Silke M. Ackermann (; born 5 November 1961) is a German-born

cultural historian Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

and museum professional. She became a British Citizen in 2009 and has since held dual German-British citizenship. Ackermann currently serves as Director of the History of Science Museum at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, having been appointed in 2014 as the first female museum director at Oxford University. She is also co-founding director of th
Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology
and holds a Professorial Fellowship at

Linacre College Linacre College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the UK whose members comprise approximately 50 fellows and 550 postgraduate students. Linacre is a diverse college in terms of both the international composition of its m ...

. In 2013 she was the first woman to be elected President of th
Scientific Instrument Commission
of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, a post she held until 2017. Ackermann is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers, and a

Freeman Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to: * a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm * Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies * Free ...

of the

Worshipful Company of Clockmakers The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers was established under a royal charter granted by King Charles I in 1631. It ranks sixty-first among the livery companies of the City of London, and comes under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. The c ...

Education

Ackermann studied History and

Oriental Languages A wide variety of languages are spoken throughout Asia, comprising different language families and some unrelated isolates. The major language families include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Caucasian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Tur ...

at the University of Frankfurt in Germany. After working for the "Regesta Imperii" Project, she wrote an MA thesis on the 13th-century mathematician, astronomer and astrologer

Michael Scot Michael Scot (Latin: Michael Scotus; 1175 – ) was a Scottish mathematician and scholar in the Middle Ages. He was educated at Oxford and Paris, and worked in Bologna and Toledo, where he learned Arabic. His patron was Frederick II of the H ...

entitled "''Michael Scot: a universal scholar of the 13th century: Sources of his life - Tradition of his works"''. Ackermann continued this research for her PhD which she presented in 1996, and was later published as a book. During this research, Ackermann studied History of Science at the Institute for the History of Science within Frankfurt University and acted as an assistant to David King.

Career

From 1996, Ackermann was the Curator of European and Islamic

scientific instrument A scientific instrument is a device or tool used for scientific purposes, including the study of both natural phenomena and theoretical research. History Historically, the definition of a scientific instrument has varied, based on usage, laws, an ...

s at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. In April 2005 she was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. In 2012, Ackermann took up a professorship at the University of Applied Sciences Baltic College in

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. It ...

, Germany, where she was later appointed president. From July 2013 to 2017 she was the President of the Scientific Instrument Commission. From March 2014, Ackermann has been Director of the

History of Science Museum, Oxford The History of Science Museum in Broad Street, Oxford, England, holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum building is also known as the Old Ashmolean Building to distinguish it from th ...

and fellow of

, taking over from Jim Bennett who was succeeded for 2 years by Stephen Johnston who served as the acting director from 2012 to 2014. She is the first ever female head of a museum at the University of Oxford. Ackermann's research interests include the history of science of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

and the Islamic World,

scientific instruments A scientific instrument is a device or tool used for scientific purposes, including the study of both natural phenomena and theoretical research. History Historically, the definition of a scientific instrument has varied, based on usage, laws, an ...

(especially astrolabes), and knowledge transfer.

Works

* ''Humphrey Cole: mint, measurement and maps in Elizabethan England (1998)'' * ''Richard II, John Holland and three medieval quadrants.'' (1999) * ''Time'' (1999) * ''Maths and memory: calendar medals in the British Museum'' (2004) * ''Sternstunden am Kaiserhof: Michael Scotus und sein Buch von den Bildern und Zeichen des Himmels'' (2009) * ''Scientific Instruments on Display'' (2014) * ''Museum of the History of Science, Oxford'' (2016) Contributed to: * ''Globes at Greenwich'' (1999) * ''Sundials at Greenwich'' (2002) * ''Astrolabes at Greenwich'' (2005) * ''Masterpieces of Medieval Art'' (2012)

References

External links

Ackermann on BBC Radio 4 as part of A History of the World in 100 Objects series

Prof. Dr. Silke Ackermann im Interview der Woche bei TV Schwerin
an
Interview der Woche — Im Gespräch mit Dr. Silke Ackermann
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ackermann, Silke Living people Goethe University Frankfurt alumni Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of Linacre College, Oxford German curators German women historians German emigrants to the United Kingdom Historians of science Historians of astronomy British women historians Directors of museums in the United Kingdom Women museum directors Employees of the British Museum Historians of the University of Oxford 1950 births