Jürgen Osterhammel (born 1952 in Wipperfürth,

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

) is a German

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

specialized in Chinese and

world history Human history or world history is the record of humankind from prehistory to the present. Early modern human, Modern humans evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago and initially lived as hunter-gatherers. They Early expansions of hominin ...

. He is

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at the University of Konstanz.

Academia

Osterhammel started his academic career as a research fee student at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

in 1976/77 and studied and worked there under Professor Ian Nish. In 1980, he obtained his PhD from the

University of Kassel The University of Kassel () is a university founded in 1971 located in Kassel, Hessen, in central Germany. As of February 2022 it had about 25,000 students and about 3300 staff, including more than 300 professors. A special unit (Studienkoll ...

modern history The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...

. Two years later, Osterhammel started as a fellow at the

German Historical Institute The German Historical Institutes (GHI), , (''DHI'') are six independent academic research institutes of the Max Weber Foundation dedicated to the study of historical relations between Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germ ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Between 1986 and 1990, he was a senior lecturer in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

(Germany). Osterhammel then worked for seven years as professor of modern history at the FernUniversität Hagen, a distance-learning university and the university with the highest enrollment in Germany. He has also worked as a professor of modern history at the

Graduate Institute of International Studies Graduate may refer to: Education * The subject of a graduation, i.e. someone awarded an academic degree ** Alumni, a former student who has either attended or graduated from an institution * High school graduate, someone who has completed hi ...

in Geneva before taking up the same position in the University of Konstanz (Germany) in 1999. In 2001–2002, Osterhammel was a fellow at the

Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is an independent research institute in the field of the humanities and social and behavioural sciences founded in 1970. The insti ...

in the Humanities and Social Sciences. In 2014, he was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.

Other activities

Volkswagen Foundation The Volkswagen Foundation (German: ''VolkswagenStiftung'') is the largest German private nonprofit organization involved in the promotion and support of academic research. It is not affiliated to the present company, the Volkswagen Group. It wa ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees

Awards

* In 2010, Osterhammel received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize a program of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) for "exceptional scientists and academics for their outstanding achievements in the field of research." * 2014: Sigmund Freud Prize * 2017: Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts * In 2018, Osterhammel received the

Balzan Prize The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organizations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the b ...

for Global History "For his fundamental contribution to studies in global history and the definition of the discipline. For his method, which combines the rigour of empirical research while opening onto wide perspectives in an admirably balanced way, both through comparison and through the study of interconnected histories. For his elegant, fascinating style of writing."

Areas of Research

Colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

*Eurasian history since the 18th century *History and theory of

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

or global history

Bibliography

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References

External links

Jurgen Osterhammel on AmazonDetailed interview with J. Osterhammel in the journal Itinerario
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osterhammel, Jurgen 1952 births Living people People from Wipperfürth Academic staff of the University of Konstanz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) University of Kassel alumni Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Writers about globalization Historians of colonialism 20th-century German historians 21st-century German historians Academic staff of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Academics of the German Historical Institute London