Hendrik Adorf

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CV

I am a theoretical physicist (Dr. rer. nat., M.Sc.) and historian of science (M.A. ETH). I studied physics (major) and mathematics (minor) at Leibniz University Hannover as well as theoretical particle physics at Durham University (U.K.). Moreover, I studied literary and cultural studies, philosophy, and history of science and technology at ETH and University of Zurich. In May 2008 I obtained my Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) from the Institute for Theoretical Physics at Leibniz University Hannover. My thesis was concerned with the classification of D-branes in the H3+ model, a specific non-compact two-dimensional conformal field theory which is of interest in the context of certain string theories on curved space-time backgrounds.

Since autumn 2011 I am working as a historian of science with a focus on the history of mathematical and physical knowledge in the 20th century. My research interests are in the following domains: historical epistemology of theoretical knowledge cultures (mathematics; theoretical and mathematical physics); history of the theoretical and mathematical physicist's persona; history of institutions; history of quantum theory and its interpretations; history and epistemology of chaos theory and complex systems research; history of social physics; history of popular science literature; cosmology and philosophy of nature in the 19th and 20th century; interrelations and transfers between modern philosophy of nature, cosmology and the sciences.