H. Otto Sibum
Professor 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
Science and Traditional Knowledge
Part of 科学与知识的历史, p. 722-740, Shandong Science and Technology Press, 2023
Knowledge in Action: Experimenting in History and in Science
Part of Physis, p. 127-138, 2022
Part of Facts and Evidence, Springer, 2021
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
Special Issue: : Historicising Research Integrity and Fraud
Sage Publications, 2020
All publications
Articles in journal
Knowledge in Action: Experimenting in History and in Science
Part of Physis, p. 127-138, 2022
When is enough enough?: Accurate measurement and the integrity of scientific research
Part of History of Science, p. 437-457, 2020
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Integrating research integrity into the history of science
Part of History of Science, p. 369-385, 2020
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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
From the Library to the Laboratory and Back Again: Experiment as a Tool for Historians of Science
Part of Ambix, p. 85-97, 2016
The Golden Number of the Century: A History of a Scientific Fact.
Part of Philosophical Analysis, p. 103-128, 2012
AHR Conversation: Historians and the Study of Material Culture
Part of American Historical Review, p. 1355-1404, 2009
Wie die Braukunst die Physik befluegelte
Part of Max-Planck-Forschung, p. 60-65, 2006
Wissen aus erster Hand: Mikro-Dynamik wisenschaftlichen Wandels im frühviktorianischen England
Part of Historische Anthropologie, p. 301-324, 2005
Handwerksgelehrte oder Was fuer eine Wissenschaft ist Experimentalphysik?
Part of Jahrbuch / Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, p. 661-667, 2005
What Kind of Science is Experimental Physics?
Part of Science, p. 60-61, 2004
Experimentalists in the Republic of Letters
Part of Science in Context, p. 89-120, 2003
Il numero d'oro del secolo: Storia di un fatto scientifico
Part of Quaderni Storici, p. 877-903, 2001
Les gestes de la mesure: Joule, les pratiques de la brassserie et la science
Part of Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, p. 745-774, 1998
Part of Voprosy istorii estestvoznanija i techniki, p. 9-46, 1998
Enquéte sur les mystères d'une expérience
Part of Les Cahiers de Science et Vie, p. 62-80, 1995
Working Experiments: A history of Gestural Knowledge
Part of The Cambridge Review, p. 25-37, 1995
Part of Studies in history and philosophy of science, p. 73-106, 1995
Part of Physica didactica, p. 82-102, 1988
Articles, review/survey
The Golden Number of the Century: The History of a Scientific Fact
Part of Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Preprint 174, 2001
Shifting scales: microstudies in early Victorian Britain
Part of Preprint (Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte), 2001
Books
Special Issue: : Historicising Research Integrity and Fraud
Sage Publications, 2020
Cambridge University Press, 2003
Instruments, Travel and Science: Itineraries of Precision from the 17th to the 20th Century
Routledge, 2002
1900: The New Age: A Guide to the Exhibition
Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Cambridge, 1994
Empires of Physics: A Guide to the Exhibition
Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Cambridge, 1993
Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, 1990
Das fünfte Element: Wirkungen und Deutungen der Elektrizität
Rowohlt, 1987
Chapters in book
Science and Traditional Knowledge
Part of 科学与知识的历史, p. 722-740, Shandong Science and Technology Press, 2023
Part of Facts and Evidence, Springer, 2021
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
Part of Surprise, p. 373-375, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, 2019
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
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
Den vetenskapliga rationalitetens materiella kultur
Part of Fråga föremålen, p. 161-170, Studentlitteratur AB, 2014
Part of Ontology of Artifacts: An Interraction between 'Natural' and 'Artifical' life-world components, p. 397-416, DELO, 2012
Part of Knowledge: Chinese and Western Thoughts, p. 38-55, East China Normal University Press, 2011
Part of Instrument in Art and Science. On the Architectonics of Cultural Boundaries in the 17th Century, p. 280-295, Walter de Gruyter, 2008
Part of Aurora Torealis, p. 181-191, Watson Publishing International, 2008
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
Part of Verfeinertes Sehen, p. 185-199, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2008
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
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
Part of The dictionary of nineteenth-century British scientists, vol. 2, p. 528-529, University of Chicago Press, 2004
Narrating by Numbers: Keeping an Account of Early 19th Century Laboratory Experiences
Part of Reworking the Bench, p. 141-158, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003
Introduction: Scientific Personae and Their Histories
Part of Scientific Personae, p. 1-8, Cambridge University Press, 2003
Part of The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science, p. 428-429, Oxford University Press, 2003
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
Introduction: Instruments Travel and Science
Part of Instruments, Travel and Science, p. 1-19, Routledge, 2002
The Friction of Fluids. Making Sense of Experiment
Part of Laboratorium, p. 244-249, DuMont, 2001
Experimental History of Science
Part of Museums of modern science, p. 77-86, Science History Publications/USA, 2000
Experimentelle Wissenschaftsgeschichte
Part of Instrument - Experiment, p. 61-73, Verlag für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik, 2000
Part of The Invisible Industrialist. Manufactures and the Production of Scientific Knowledge, p. 23-57, Macmillan, 1998
Die Sprache der Instrumente: Eine Studie zur Praxis und Repräsentation des Experimentierens
Part of Experimental Essays - Versuche zum Experiment, p. 141-156, Nomos, 1998
Mechanical Equivalent of Heat Apparatus
Part of Instruments of Science, p. 371-373, Garland Publishing, 1998
Charles Augustin Coulomb: Einfache Maschinen in Theorie und Praxis
Part of Die grossen Physiker, 1, p. 243-262, Beck, 1997
Working Experiments: Bodies, Machines and Heat Values
Part of The Physics of Empire, p. 29-56, Whipple Museum of the History of Science, 1994
Part of Reappraising Benjamin Franklin. A Bicentennial Perspective, p. 221-242, University of Delaware Press, 1993
Collections (editor)
Histoire des sciences et des savoirs. -: tom 2 Modernité et globalisation
Edition Le Seuil, 2019
From the Library to the Laboratory and Back Again
Taylor & Francis, 2016
Histoire des Sciences et des Savoirs, Tom 2, Modernité et Globalisation
Éditions du Seuil, 2015
The Heavens on Earth: observatories and Astronomy in Nineteenth-Century Science and Culture
Duke Univesity Press, 2010
The Brokered World: Go-Betweens and Global Intelligence 1770-1820
Watson Publishing International, 2009
Science and the Changing Senses of Reality circa 1900
Elsevier, 2008
Conference papers
Part of Proceedings of the International Conference on Facts and Evidence, p. 53-67, 2018