Nicolaas Adrianus Rupke (born 22 January 1944 in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
) is a Dutch historian of science, who began his academic career as a marine geologist.
[''Who is Who in the World 2011'' - 28th edition.]
He studied biology and geology at the
university of Groningen
The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...
and geology and the history of science at
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...
and
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. Early in his studies, Rupke was a Christian and proponent of
Flood geology
Flood geology (also creation geology or diluvial geology) is a pseudoscientific attempt to interpret and reconcile geological features of the Earth in accordance with a literal belief in the global flood described in Genesis 6–8. In the ea ...
,
[Rupke, N.A. 1970. Prolegomena to a study of cataclysmal sedimentation. In Lammerts, W.E. (editor), ''Why Not Creation?'' pp. 141–179. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI.] but later came to reject this position. When in 1977 he was elected to a
Wolfson College, Oxford
Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with around sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research and ...
research position in the history of science, Rupke made this subject his full-time occupation. A series of similar international research posts followed, until in 1993 he took up a professorship at
Göttingen University
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911.
General information
The orig ...
to teach the
history of science
The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal.
Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...
and
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
.
["Die Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften als Lebensgeschichten", ''Jahrbuch der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen'', 2005, pp. 313-322. Autobiographical sketch in the Yearbook of Göttingen Academy on the occasion of Rupke's election as a member of the academy.] In 2009, Rupke was awarded a Lower Saxony research chair.
[http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/108191.html. Press-release of the Lower Saxony Ministry of education about the "Niedersachsenprofessur 65+" (Lower Saxony research chair) 2009]
Interview
with ''Die Zeit
''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles.
History
The ...
'' In 2012, he took up an endowed professorship at
Washington and Lee University
, mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future"
, established =
, type = Private liberal arts university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.092 billion (2021)
, president = William C. Dudley
, provost = Lena Hill
, city = Lexingto ...
in Lexington, Virginia, USA.
Rupke is known for his studies of late-modern biology, geology and
science & religion. With an interest in the biographical approach, he restored to their contemporary prominence several nineteenth-century scientists, most important among them
Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils.
Owe ...
who well before the appearance of ''
The Origin of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
'' developed a naturalistic theory of evolution, albeit a non-Darwinian one.
[''Richard Owen: Biology without Darwin'' (revised ed. of ''Richard Owen: Victorian Naturalist'', New Haven and London: Yale, 1994) Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2009.]
Studies of
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...
came next,
[''Alexander von Humboldt: A Metabiography'' (corrected edition). Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2008.] in which Rupke developed what he terms the
metabiographical approach by exploring how a famous life – in this case Humboldt's – may be multiply retold and reconstructed as part of different belief systems and memory cultures.
["Lives after death"](_blank)
Steven Shapin
Steven Shapin (born 1943) is an American historian and sociologist of science. He is the Franklin L. Ford Research Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University. He is considered one of the earliest scholars on the sociology of scienti ...
's review in ''Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
'', May 18, 2006, of ''Alexander von Humboldt: A Metabiography'', discussing Rupke's metabiographical approach.
Rupke is a fellow of Germany's
National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...
[Membership listing of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina - Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften](_blank)
and of the
Göttingen Academy of Sciences
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911.
General information
The or ...
.
Selected books
* ''Distinctive Properties of Turbiditic and Hemipelagic Mud Layers'' (with Daniel J. Stanley). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974.
*''The Great Chain of History:
William Buckland
William Buckland Doctor of Divinity, DD, Royal Society, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian who became Dean of Westminster. He was also a geologist and paleontology, palaeontologist.
Buckland wrote the first full ...
and the English School of Geology (1814–1849)''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983.
*''Vivisection in Historical Perspective'' (ed.). London, Croom Helm, 1987; Routledge, 1988.
*''Science, Politics and the Public Good'' (ed.). London: Macmillan, 1988.
*''Medical Geography in Historical Perspective'' (ed.). London:
Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine
The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL (2000-2012) was a research and teaching centre within University College London dedicated to the history of medicine. It was created through a grant from the Wellcome Trust, on the mode ...
, 2000.
*''Richard Owen: Biology without Darwin'' (revised ed. of ''Richard Owen: Victorian Naturalist'', New Haven and London: Yale, 1994, ) Chicago and London:
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
, 2009.
*''Alexander von Humboldt: A Metabiography'' (corrected edition). Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
*''Eminent Lives in Twentieth-Century Science and Religion'' (ed.) (revised and much expanded edition). Frankurt a.M.: Lang, 2009.
*''
Albrecht von Haller
Albrecht von Haller (also known as Albertus de Haller; 16 October 170812 December 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, encyclopedist, bibliographer and poet. A pupil of Herman Boerhaave, he is often referred to as "the fa ...
im Göttingen der Aufklärung'' (ed. with ). Göttingen: Wallstein, 2009.
References
External links
Academic homepage
Faculty listing, Göttingen University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rupke, Nicolaas Adrianus
1944 births
Living people
Academic staff of the University of Göttingen
20th-century Dutch geologists
Historians of science
Princeton University alumni
Alumni of Wolfson College, Oxford
Writers from Rotterdam
21st-century Dutch geologists