cover: Jews and Sciences in German Contexts

Extent: 312 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Jewish Studies, Philosophy

Series: Schriftenreihe wissenschaftlicher Abhandlungen des Leo Baeck Instituts

Series volume number: 72

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(June 2007)

ISBN: 9783161491214

Price: $112.00

In stock

~ENG~The authors of the articles collected here analyze the role of German-speaking Jews in modern science and relate to their cultural, religious, and social situation. They discuss the sensitive question of the specificity of the approaches of Jewish scientists from the early 19th to the 20th century.


The authors examine the relationship between the cultural, religious and social situation of German Jews on the one hand and their scientific activities on the other. They discuss the sensitive question of the specificity of the approaches of Jewish scientists and draw attention to the debate concerning the relationship between Judaism and academic research, ranging from the early 19th century theorizing on science and Judaism to 20th century issues, e.g. the controversies on ‘Jewish’ physics, mathematics etc. in the 1920s and 30s. Contributors: Ute Deichmann, Anthony S. Travis, Moritz Epple, Raphael Falk, Ulrich Charpa, Nurit Kirsch, Yael Hashiloni-Dolev, Aharon Loewenstein, Ruth Sime, Simone Wenkel

I. Introduction by the Editors: Problems, Phenomena, Explanatory Approaches II. Research practices, achievements, contexts Ute Deichmann : Empiricism and the Discreteness of Nature. Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898), the Founder of Microbiology - Anthony S. Travis : German-Jewish Chemists and Raphael Meldola. The 1906 Celebrations for the Discovery of the First Aniline Dye - Moritz Epple : An Unusual Career between Cultural and Mathematical Modernism. Felix Hausdorff (1868-1942) - Ute Deichmann : 'I Detest His Way of Working'. Leonor Michaelis (1875-1949), Emil Abderhalden (1877-1950) and Jewish and non-Jewish Biochemists in Germany III. The impact of religious and ideological attitudes Raphael Falk : Three Zionist Men of Science. Between Nature and Nurture. Salaman, Bychowski, Bodenheimer - Ulrich Charpa : Aaron Bernstein's 'nachster grosser Reformator'. Einstein, Reform Judaism, and the Fries School - Nurit Kirsch : Genetic Studies of Ethnic Communities in Israel. A Case of Values Motivated Research Work - Yael Hashiloni-Dolev : German and Israeli Attitudes towards Reproductive Genetics and the Effect of Religion IV. Anti-Semitism in academia Aharon Loewenstein : Dogmatic and Pragmatic Physics. Stark on Aryans, Jews and White Jews in Physics (appendix: Johannes Stark, The Dogmatic and Pragmatic Spirit in Science, 1938) - Ruth Sime : No Return: Jewish Emigres and German Scientists after World War II V. Simone Wenkel: Prosopographical Data: An Overview

  • Edited by Ulrich Charpa
  • Edited by Ute Deichmann