Prof. Dr. Jürgen Renn
Curriculum Vitae
Jürgen Renn is founding director and scientific member at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology and heads the Department of Structural Changes of the Technosphere.
Born in Moers in 1956. Graduated in physics from the Free University of Berlin in 1983; doctorate in mathematics from the Technical University of Berlin in 1987. From 1986 to 1992, Jürgen Renn was a contributor to and co-editor of the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. From 1989 to 1992, he was assistant professor and later associate professor of physics, philosophy, history and philosophy of science at Boston University; in 1993, he was Simon Silverman Visiting Professor of History of Science at Tel Aviv University. From 1993 to 1994, he was a visiting professor of philosophy at the ETH Zurich. In 1994, he was appointed founding director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and headed the Department of Structural Changes in Systems of Knowledge until 2023. Since 1996, he has been an honorary professor at Humboldt University in Berlin. He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina since 2005 and an honorary professor of the history of science at the Freie Universität zu Berlin since 2006.
In 2018, he was named Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2019, he was elected a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute and in 2021, nominated Foreign Associate in the class for physical, mathematical, and natural sciences at the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arte in Venice. Since 2024 he has been a member of the Anthropocene Working Group, an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to the study of the Anthropocene as a geological time unit. In 2025, he was elected a member of Acatech, the National Academy of Science and Engineering.
In 2022, he was appointed founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, which is based on a concept that emerged from his research on the Anthropocene, conducted in collaboration with a global research network
Born in Moers in 1956. Graduated in physics from the Free University of Berlin in 1983; doctorate in mathematics from the Technical University of Berlin in 1987. From 1986 to 1992, Jürgen Renn was a contributor to and co-editor of the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. From 1989 to 1992, he was assistant professor and later associate professor of physics, philosophy, history and philosophy of science at Boston University; in 1993, he was Simon Silverman Visiting Professor of History of Science at Tel Aviv University. From 1993 to 1994, he was a visiting professor of philosophy at the ETH Zurich. In 1994, he was appointed founding director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and headed the Department of Structural Changes in Systems of Knowledge until 2023. Since 1996, he has been an honorary professor at Humboldt University in Berlin. He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina since 2005 and an honorary professor of the history of science at the Freie Universität zu Berlin since 2006.
In 2018, he was named Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2019, he was elected a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute and in 2021, nominated Foreign Associate in the class for physical, mathematical, and natural sciences at the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arte in Venice. Since 2024 he has been a member of the Anthropocene Working Group, an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to the study of the Anthropocene as a geological time unit. In 2025, he was elected a member of Acatech, the National Academy of Science and Engineering.
In 2022, he was appointed founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, which is based on a concept that emerged from his research on the Anthropocene, conducted in collaboration with a global research network