Former

Moritz Epple

SONY DSC

Projects and positions at the research center
Principal Investigator

Funding period 2012-2017
Project management: The normativity of formal knowledge: exact sciences, equality and situated universalism in the 18th century | Research field 2

Funding period 2007-2012
Project management: The scientific culture of the Enlightenment and the justification of normative orders | Research field 2

Specializations
History of science

Main research
History of the mathematical sciences of the 18th – 20th centuries in a scientific, cultural and political context

  • Biografische Angaben

    Since 2016: Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina 2015-2019: Deputy Spokesperson, Collaborative Research Center 1095 "Discourses of Weakness and Resource Regimes", German Research Foundation (DFG) 2015: Media Prize for the exhibition "Transcending Tradition: Jewish Mathematicians in German-Speaking Academic Culture", German Mathematical Society 2008-2010: Project "Between Modernism and Application: A Comparative Approach to Mathematical Research Culture in the Early 1900's", German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF) 2007-2017: Sub-project "The scientific culture of the Enlightenment and the justification of normative orders", Cluster of Excellence (EXC) 243, DFG 2004-2008: Deputy spokesperson, SFB 435 "Knowledge Culture and Social Change", DFG 2003-2010: "Aerodynamic research hybrids" project, DFG Awards and memberships conferred Since 2003: Professor of History of Science and Head of the working group "History of Science in the Modern Age", Department of History, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main 2002-2003: Professor of History of Science and Technology, University of Stuttgart 2000-2002: Heisenberg Fellowship, DFG 2000: Visiting researcher, research program "History of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society under National Socialism", Max Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin 1999: Senior Research Fellow, Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA 1998: Habilitation in the history of mathematics and the natural sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz 1992-1999: Research Assistant for the History of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz 1991: Doctorate in mathematical physics, University of Tübingen 1988-1992: Research Assistant for Mathematical Physics, Mathematical Institute, University of Tübingen 1987: Diploma in physics, state examination in philosophy and physics, University of Tübingen Until 1987: Studied physics, mathematics and philosophy at the University of Tübingen, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark and King's College London, London, UK
  • Publikationen

    2022 Epple, Moritz (2022): "'Analogies,''Interpretations,''Images,''Systems,'and 'Models': Some Remarks on the History of Abstract Representation in the Sciences Since the Nineteenth Century." Model and Mathematics: From the 19th to the 21st Century. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 279-307. 2021 Moritz Epple (ed.) (2021): Felix Hausdorff. Collected Works, Volume IV: Geometry, Space and Time. Berlon: Springer. 2020 Epple, Moritz/ Warner (Imhausen), Annette/ Müller, Frank (2020): Preface. In: Epple, Moritz/ Imhausen, Annette/ Müller, Frank (eds.): Weak Knowledge: Forms, Functions, and Dynamics, Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 9-12. Epple, Moritz (2020): The Theaetetus Problem: Some Remarks Concerning a History of Weak Knowledge. In: Epple, Moritz/ Imhausen, Annette/ Müller, Falk (eds.): Weak Knowledge: Forms, Functions, and Dynamics, Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 19-40. Epple, Moritz/ Warner (Imhausen), Annette/ Müller, Frank (eds.) (2020): Weak Knowledge: Forms, Functions, and Dynamics. Frankfurt am Main: Campus. 2018 Comtesse, Dagmar/ Epple, Moritz (2018): Between Appropriation and Rejection: Translating D'Alembert into German, and D'Alembert on Translation, in: Centaurus. Epple, Moritz (2018): Four remarks "on the state of the history of science in Germany", in: Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 41 (4), 345-349. 2016 Epple, Moritz/ Fried, Johannes/ Gross, Raphael/ Gudian, Janus (eds.) (2016): "Politisierung der Wissenschaft": Jüdische, völkische und andere Wissenschaftler an der Universität Frankfurt am Main vor und nach 1933. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag. 2015 Epple, Moritz (2015): An Introduction to the Exhibition "Transcending Tradition". In: Epple, Moritz/ Korey (ed.), 5-9. Epple, Moritz/ Korey, Michael (2015): Turmoil and Transition: Tracing Emigré Mathematicians in the Twentieth Century, in: The Mathematical Intelligencer, 37 (1), 4-44. Epple, Moritz (2015): Ulikhet, grenser og alliansen mellom de lærde og de store: Utidssvarende betraktninger fra en encyclopedist, in: ARR - Idéhistorisk Tidsskrift, 4, (Liv, Arr, idéhistorie: Festtidskrift til Espen Schaanning), 27-49. 2013 Epple, Moritz (2013): Article "Mathematics". In: Diner, Dan/ Metzler, J. B. (ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture, Vol. 4, Stuttgart: Metzler, 82-88. Comtesse, Dagmar/ Epple, Moritz (2013): On the way to a revolution of the mind? Jean d'Alembert as a test case. In: Fahrmeir, Andreas/ Imhausen, Annette (eds.): The diversity of normative orders. Conflicts and Dynamics in Historical and Ethnological Perspective, Normative Orders vol. 8, Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 21-47. Epple, Moritz/ Hoff Kjeldsen, Tinne/ Siegmund-Schultze, Reinhard (2013): From 'Mixed' to 'Applied' Mathematics: Tracing an Important Dimension of Mathematics and its History. In: Epple, Moritz/ Hoff Kjeldsen, Tinne/ Siegmund-Schultze, Reinhard (eds.): Oberwolfach Reports 10/1, 657-660. 2011 Epple, Moritz (2011): Between Timelessness and Historiality: On the Dynamics of the Epistemic Objects of Mathematics, in: Isis, 102, 481-493. Epple, Moritz (2011): Sphere. In: Dept. III of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (ed.): A Natural History for the 21st Century: Hommage à Hans-Jörg Rheinberger. Berlin: MPIWG, 253-255. Bergmann, Birgit/ Epple, Moritz/ Ungar, Ruti (eds.) (2011): Transcending Tradition: Jewish Mathematicians in German-Speaking Academic Culture. Heidelberg: Springer. 2010 Epple, Moritz (2010): Commentary on the Natural and Technical Sciences Section. In: Orth, Karin/ Oberkrome, Willi (eds.): Die deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft 1920-1970: Forschungsförderung im Spannungsfeld von Wissenschaft und Politik, Wiesbaden: Steiner, 211-218. Epple, Moritz (2010): Links and Their Traces: Cultural Strategies, Resources, and Conjunctures of Experimental and Mathematical Practices. In: Epple, Moritz/ Zittel, Claus (eds.), Science as Cultural Practice. Vol. 1: Cultures and Politics of Research from the Early Modern Period to the Age of Extremes, Akademie Verlag, Berlin: 221-245. Epple, Moritz/ Schmaltz, Florian (2010): Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization. In: Gruß, Peter/ Rürup, Reinhard (eds.): Denkorte. Max Planck Society and Kaiser Wilhelm Society: Ruptures, Continuities, Memories 1911-2011. Dresden: Sandstein, 137-145. Epple, Moritz/ Remmert, Volker/ Schappacher, Norbert (2010): Mini-Workshop: History of Mathematics in Germany, 1920-1960. In: Epple, Moritz/ Remmert, Volker/ Schappacher, Norbert (eds.): Oberwolfach Reports 7, 109-140. Epple, Moritz/ Zittel, Claus (eds.) (2010): Science as Cultural Practice, Vol. 1: Cultures and Politics of Research from the Early Modern Period to the Age of Extremes. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Epple, Moritz (2010): On the notation of topological objects. Interview by Karin Krauthausen. In: Krauthausen, Karin/ Nasim, Omar W. (Eds.): Noting, Sketching. Writing and drawing as a process of design. Zurich/ Berlin: Diaphanes, 119-138. 2009 Epple, Moritz (2009): Calculation, Measurement, and Leadership: War Research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Fluid Dynamics, 1937-1945. In: Heim,Susanne/ Sachse, Carola/ Walker, Mark (eds.): The Kaiser Wilhelm Society under National Socialism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 283-311. Epple, Moritz (2009): Cultures of research: Mathematics and modernity at the beginning of the 20th century. In: Fried, Johannes/ Stolleis, Michael (eds.): Wissenskulturen: Über die Erzeugung und Weitergabe von Wissen. Frankfurt am Main: Camjpus, 125-158. Epple, Moritz (2009): Spaces of thought: Felix Hausdorff and Paul Mongré. In: Schwarz, Astrid/ Nordmann, Alfred (eds.): Das bunte Gewand der Theorie: Vierzehn Begegnungen mit philosophierenden Forschern, Freiburg/ München: 235-262. Epple, Moritz (2009): Two improvisations on the easy in mathematics. In: Dombois, Florian/ Ofosu, Yeboaa/ Schmidt, Sarah (eds.): Genau - leicht - konsequent. Basel: Schwalbe: 43-54. 2008 Epple, Moritz (2008): Der Grosse Ploetz: Die Enzyklopädie der Weltgeschichte, 35th completely revised edition. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Responsible author for the thematic area "History of Science since 1789" (in cooperation with Birgit Bergmann, Bjoern Schirmeier and Florian Schmaltz). Epple, Moritz/ Hård, Mikael/ Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg/ Roelcke, Volker (2008): Editorial, in: NTM - Zeitschrift fürGeschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin, 16, 1-4. Epple, Moritz/ Bergmann, Birgit (eds.) (2008): Jewish mathematicians in German-speaking academic culture. Heidelberg: Springer. Epple, Moritz (2008): Mathematics and German-Jewish history. In: Stiftung Lesen (ed.): You can do more math. Ideas for the classroom. Mainz, 4-9. Epple, Moritz (2008): Mathematical sciences. In: Encyclopaedia of Modern Times, Volume 8. Stuttgart: Metzler. Epple, Moritz (2008): The Gap Between Theory and Practice: Hydrodynamical and Hydraulical Utopias in the 18th Century. In: Zittel, Claus et al. (eds.): Philosophies of Technology: Francis Bacon and his Contemporaries. Leiden: Brill, 457-494. 2007 Epple, Moritz (2007): An Unusual Career between Cultural and Mathematical Modernism: Felix Hausdorff, 1868-1942. In: Charpa, Ulrich/ Deichmann, Ute (eds.): Jews and Sciences in German Contexts: Case Studies from the 19th and 20th Centuries. Tübingen: Mohr and Siebeck, 77-99.

News from the research center

Event
19.11.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Unerwünscht. Die westdeutsche Demokratie und die Verfolgten des NS-Regimes

Book Presentation

Der Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum schildert die Erfahrungen von überlebenden Juden und Sinti und Roma, von ehemaligen Zwangsarbeitern und Homosexuellen in Westdeutschland in der Nachkriegszeit.

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News
04.09.2025

Rainer Forst awarded the Goethe Plakette of the City of Frankfurt am Main

On September 4, 2025, the political philosopher and Director of the Research Centre Normative Orders Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst was awarded the Goethe Plakette of the City of Frankfurt am Main. With this award, the city honors personalities who have set standards far beyond Frankfurt's borders through their academic work and/or their public impact.

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Event
15.10.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Aufrecht. Überleben im Zeitalter der Extreme

Book Presentation

ACHTUNG RAUMÄNDERUNG! In ihrem jüngsten Werk begibt sich Lea Ypi auf eine Reise in die Vergangenheit ihrer Familie und verknüpft persönliche Erinnerungen mit den großen politischen und gesellschaftlichen Umbrüchen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Das Forschungszentrum Normative Ordnungen lädt gemeinsam mit dem Netzwerk FrauenmitFormat, dem Honorarkonsulat der Republik Albanien in Frankfurt am Main und dem Suhrkamp Verlag herzlich zur Vorstellung des neuen Buches von Prof. Dr. Lea Ypi mit anschließender Diskussionsrunde mit Prof. Dr. Lea Ypi, Honorarkonsulin Dr. Jonela Hoxhaj und Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst unter der Moderation von Rebecca C. Schmidt ein.

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Publication
02.09.2025 | Journal article

Beyond Myth Busting: How Engagement with Ethical Dilemmas Can Improve Debates and Policymaking on Migration

Schmid, Lukas; Ruhs, Martin; Bauböck, Rainer; Mourão Permoser, Julia (2025): "Beyond Myth Busting: How Engagement with Ethical Dilemmas Can Improve Debates and Policymaking on Migration". In: Ethics & International Affairs, 39 (1), S. 26-36.

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Publication
01.09.2025 | Journal article

Roundtable: Ethical Dilemmas and Migration Policymaking

Schmid, Lukas; Ruhs, Martin; Bauböck Rainer, Mourão Permoser, Julia (Hrsg.) (2025): "Roundtable: Ethical Dilemmas and Migration Policymaking". In: Ethics & International Affairs, 39 (1)

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Publication
21.08.2025 | Anthology

Autoritäre Treiber eines Systemwechsels. Zur Destabilisierung von Institutionen durch die AfD

Frankenberg, Günter; Heitmeyer, Wilhelm (Hrsg.) (2025): Autoritäre Treiber eines Systemwechsels. Zur Destabilisierung von Institutionen durch die AfD. Campus Verlag.

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News
31.07.2025

Shaping the future - a review

As part of the exhibition "Fixing Futures. Planetary futures between speculation and control", our four-part lecture series "Shaping the future - between climate change, technology and social responsibility" took place.

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News
30.07.2025

What remains of "1968" - event review

What can we learn from the 1968 movement for our own time and where do we perhaps need new ideas and utopias? The event "Utopia and awakening of the 1968ers - What remains of political rebellion and individual self-liberation" on July 14, 2025 at the Historisches Museum was dedicated to these questions

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News
10.07.2025

Impressions from the Crisis Talk "Europe in a multipolar world"

The Crisis Talk "Europe in a multipolar world - How can the EU meet the challenges of major powers?" held on July 1, 2025 at the Representation of the State of Hesse to the European Union was dedicated to the question of how the EU should shape its influence and assume its responsibilities in this international environment.

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