ERC Synergy Grant for historian Dr. Petra Schmidl
Dr. Petra Schmidl from FAU has received one of the most prestigious grants from the European Research Council (ERC) together with researchers from Belgium, Italy and the USA: a Synergy Grant worth 10 million euros, with almost 2.3 million going to FAU in the next six years. The researchers are investigating historical sources on occult sciences in Islamicate cultures.
FAU researcher receives over two million euros in funding
Astrology, alchemy, geomancy, magic and a wide range of other prognosis practices are classed as occult sciences, and are an essential aspect of the global history of science and technology. The aim of the project MOSAIC, which stands for “Mapping Occult Sciences Across Islamicate Cultures“, is to investigate Islamic and Eastern Christian sources spanning a period of approximately 1500 years between late antiquity and the 19th century in view of this aspect – sources that have largely been neglected by researchers to date. The researchers’ work will cover an extremely large geographical area – stretching from the Iberian Peninsula to India – and a wide range of languages. The sources are written in Greek, Syrian, Arabic, Persian and Turkish. The researchers from the University of Louvain in Belgium, the University of Bologna in Italy, the University of South Carolina, USA, and FAU hope to gain new insights into this aspect of the history of science and to present their findings to the general public.
Dr. Petra Schmidl
Dr. Petra Schmidl is a science historian at the Chair of Medieval History at FAU specializing in pre-modern science history in Islamic societies, with a focus on astronomy, astronomical instruments, astrology, mantic arts and other occult sciences. She investigates how these taught traditions interact with rulers and religion, the history of science in general and the role of prognoses and instruments.
After studying history, science history, anthropology and physics and learning Arabic, Petra Schmidl completed her doctoral degree in 2005 at the University of Frankfurt on three treatises on folk astronomy from 11th century Hejaz and 13th century Yemen. Dr. Schmidl has often been a visiting scientist at FAU’s International Consortium for Research in the Humanities “Fate, Freedom and Prognostication. Strategies for Coping with the Future in East Asia and Europe”.
What is an ERC Synergy Grant?
The ERC Synergy Grant is the only grant the European Research Council awards to a group of up to four researchers. With these grants, the ERC aims to support outstanding projects that can only be mastered by pooling various perspectives, abilities and resources. Funding covers a period of six years and amounts to a total of roughly ten million euros.
Detailed information on ERC Synergy Grants
Further information:
Communications and Press
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