H. Otto Sibum
Professor emeritus at Department of History of Science and Ideas
- Telephone:
- +46 18 471 14 80
- Fax:
- +46 18 50 44 22
- E-mail:
- otto.sibum@idehist.uu.se
- Visiting address:
- Engelska parken, Thunbergsvägen 3P
- Postal address:
- Box 629
751 26 UPPSALA
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Short presentation
Hans Rausing Professor of History of Science, director of the Office for History of Science, Department of History of Science and Ideas
Research
Otto Sibum’s research covers the history of the physical sciences from the 18th century until present. His studies are dedicated to explore new approaches in social and cultural history of the sciences.
He is Hans Rausing Professor of History of Science and Director of the Office for History of Science at Uppsala University since August 2007. Before he has been Director of Research at the Max Planck Institute for History of Science in Berlin (1998 – 2007) as well as Research Associate at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University, UK (1991-1995). He holds a doctoral degree in physics (Dr.rer.nat.) from Oldenburg University (1989) and the habilitation in history from the TU Braunschweig (2001, habilitation is the German qualification for full professorship). He was awarded best teacher at British Universities for his teaching of history of science at Cambridge University (1992) and has received various prestigious scholarly awards like the Paul-Bunge-Prize (1994) for the best publication in history of science, as well as the scientific excellence grant from the Max Planck Society, Germany (1998). He is a visiting researcher and professor at foreign institutions: Cambridge University, Tel Aviv University, Professeur invite (directeur de recherche) at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris (2008), visiting professor at the Max Planck Institute for History of Science (2008, 2009, 2010) and at Si-Mian Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at East China Normal University, Shanghai (2010).
Selected Publications
- H. Otto Sibum (ed.), The Heavens on Earth. Observatories and Astronomy in Nineteenth-Century Science and Culture (co-editors David Aubin and Charlotte Bigg). Duke University Press 2010
- H. Otto Sibum, 'Historians and the Study of Material Culture' – AHR Conversation with L. Auslander, Amy Bentley, H. Leor, H. O. Sibum, C. Witmore. The American Historical Review, vol. 114, no. 5, 2009, 1355-1404
- H. Otto Sibum (ed.), Science and the Changing Senses of Reality circa 1900. Special volume of Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 39 (3) Amsterdam...: Elsevier, 2008, 295 - 458
- Sibum, H. Otto. "What kind of science is experimental physics?" Science, vol. 306 (2004) 60-61
Selected Lectures and Presentations
- "Craft, Labor and Embodied Knowledge". Social History Seminar, Charlottesville , VA, April 19-23, 2015.
- "Knowledge Traditions and Science in the Long Nineteenth century (1770 - 1914)", Lichtenberg Kolleg, Göttingen University, May 6th, 2015

Publications
Recent publications
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History of Science and Knowledge
Shandong Science and Technology Press, 2023
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Science and Traditional Knowledge
Part of 科学与知识的历史, p. 722-740, Shandong Science and Technology Press, 2023
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Knowledge in Action: Experimenting in History and in Science
Part of Physis, p. 127-138, 2022
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Part of Facts and Evidence, p. 47-59, Springer, 2021
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Special Issue: Historicising Research Integrity and Fraud
Sage Publications, 2020
All publications
Articles in journal
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Knowledge in Action: Experimenting in History and in Science
Part of Physis, p. 127-138, 2022
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When is enough enough?: Accurate measurement and the integrity of scientific research
Part of History of Science, p. 437-457, 2020
- DOI for When is enough enough?: Accurate measurement and the integrity of scientific research
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Integrating research integrity into the history of science
Part of History of Science, p. 369-385, 2020
- DOI for Integrating research integrity into the history of science
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Integrating the history of science into broader discussions of research integrity and fraud
Part of History of Science, p. 354-368, 2020
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Part of Investigación Y Ciencia. Edición espanola de Scientific American., p. 2-3, 2017
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From the Library to the Laboratory and Back Again: Experiment as a Tool for Historians of Science
Part of Ambix, p. 85-97, 2016
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The Golden Number of the Century: A History of a Scientific Fact.
Part of Philosophical Analysis, p. 103-128, 2012
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AHR Conversation: Historians and the Study of Material Culture
Part of American Historical Review, p. 1355-1404, 2009
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Wie die Braukunst die Physik befluegelte
Part of Max-Planck-Forschung, p. 60-65, 2006
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Wissen aus erster Hand: Mikro-Dynamik wisenschaftlichen Wandels im frühviktorianischen England
Part of Historische Anthropologie, p. 301-324, 2005
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Handwerksgelehrte oder Was fuer eine Wissenschaft ist Experimentalphysik?
Part of Jahrbuch / Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, p. 661-667, 2005
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What Kind of Science is Experimental Physics?
Part of Science, p. 60-61, 2004
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Experimentalists in the Republic of Letters
Part of Science in Context, p. 89-120, 2003
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Il numero d'oro del secolo: Storia di un fatto scientifico
Part of Quaderni Storici, p. 877-903, 2001
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Part of Voprosy istorii estestvoznanija i techniki, p. 9-46, 1998
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Les gestes de la mesure: Joule, les pratiques de la brassserie et la science
Part of Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, p. 745-774, 1998
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Part of Studies in history and philosophy of science, p. 73-106, 1995
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Enquéte sur les mystères d'une expérience
Part of Les Cahiers de Science et Vie, p. 62-80, 1995
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Working Experiments: A history of Gestural Knowledge
Part of The Cambridge Review, p. 25-37, 1995
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Part of Physica didactica, p. 82-102, 1988
Articles, review/survey
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The Golden Number of the Century: The History of a Scientific Fact
Part of Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Preprint 174, 2001
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Shifting scales: microstudies in early Victorian Britain
Part of Preprint (Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte), 2001
Books
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Cambridge University Press, 2003
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Instruments, Travel and Science: Itineraries of Precision from the 17th to the 20th Century
Routledge, 2002
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1900: The New Age: A Guide to the Exhibition
Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Cambridge, 1994
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Empires of Physics: A Guide to the Exhibition
Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Cambridge, 1993
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Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, 1990
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Das fünfte Element: Wirkungen und Deutungen der Elektrizität
Rowohlt, 1987
Chapters in book
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Science and Traditional Knowledge
Part of 科学与知识的历史, p. 722-740, Shandong Science and Technology Press, 2023
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Part of Facts and Evidence, p. 47-59, Springer, 2021
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Science and the Knowing Body: Making Sense of Embodied Knowledge in Scientific Experiment.
Part of Reconstruction, Replication and Re-enactment in the Humanities and Social Sciences, p. 275-293, Amsterdam University Press, 2020
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Part of Surprise, p. 373-375, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, 2019
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Les sciences et les savoirs traditionnels“
Part of Histoire des Sciences et des Savoirs, T. 2, Modernité et Globalisation, p. 285-304, Éditions du Seuil, 2015
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Globalisation, science et modernité.: De la guerre de Sept Ans à la Grande Guerre
Part of Histoire des Sciences et des Savoirs, T.2, Modernité et Globalisation, p. 11-30, Éditions du Seuil, 2015
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Den vetenskapliga rationalitetens materiella kultur
Part of Fråga föremålen, p. 161-170, Studentlitteratur AB, 2014
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Part of Ontology of Artifacts: An Interraction between 'Natural' and 'Artifical' life-world components, p. 397-416, DELO, 2012
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Part of Knowledge: Chinese and Western Thoughts, p. 38-55, East China Normal University Press, 2011
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Part of Instrument in Art and Science. On the Architectonics of Cultural Boundaries in the 17th Century, p. 280-295, Walter de Gruyter, 2008
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Part of Verfeinertes Sehen, p. 185-199, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2008
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Introduction: Science and the Changing Senses of Reality circa 1900
Part of Science and the Changing Senses of Reality circa 1900, p. 295-297, Elsevier, 2008
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Part of Aurora Torealis, p. 181-191, Watson Publishing International, 2008
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The Number of the Century: A History of a Scientific Fact
Part of Wetenschap and Samenleving, Science and Society, p. 61-95, Praemium Erasmianum Foundation, 2006
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Maschinen, Fledermäuse, Schriftgelehrte: Experimentalwissen im späten 18. und 19. Jahrhundert
Part of Instrumente in Kunst und Wissenschaft . Zur Architektonikkultureller Grenzen im 17. Jahrhundert, p. 302-318, De Gruyter, 2005
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Part of The dictionary of nineteenth-century British scientists, vol. 2, p. 528-529, University of Chicago Press, 2004
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Narrating by Numbers: Keeping an Account of Early 19th Century Laboratory Experiences
Part of Reworking the Bench, p. 141-158, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003
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Introduction: Scientific Personae and Their Histories
Part of Scientific Personae, p. 1-8, Cambridge University Press, 2003
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Part of The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science, p. 428-429, Oxford University Press, 2003
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Exploring the Margins of Precision
Part of Instruments, Travel and Science. Itineraries of Precision from the 17th to the 20th Century, p. 216-242, Routledge, 2002
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Introduction: Instruments Travel and Science
Part of Instruments, Travel and Science, p. 1-19, Routledge, 2002
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The Friction of Fluids. Making Sense of Experiment
Part of Laboratorium, p. 244-249, DuMont, 2001
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Experimental History of Science
Part of Museums of modern science, p. 77-86, Science History Publications/USA, 2000
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Experimentelle Wissenschaftsgeschichte
Part of Instrument - Experiment, p. 61-73, Verlag für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik, 2000
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Part of The Invisible Industrialist. Manufactures and the Production of Scientific Knowledge, p. 23-57, Macmillan, 1998
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Mechanical Equivalent of Heat Apparatus
Part of Instruments of Science, p. 371-373, Garland Publishing, 1998
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Die Sprache der Instrumente: Eine Studie zur Praxis und Repräsentation des Experimentierens
Part of Experimental Essays - Versuche zum Experiment, p. 141-156, Nomos, 1998
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Charles Augustin Coulomb: Einfache Maschinen in Theorie und Praxis
Part of Die grossen Physiker, 1, p. 243-262, Beck, 1997
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Working Experiments: Bodies, Machines and Heat Values
Part of The Physics of Empire, p. 29-56, Whipple Museum of the History of Science, 1994
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Part of Reappraising Benjamin Franklin. A Bicentennial Perspective, p. 221-242, University of Delaware Press, 1993
Collections (editor)
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History of Science and Knowledge
Shandong Science and Technology Press, 2023
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Special Issue: Historicising Research Integrity and Fraud
Sage Publications, 2020
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Histoire des sciences et des savoirs. -: tom 2 Modernité et globalisation
Edition Le Seuil, 2019
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From the Library to the Laboratory and Back Again
Taylor & Francis, 2016
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Histoire des Sciences et des Savoirs, Tom 2, Modernité et Globalisation
Éditions du Seuil, 2015
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The Heavens on Earth: observatories and Astronomy in Nineteenth-Century Science and Culture
Duke Univesity Press, 2010
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The Brokered World: Go-Betweens and Global Intelligence 1770-1820
Watson Publishing International, 2009
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Science and the Changing Senses of Reality circa 1900
Elsevier, 2008
Conference papers
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Part of Proceedings of the International Conference on Facts and Evidence, p. 53-67, 2018