I'm a historian of science and technology based in Berlin. (previously here (CHoSTM / Imperial College London), then here (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin), then here (Science Studies / ETH Zurich), then here (Architecture & Urbanism / Bauhaus-University Weimar)). I'm currently interim professor (Media History) at the University of Siegen.
These days, I'm interested, mainly, in the history of ″high tech″ — how this became a Thing, scientifically, economically, politically, intellectually, ideologically (...with a special focus on Deutschland: High-Tech BRD).
Presently, I'm turning parts of this into a book, provisionally titled Start-Up West-Berlin — a history of urban crisis/deindustrialization, regional innovation policy, and the rise of ″entrepreneurial science″ in the FRG/West-Berlin, ca. 1967–1989. It tells the story of the FRG's growing infatuation with (so-called) ″new technology-based firms″, technology-transfer, science parks, venture capital, and so on – the dream of its very own Silicon Valley –, ... and of the ways this began to reshape the University, intersected with broader political-economic transformations, and ultimately sidelined alternative visions of future-making. I'm also (still) working on a book/project titled Neue Arbeit (i.e., ″New Work″): a history of mental labour X technological change as seen through the sciences of ″post-industrial″ work (ergonomics, industrial sociology, human factors engineering, HCI, and the like).
*publications/pdfs*
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Interfacing Industry: Continuous Flow, Cognitive Turn (in preparation).
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Tutto fa brodo (2025). In: Über Bücher: 101 Texte und Bilder für Michael Hagner. ed. Ines Barner / Stephan Graf / Nils Güttler / Niki Rhyner / Vera Wolff / Monika Wulz. Göttingen: Wallstein, 306–309.
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Gründerzeit: High-Tech und Alternativen der Wissenschaft in West-Berlin (2022). In: NTM. Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik, Medizin 30/4 (Special Section: ″Gegenwissen″, ed. Alexander von Schwerin), 599–632.
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Primordial Haptics, 1925–1935: Hands, Tools, and the Psychotechnics of Prehistory (2022). In: Body & Society 28/1–2 (Special Issue: Reconsidering Tactility in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing, ed. Rebekka Ladewig / Henning Schmidgen), 60–90.
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Man not a Machine: Models, Minds, and Mental Labour, c. 1980 (2017). In: Modeling Brains – The Making and Use of Animal Models in Neuroscience and Psychiatry. ed. Nikolas Rose / Tara Mahfoud / Sam McLean, Progress in Brain Research (233), 73–100.
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Circuits, Algae, and Whipped Cream: The Biophysics of Nerve, c. 1930 (2017). In: The History of the Brain and Mind Sciences. Technique, Technology, Therapy. ed. Delia Gavrus / Stephen Casper. Rochester: Rochester University Press, 107–135.
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Am Ende der Arbeit: Industriekultur und Bilderglaube (2016) (w/ Fabian Grütter). In: kritische berichte 44/3, 43–52.
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Wissen, ca. 1980 — Editorial (2016) (w/ Nils Güttler / Margarete Pratschke). In: Wissen, ca. 1980 – Nach Feierabend 2016. ed. Nils Güttler / Margarete Pratschke / Max Stadler. Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 7–14.
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Before Critique Ran Out of Steam : Die Zeitschrift ″Wechselwirkung — Technik, Naturwissenschaft, Gesellschaft″, 1979–1989. Ein Interview mit Reinhard Behnisch, Barbara Orland und Elvira Scheich (2016). In: Wissen, ca. 1980 — Nach Feierabend 2016. ed. Nils Güttler / Margarete Pratschke / Max Stadler. Zürich, Berlin: Diaphanes, 15–33.
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Der User (2015). In: Das Personal der Postmoderne. Inventur einer Epoche. ed. Alban Frei / Hannes Mangold. Bielefeld: Transcript, 75–90.
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Introduction: Surface Histories (2015) (w/ Mathias Grote). In: Science in Context 28/3 (Special Issue: Surfaces in the History of Modern Science: Inscribing, Separating, Enclosing), 311–315.
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Gutes Sehen, gute Beleuchtung: ″lichttechnische Aufklärung″ um 1930 (2015). In: ″Erkenne Dich selbst!″. Visuelle Gesundheitsaufklärung mit Wissensobjekten aus dem Deutschen Hygiene-Museum im 20. Jahrhundert. ed. Sybilla Nikolow. Wien, Köln, Weimar: Böhlau, 284–299.
