Kärin Nickelsen (born 1972) is a German historian of science whose works have included books on eighteenth-century botanical illustration,

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

, and

life-support system A life-support system is the combination of equipment that allows survival in an environment or situation that would not support that life in its absence. It is generally applied to systems supporting human life in situations where the outsid ...

s for

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

. She is a professor at

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

Education and career

Nickelsen earned a diploma at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

in 1999, and completed her Ph.D. in 2002 at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It ...

in Switzerland. She became an assistant professor at the

, was promoted to associate professor in 2006, and completed a

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

there in 2010. In 2011 she took her present position as professor for the History of Science at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Books

Nickelsen is the author of: *''Draughtsmen, Botanists and Nature: The Construction of Eighteenth-Century Botanical Illustrations'' (Springer, 2006) *''The Maximum Quantum Yield Controversy: Otto Warburg and the "Midwest-Gang"'' (with

Govindjee Govindjee (born 24 October 1932) is an Indian-American scientist and educator. He is Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he taught from 1961 until 1999. As P ...

, Bern Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, 2011) *''Explaining Photosynthesis: Models of Biochemical Mechanisms, 1840–1960'' (Springer, 2015) *''Far Beyond the Moon: A History of Life Support Systems in the Space Age'' (with David P. D. Munns, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020)

Recognition

Nickelsen won the in 2010, and became a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2011. She was elected to the Academia Europaea in 2020.

References

External links

Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nickelsen, Karin 1972 births Living people 21st-century German historians German women historians Historians of science University of Göttingen alumni University of Bern alumni Academic staff of the University of Bern Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Members of Academia Europaea