Prof. Dr. rer nat. Dr. phil. Olaf Breidbach

Jena University

Biography: Born in 1957; studied art, philosophy, biology, palaeontology and educational sciences; 1982, doctorate and title Dr. phil. with a dissertation on Hegel. 1984, doctorate and title Dr. rer.nat. with a dissertation on the biology of a pest insect; 1985-1987, Leibig Fellowship in the Department of Developmental Physiology at the University of Cologne; 1987, development of a working group for neuronal development at the University of Bonn; 1989, Habilitation (post-doctoral lecturing qualification) in zoology, 1990, research prize from the state of NRW for a project on neuro-information sciences; 1994, academic work at the Mathematics Institute of the University of Bochum; since 1995, director of the Institute for the History of Medicine, Sciences and Technology at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena. Director of the museum Ernst Haeckel Haus; professor of history of the sciences and director of theoretical biology at the Biological Pharmaceutical Faculty of the FSU, Jena. Since 1999, director of the “Theory Laboratory – Research Department for Structural Dynamics and Structural Evolution”. Together with M. Weingarten, he is editor of “Theory in Biosciences”, and also editor of the series “Neuronale Ästhetik” published by the Springer Verlag Vienna, of the “Ernst-Haeckel-Haus-Studien, Monographien zur Geschichte der Biowissenschaften und Medizin”, of the series “Theorie der Biowissenschaften”, WWB Berlin and joint editor of the programme of editions “Historia Scientiarum”. Member of the board of directors for the SFB “Ereignis Weimar-Jena, Kultur um 1800”. Focuses within his present work: the theory and history of the sciences; systematic theory; scientific culture around 1800; natural philosophy; perceptions of science. Publications (Selection): (together with W. Kutsch) (eds.) The Nervous System of Invertebrates. An Evolutionary and Comparative Approach Basel u. New York 1995; (together with Rusch, G., Schmidt, S.J.) (eds.) Interne Repräsentationen. Neue Konzepte der Hirnforschung Frankfurt 1996 Die Materialisierung des Ichs. Zur Geschichte der Hirnforschung im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt 1997 (ed.) Natur der Ästhetik – Ästhetik der Natur Vienna 1997 (ed.) Matthias Jacob Schleiden – Grundzüge der wissenschaftlichen Botanik Hildesheim 1998 (ed.) Exner Entwurf zu einer physiologischen Erklärung der psychischen Erscheinungen Frankfurt 1999 (together with Clausberg, K.) Video ergo sum Hamburg 1999 (together with Lippert, W., eds.) Die Natur der Dinge Vienna 2000.   Events with Prof. Dr. rer nat. Dr. phil. Olaf Breidbach Download/s:   Talk: "Die Wissenschaft denkt nicht" (Audio)