Paul Kunitzsch

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Paul Kunitzsch (born July 14, 1930 in Neu-Krüssow , East Prignitz, † May 7, 2020 in Munich ) was a German Arabist and university professor in Munich.

life and work

Kunitzsch studied from 1951 to 1956 Classical Philology and Oriental Studies at the University of Munich and the Free University of Berlin . In 1956 he received his doctorate at the Free University of Berlin, in 1957 he passed the state examination in classical philology, also in Berlin. He completed his habilitation in Arabic studies in 1977 at the University of Munich.

From 1957 to 1960 he was a lecturer at the Goethe Institute in Cairo, from 1975 lecturer, from 1977 professor for Arabic studies at the Institute for Semitic Studies at the University of Munich. In 1985 he was elected as a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In October 1995, he retired.

Kunitzsch worked on the history of science , especially on the history of astronomy / astrology (including the astrolab and other instruments). He was particularly interested in the transfer of knowledge from ancient Greece to the Arab-Islamic culture and from the Arab culture and via this into medieval Europe. In this area he was also active in the field of edition philology and Graeco-Arabic terminology. Last but not least, he traced the oriental in medieval German and European literature.

Fonts (selection)

  • Arabic star names in Europe . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1959
  • Investigations into the star nomenclature of the Arabs . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1961
  • Types of star directories in astronomical manuscripts of the 10th to 14th centuries . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1966
  • The Almagest. The Syntaxis Mathematica of Claudius Ptolemy in Arabic-Latin tradition . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1974
  • Reflections of the Orient in the name of medieval European literature. Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1996.
  • with Tim Smart: A Dictionary of Modern Star Names. Sky Publishing, Cambridge, MA 2006.
  • On the history of the 'Arabic' numerals. Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Phil.-hist. Class, meeting reports, 2005, 3rd Beck, Munich 2005.
  • Science in the Dialogue between Orient and Occident. In: Fachprosaforschung - Grenzüberreitungen 8/9, 2012/2013 (2014), pp. 477-482 (Lecture on the occasion of the opening of the special exhibition "Ex Oriente lux? Paths to Modern Science" at the State Museum of Nature and Man in Oldenburg on October 25, 2009 ).

literature

  • Menso Folkerts , Richard Lorch (Ed.): Sic itur ad astra. Studies in the history of mathematics and natural sciences. Festschrift for the Arabist Paul Kunitzsch on his 70th birthday. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2000, ISBN 3-447-04290-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bavarian Academy of Sciences: deceased members
  2. ^ Member entry by Paul Kunitzsch (with picture) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 1, 2016.
  3. ^ Paul Kunitzsch: The Arabica in the 'Parzival' Wolframs von Eschenbach. In: Werner Schröder (Ed.): Wolfram-Studien, II. Berlin 1974, pp. 9–35.
personal data
SURNAME Kunitzsch, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Arabist
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Neu-Krüssow (East Prignitz)
DATE OF DEATH May 7, 2020
Place of death Munich