Helmuth Grössing

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Helmuth Grössing, 2008

Helmuth Grössing (born January 16, 1940 in Leoben , Styria) is an Austrian historian and science organizer. His main research interests are Renaissance humanism , late medieval and early modern astronomy, and witch trials . He is married and has two grown children.

School and study

Grössing attended elementary school and secondary school in Leoben, where he passed his Matura in 1958 . He then studied history at the University of Vienna and wrote his (unprinted) dissertation on Johannes Stabius . In 1965 he received his doctorate at Alfons Lhotsky to Dr. phil. and then attended the three-year course at the Institute for Austrian Historical Research , which he completed in 1968 with a state examination. Because of this degree and because of his later archival practice, he received the title of MAS in 2000 .

Archive and university teaching

From 1966 Grössing was archivist at the Vienna City and State Archives (since 1975 he has been " archivist "). In 1976 Günther Hamann appointed him as an assistant. In 1982 he qualified as a professor for the history of modern times with his study of humanistic science . In 1989 he was appointed a "titled extraordinary university professor ".

From 2002 to 2008 he was the managing director of the Institute Austrian Biographical Lexicon and Biographical Documentation of the Austrian Academy of Sciences .

Society and book series for the history of science

Günther Hamann was the driving force behind the founding of the Austrian Society for the History of Natural Sciences in 1980 . He was able to rely on Grössing, who was involved in the organization from the start and replaced Hamann as President in 1988. In 1992 the name was changed to the Austrian Society for the History of Science , which was connected with a thematic expansion. As early as 1981, the publication of a scientific journal began, which is now called Communications of the Austrian Society for the History of Science and which gives the keywords man - science - magic as a surtitle. Grössing always carried a large part of the editorial burden of this scientific journal. Grössing founded the book series Perspektiven der Wissenschaftsgeschichte . With the year of publication 1987 came Vol. 4: Wages and Punishments in Science. Natural scientist in the judgment of the story of Franz Stuhlhofer . Volume 1 was reserved for Günther Hamann, whose collection of essays was published in 1993 under the title Understanding the World and Experiencing it .

Research on "humanistic science"

Grössing began his research on the history of science with the history of astronomy in Vienna: After Stabius, he devoted himself to Georg von Peuerbach and Regiomontanus . He also supervised Franz Stuhlhofer on his dissertation on Georg Tannstetter . He paid special attention to Conrad Celtis and Viennese humanism around 1500. Grössing saw a close connection between the mentality of humanism and scientific research. Such a connection was realized in the so-called Poetenkolleg , in which, in addition to two teachers for poetics and rhetoric, also two teachers for mathematics in the broadest sense, i.e. including scientific fields of application e.g. B. in astronomy and cartography taught. Grössing sums up his view of "humanistic science" by presenting it in six principles: Humanistic science ...

... (1) is natural philosophy in terms of content in the Aristotelian-scholastic sense, (2) increases natural research around the critical moment and shows approaches to a methodology, (3) is primarily book studies, without practicing modern experiments, (4) deals with traditional texts of the Greek - Roman antiquity, but also the Latin Middle Ages, philological-critical, (5) is continued and surpassed by the natural sciences of the Renaissance, and (6) is part of the - so named by Grössing - integral humanism .

Grössing's point of view was included in the research, but in some cases judged to be "excessive". German humanism researchers such as Dieter Wuttke , Fritz Krafft , Christoph Schöner or Gregor Müller essentially accepted Grössing's thesis; as well as American historians of science such as Michael Shank, Richard Kremer or Robert Westman.

Books and essays (selection)

  • Humanistic science. On the history of the Viennese mathematical schools of the 15th and 16th centuries . Baden-Baden 1983 (habilitation thesis).
  • as processor: witch trial . In: Collected works of Kepler; XII. Munich 1990.
  • as editor: Johannes Kepler: Somnium . In: Collected works of Kepler; Vol. XI, 2. Munich 1993.
  • with Karl Kadletz: Christian Doppler (1803–1853) , Vol. 1 (= Perspektiven der Wissenschaftsgeschichte; Vol. 9/1). Vienna 1992.
  • Spring of modern times. Science, Society and Worldview in the Early Modern Era . Erasmus, Vienna 2000.
  • Humanistic Science - Scientia Mathematica. Some reflections on the subject. In: Helmuth Grössing, Kurt Mühlberger (ed.): Science and culture at the turn of the ages. Renaissance humanism, natural sciences and everyday university life in the 15th and 16th centuries ( writings from the archives of the University of Vienna ; 15). V&R unipress, Göttingen 2012, p. 39–61 (there p. 58–61 an appendix in which Grössing explains “inconsistencies in content” in his habilitation thesis from 1983).
  • Editor of the book series Perspektiven der Wissenschaftsgeschichte , since 1987 (up to vol. 11, 1997, at Böhlau, Vienna; from vol. 12 at ERASMUS, Vienna.)

Web links

Commons : Helmuth Grössing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the online personnel directory of the University of Vienna ( Memento from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), the first name is given without an h, i.e. Helmut Grössing .
  2. ^ Helmuth Grössing: Natural Sciences in Austria in the Age of Humanism . In: Michael Benedikt u. a. (Ed.): Displaced Humanism - Delayed Enlightenment , Vol. I / 1: Philosophy in Austria (1400–1650) . Klausen-Leopoldsdorf 1996, pp. 249-262, there 253 f. Similar in Grössing: Humanist Natural Science - Scientia Mathematica , 2012, p. 48f.
  3. ↑ About Arno Seifert : chap. 6 in: Notker Hammerstein (Hrsg.): Handbuch der deutschen Bildungsgeschichte , Vol. 1: 15th to 17th century . CH Beck, Munich 1996, pp. 237–239 (on this note 180 on p. 354: “with an exaggerated thesis”).
  4. ↑ So Grössing: Humanist Natural Science - Scientia Mathematica , 2012, pp. 50–53.
personal data
SURNAME Grössing, Helmuth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grössing, Helmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian historian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Leoben