Sonja Brentjes (born 1951) is a German

historian 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 ...

historian of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments ...

, and historian of

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

known for her work on mapmapking and

mathematics in medieval Islam Mathematics during the Golden Age of Islam, especially during the 9th and 10th centuries, was built on Greek mathematics (Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius of Perga, Apollonius) and Indian mathematics (Aryabhata, Brahmagupta). Important progress wa ...

Education and career

Brentjes is the daughter of archaeologists, orientalists, and Islamists and Helga Wilke Brentjes. She earned a diploma in mathematics from

TU Dresden TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...

in 1973 and completed her doctorate (

Dr. rer. nat. ''Doctor rerum naturalium'' ( for, , Latin, doctor of natural sciences, lit. 'doctor of the things of nature'), abbreviated Dr. rer. nat., is a doctoral academic degree awarded by universities in some European countries (e.g. Germany, Austria and C ...

) there in 1977. Her doctoral dissertation, ''Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der linearen Optimierung von den Anfängen zur Konstituierung als selbständige mathematische Theorie - eine Studie zum Problem der Entstehung mathematischer Disziplinen im 20. Jahrhundert'', concerned the history of

linear programming Linear programming (LP), also called linear optimization, is a method to achieve the best outcome (such as maximum profit or lowest cost) in a mathematical model whose requirements are represented by linear function#As a polynomial function, li ...

, and was supervised by

Hans Wussing Hans-Ludwig Wußing (October 15, 1927 in Waldheim – April 26, 2011 in Leipzig) was a German historian of mathematics and science. Life Wussing graduated from high school, and from 1947 to 52 studied mathematics and physics at the Universit ...

. She earned a second diploma in Near Eastern studies in 1982 from

Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

, a second doctorate ( Dr. sc. nat.) from

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

in 1989, and 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 ...

from Leipzig University in 1991. She worked as an assistant professor in the Karl Sudhoff Institute for the History of Medicine and Sciences at Leipzig University from 1976 to 1997, with tenure beginning in 1980. After holding a sequence of research positions at the

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (German: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte) is a scientific research institute founded in March 1994. It is dedicated to addressing fundamental questions of the history of knowledg ...

, Institute for the History of Science at

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

, and

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

, she became an associate professor at the

Aga Khan University Aga Khan University is a non-profit institution and an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network. It was Founded in 1983 as Pakistan's first private university. Starting in 2000, the university expanded to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, the United Ki ...

Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations in 2004. Since 2007 she has been a researcher 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 ...

, the

University of Seville The University of Seville (''Universidad de Sevilla'') is a university in Seville, Spain. Founded under the name of ''Colegio Santa María de Jesús'' in 1505, it has a present student body of over 69.200, and is one of the top-ranked universi ...

, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, where she has been affiliated since 2012.

Recognition

Brentjes became a corresponding member of the

International Academy of the History of Science The International Academy of the History of Science (french: Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences) is a membership organization for historians of science. The academy was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science by ...

in 1995, and a full member in 2002. She received one of the two Kenneth O. May medals awarded by the International Commission for the History of Mathematics on 26 July 2021 at the International Congress for History and Philosophy of Science in Prague.

Books

Brentjes' books include: *''Ibn Sina (Avicenna): Der fürstliche Meister aus Buchara'' (with Burchard Brentjes, Teubner, 1979) *''Travellers from Europe in the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, 16th–17th Centuries: Seeking, Transforming, Discarding Knowledge'' (Ashgate, 2010) *''Globalization of Knowledge in the Post-Antique Mediterranean, 700–1500'' (edited with Jürgen Renn, Routledge, 2016) *''1001 Distortions: How (Not) to Narrate History of Science, Medicine, and Technology in Non-Western Cultures'' (edited with Taner Edis and Lutz Richter-Bernburg, Ergon Verlag, 2016) *''Teaching and Learning the Sciences in Islamicate Societies (800–1700)'' (Brepols, 2018)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brentjes, Sonja 1951 births Living people 20th-century German historians 20th-century German mathematicians German women historians German women mathematicians TU Dresden alumni University of Halle alumni Leipzig University alumni Academic staff of Leipzig University Academic staff of Aga Khan University 21st-century German mathematicians Historians of science Historians of cartography German historians of mathematics 20th-century German women writers 21st-century German women writers 21st-century German historians