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I am an assistant researcher at CIUHCT (ULisboa) funded by the CEEC program of FCT (2021-2026) and an invited assistant professor in History and Philosophy of Science (ULisboa). As a historian of science my aim is to shed light on the diversity and dynamics of "mathematical cultures" in different social contexts of the middle ages and early modern Europe by studying the role of diagrams and astronomical and mathematical instruments. I combine skills in methods of cultural history, in mathematical sciences, philological and codicological expertise, and experience in material culture studies. EDUCATION: In Switzerland and France, I obtained an MA in Physics and then a PhD in Epistemology and History of Science (très honorable, avec felicitations du jury, 2006). RESEARCH: My research contributed to the history of mathematics; in particular I developed an original study method for preserved scientific instruments. My work experience improved my skills in philology, manuscript and material culture studies, and outreach. I am grooming international networks of peers. Since my PhD I conducted four post-doc projects and I have collaborated in 15 (fifteen) projects as a member. Since 2015 I have had the following roles: Post-doc, ERC funded project ALFA, to analyze the visual and material culture of mathematical astronomy in the late medieval and early modern period, France, 2019-2021. Scientific collaborator, to lead, with senior curator Korey, a team of museum education staff, media specialists, and conservation experts and to develop a novel approach of public engagement. Germany, 2016-2017, funding from KSB Germany (ca. 130 kEuro). Researcher, to bring ancient astronomy skills to a team of historians, horological experts and curators of the project "Deus ex Machina", 2014-2015, funding from Museum Research Foundation for 2015-2016 (ca. 50 kEuro). Independent researcher, to conduct a 6-month research, funding from Eisinga foundation, Netherlands, in 2014. (ca. 20 kEuro) TEACHING, OUTREACH: Since 2015, I have taught seminars in chapters of historiography of science, history of mathematics, and instrument studies in Portugal, France and Canada. I assist in teaching an undergraduate course at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, 2023. I am currently co-coaching five PhD students in various roles. I developed a research-based exhibition at a major public museum of Germany (2016-2017). I am creating spaces for debate within the host institution CIUHCT (co-org. Seminar of Ancient Astronomy and the Journal Club reading group). PUBLICATIONS, ORGANIZING: Publications (many in co-authorship) since 2019 (4 books, 7 journal articles, 8 book chapters) reflect my internationalization and commitment to collaboration. During the same time, I gave 50 papers, mainly at international congresses, and I organised ten international workshops: supported by ALFA, 2-days / 8 scholars workshop, 2021. with Korey and Gaulke, 3-days / 25 scholars workshop, 2020 (funding Thyssen foundation, ca. 14 kEuro). with Dijkstra, 2-days / 12 scholars workshop, 2019. (funding Eise Eisinga Foundation, ca. 10 kEuro). ADVISING: I acted as a scientific advisor to an museum4punkt0 project (2021) at one of the major German public museums (SKD). REFEREEING: I work as a peer-reviewer for editors (Brill), and journals (e.g. Centaurus, Journal for the History of Astronomy), and served on scientific committees of several international congresses (SIC, ENHCT). KEYNOTES: at 1st Meeting of Young Scholars, European Society of History of Science, Paris (France), 2019. at Joint Conference of the Atlantic Medieval Association & AMEM Group, Sackville, 2018. APPOINTMENTS: Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Arts, Mount Allison University (Canada), 2017-2020. Museum Fellow, Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Germany), 2016-2017. Afilié of SYRTE (History of Astronomy group), Observatoire de Paris, 2022- . Book Review Editor Journal HoST, 2020-2026.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Samuel Gessner

Citation names

  • Gessner, Samuel

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
1516-C4CA-845B
ORCID iD
0000-0001-5922-0655

Email addresses

  • shgessner@fc.ul.pt (Professional)

Addresses

  • CIUHCT - Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Edif. C4, Piso 3, Gabinete 15, Campo Grande, 1749-016, LISBON, Lisbon, Portugal (Professional)

Knowledge fields

  • Humanities - History and Archaeology - History

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
German Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
French Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
English Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
Portuguese Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Upper intermediate (B2) Advanced (C1)
Spanish; Castilian Beginner (A1) Upper intermediate (B2) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1)
Italian Intermediate (B1) Advanced (C1) Beginner (A1) Intermediate (B1)
Dutch Beginner (A1)
Latin Upper intermediate (B2)
Education
Degree Classification
2006
Concluded
 Épistémologie, histoire des sciences et des techniques (Doctorat)
Université Denis-Diderot Paris 7, France
"Mathématiques et applications: Les mathématiques dans les écrits d´architecture italiens 1545-1570" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 Très honorable avec les félicitations - unanimité
1999
Concluded
 Diplôme d'études approfondies DEA en épistémologie et histoire des sciences (DEA)
Université Paris Diderot, France
"Les proportions et l’interprétation de Vitruve par Daniele Barbaro" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 n/a
1997
Concluded
 Diplôme d'ingénieur physicien Dipl. ing. ETH (Master)
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
 n/a
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2021 - 2026 Auxiliary Researcher (Research) Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal
Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Portugal

Teaching in Higher Education

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2023/09/01 - 2025/08/31 Invited Assistant Professor (University Teacher) Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal

Positions / Appointments

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2020/09/01 - 2026/12/31 Book review editor HoST - Journal of History of Science and Technology, Portugal
Projects

Grant

Designation Funders
2023/01/01 - 2026/12/31 EIDA - Editing and analysing hIstorical astronomical Diagrams with Artificial intelligence
ANR-22-CE38-0014
Co-writer of project, researcher
Systèmes de Référence Temps Espace, France
 Agence nationale de la recherche
Ongoing
2021/11 - 2021/12 Quadratura dos Círculos
Quadratura dos Círculos
Principal investigator
Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Portugal

Universidade de Lisboa Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, Portugal

Contract

Designation Funders
2021 - 2026 Cultures of mathematics: instruments, astraria, and clocks between practical and theoretical mathematics at the eve of the modern age in Europe
2020.02581.CEECIND
Researcher
Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
2022/01/01 - 2024/12/31 Einstein, Eddington e o Eclipse. Uma história global do eclipse solar total de 1919
PTDC/FER-HFC/3491/2021
FCiênciasID Associação para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento de Ciências, Portugal

Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal

Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
2019 - 2021 ALFA - Shaping a European scientific scene: Alfonsine astronomy
723085
Post-doc Fellow
Observatoire de Paris, France
 European Research Council
Ongoing
2016 - 2017 Fürstliche Himmelsmaschinen: Neue Wege zur Erschließung und Visualisierung von Planetenuhren der Renaissance
n/a
Researcher
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany
 KSB Kulturstiftung des Bundes
2014 - 2015 A reappraisal of the Eisinga Planetarium and eighteenth-century astronomical practice and astronomical mechanisms
n/a
Researcher
2013/06/13 - 2014 Francisco de Melo and the Euclidean Tradition in Portugal
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/3599-PPCDT/130151/PT
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2010/03/01 - 2013/08/31 NO TRILHO DOS INSTRUMENTOS: Os Gabinetes Reais de Filosofia Natural em Portugal séculos XVIII-XIX
PTDC/HIS-HCT/098970/2008
Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded
2008/04/01 - 2011/03/31 Abrir caminho à integração da investigação de base documental e material em história da ciência: Preservação, acessibilidade e estudos de caso no Museu de Ciência da Universidade de Lisboa.
PTDC/HCT/64181/2006
Fundação da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded

Other

Designation Funders
2006 - 2011 Thesaurus de Instrumentos Científicos em Língua Portuguesa
n/a
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
2007 - 2009 Paving the way for integrated archival and collection-based research in the history of science: Preservation, access and case-studies of the collections of the Museum of Science (University of Lisbon)
PTDC/HAH/64181/2006
Post-doc
Concluded
Outputs

Publications

Book
  1. BIJLEVELD, Nikolaj; DIJKSTRA, Arjen; Gessner, Samuel. Devotees of Science: cultivating astronomy, technical and natural knowledge around 1800. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press. 2024.
    Submitted
  2. Armando Martins; Samuel Gessner. Compreender, descrever, medir o mundo. COSMOTEORIA de ANTÓNIO CASTEL-BRANCO UM CURSO LECIONADO NA UNIVERSIDADE DE ÉVORA (1588). 2022.
    10.24902/uevora.3o
  3. KOREY, Michael; Gessner, Samuel; BERGMANN, Claudia (ill.). Corresponding author: KOREY, Michael. The wondrous course of the Planets. A heavenly machine for elector August of Saxony: An Introduction to Eberhard Baldewein’s Planetary Clock in Dresden. Dresden, Germany: Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. 2022.
    Published
  4. Gessner , Samuel; Hashagen , Ulf; Peiffer , Jeanne; Tournès , Dominique. Mathematical Instruments between Material Artifacts and Ideal Machines: Their Scientific and Social Role before 1950. 2018.
  5. Gessner, Samuel; KOREY, Michael; BERGMANN, Claudia (ill.). Der Planeten wundersamer Lauf. Eine Himmelsmaschine für Kurfürst August von Sachsen. Dresden, Germany: Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon. 2017.
Book chapter
  1. ANDRIANI, Eleonora; JACOBSON, Nicolas; Gessner, Samuel. "A Note on Arabes maxime - A Testimony of Alfonsine Astronomers' Interest in the Toledan Tables". In Alfonsine astronomy: Computational Practices, edited by HUSSON, Matthieu; KREMER, Richard; CHABÁS, José. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2024.
    In press
  2. SABY, Marie-Madeleine; Gessner, Samuel. "The Planicelium of John Vimond: Edition, translation, and interpretation of a text describing astronomical instrument from the early 14th c.". In Alfonsine astronomy: Computational Practices, edited by HUSSON, Matthieu; KREMER, Richard; CHABÁS, José. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2024.
    In press
  3. Gessner, Samuel. "Theorice Novelle instruments: A Fifteenth Century Form of Appropriation of Alfonsine Astronomy at the Universities of Erfurt and Leipzig". In Alfonsine astronomy: Expanding the Scenes. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2024.
    In press
  4. Husson, Matthieu; Gessner, Samuel. "Astronomical Computation as a Performance: Determining Planetary Positions with the Manuscript Erfurt, Angermuseum, 3134". In Manuscripts and Performances in Religions, Arts, and Sciences, 211-240. De Gruyter, 2023.
    10.1515/9783111343556-008
  5. Gessner, Samuel. "The Cusanus astrolabe preserved at Bernkastel-Kues". In Universum Infinitum. From the German Philosopher Nicolaus Cusanus (1401–1464) to the Iberian Discoveries in the Fifteenth Century: Ocean World in European Exploration, edited by Horst, Thomas; Schwaetzer, Harald; Vollet, Matthias, 249-268. Münster, Germany: Aschendorff, 2022.
    Published
  6. KOREY, Michael; GAULKE, Karsten; Gessner, Samuel. "Clocks as Astronomical Models. The heavens daily in view: Planetary clocks in Europe, 14th - 16th century". In A General History of Horology, edited by TURNER, Anthony; BETTS, Jonathan; NYE, James, 253-272. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.
    Published
  7. Gessner, Samuel; AVELAR, Helena; RIBEIRO, Luís; RUIVO, Joaquim. "Astrology and Astronomy in the Court Culture of the Avis Dynasty". In Philippa of Lancaster and the Court Culture of Medieval Portugal, Series The New Middle Ages. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave, 2020.
    In press
  8. Gessner, Samuel. "The Perspective of the Instrument Maker. The Planispheric Projection with Gemma Frisius and the Arsenius Workshop at Louvain". In Perspective as Practice, edited by Dupré, Sven, 103-122. Brepols Publishers, 2019.
    10.1484/m.techne.5.117723
  9. Gessner, Samuel. "Equating the Sun: Variant mechanical realizations of solar theory on planetary automata of the Renaissance". In Mathematical Instruments Between Material Artifacts and Ideal Machines: Their Scientific and Social Role Before 1950, Oberwolfach Reports, edited by Gessner, Samuel; Hashagen, Ulf; Tournès, Dominique; Peiffer, Jeanne, 23-25. MFO, 2017.
    Published
  10. Gessner, S.. "Lost between centuries: A celestial globe (1575) from Augsburg in the Portuguese royal collections". In Renaissance Craftsmen and Humanistic Scholars. Circulation of Knowledge between Portugal and Germany, Peter Lang Publishing,, p. 203-222., edited by Lopes, Marília dos Santos; Horst, Thomas; Leitão, Henrique, 203-222. Frankfurt a.M., Germany: Peter Lang Publishing, 2016.
    Published
  11. Gessner, Samuel. "Le vere ragioni dell’operare: la justification géométrique dans les textes sur les instruments d’arpentage du 16e siècle". In Géométrie pratique. Géomètres, ingénieurs et architectes XVIe–XVIIIe siècle, edited by Raynaud, Dominique, 21-43. Besançon, France: Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté, 2015.
    Published
  12. Carvalho, Rosário Salema de; Gessner, Samuel; Tirapicos, Luís. "Astronomy and "azulejo" Panels in Portuguese Jesuit Colleges". In a Voyage Through Mining, Trading, Transhumance Routes and the Orientation in the Landscape. Oxford, United Kingdom: Archaeopress, 2015.
  13. Gessner, Samuel. "The use of printed images for instrument making at the Arsenius workshop". In Observing the World through Images, edited by Jardine, Nick; Fay, Isla, 124-152. Netherlands: BRILL, 2014.
  14. Gessner, Samuel. "The use of useless instruments: the gnomonic inventions by V. Estancel (S.J.) in transit through the Portuguese empire (1650-1680)". In Instruments in the History of Science: Studies in transfer, use and preservation, edited by Lourenço, Marta; Granato, Marcus, 53-68. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Museu de Astronomia e Ciências Afins, 2014.
    Published
  15. Gessner, Samuel; João Caramalho Domingues; Correia de Sá, Carlos; Domingues, João Caramalho; Gessner, Samuel; Sá, Carlos Correia de. "Logaritmos em Portugal (sécs. XVII e XVIII)". In Anais/Actas do 6º Encontro Luso-Brasileiro de História da Matemática, Edição Especial da Revista Brasileira de História da Matemática, 241-269. São João d'El-Rei, Brazil: Sociedade Brasileira de História da Matemática, 2014.
    Published
  16. Gessner, Samuel. "‘Geometricus et astronomicus faber’. Chr. Schissler aus Augsburg als Hersteller eines wenig bekannten großen Himmelsglobus (1575)". In Weiter sehen. Beiträge zur Frühgeschichte des Fernrohrs und zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte Augsburgs. In Memoriam Inge KEIL, edited by HAMEL, Jürgen; KOREY, Michael, 123-154. 2012.
    Published
  17. Gessner, Samuel. "O globo de Schissler em Portugal - a história silenciosa de uma raridade quinhentista". In António ESTÁCIO DOS REIS. Marinheiro por vocação e historiador com devoção. Estudos de Homenagem, edited by SEMEDO DE MATOS, Jorge, 269-282. Comissão Cultural de Marinha, 2012.
    Published
  18. Gessner, Samuel; Carvalho, Rosário Salema de; Tirapicos, Luís. "Astronomy and the ‘azulejos’ of Portuguese Jesuit colleges". In Stars and stones, edited by Tirapicos, Luís; Pimenta, F; Ribeiro, N.; Campion, N; Joaquinito, A. Springer New York, 2012.
    Published
  19. Gessner, Samuel. "Tacit knowledge and mathematical instruments in early modern Europe". In Explicit Versus Tacit Knowledge in Mathematics, Oberwolfach Report, edited by Archibald, Tom; Peiffer, Jeanne; Schappacher, Norbert, 10-14. Germany, 2012.
    Published
  20. Gessner, Samuel; Mesquita e Carmo, Ana. "Le globe céleste de Schissler: enjeux simultanés d’histoire des sciences et de préservation du patrimoine". In ICOM-CC Preprints 16th Triennial Conference, edited by Bridgland, J, 8. 2011.
    Published
  21. Gessner, Samuel. "Salvare la lettera : mode d’articulation entre mathématiques et questions d’architecture". In Mathématiques et connaissance du monde réel avant Galilée, edited by Rommevaux, Sabine, 287-322. Montreuil, France: Omniscience, 2010.
    Published
  22. Gessner, Samuel. "O problema délico no Colégio de Santo Antão: um problema clássico de geometria e a notação algébrica da prova". In Revisitar os saberes: referências clássicas na cultura Portuguesa do Renascimento à idade moderna, 233-251. Lisbon, Portugal: CEC/IELT/CIUHCT, 2009.
    Published
  23. Gessner, Samuel. "‘Das Spheras Artefiçial, Soblunar e Celeste’: O papel dos instrumentos matemáticos nos escritos do Colégio de Santo Antão em Lisboa". In Sphæra Mundi: A Ciência na Aula da Esfera. Manuscritos científicos do Colégio de Santo Antão nas colecções da BNP, edited by Martins, Lígia; Leitão, Henrique, 71-88. Lisbon: Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, 2008.
    Published
  24. Gessner, Samuel. "Para o estudo do papel histórico dos instrumentos matemáticos: o globo celeste e a gramelogia na Aula da Esfera, 1620-1640". In A Ciência na Aula da Esfera do Colégio de Santo Antão, edited by Leitão, Henrique. Portugal, 2008.
    Submitted
Book review
  1. Gessner, Samuel. "“Early Portable Watches. Zeit haben: Tragbare Uhren vor 1550. Dietrich Matthes (Carpe Diem Publishing LLC, Dover, Deleware, 2018)". Review of Zeit haben: Tragbare Uhren vor 1550 50, 4 (2019): 491-493.
  2. Gessner, Samuel. "Obras Matemáticas Francisco de Melo, Vol. 1: Edição crítica e tradução, (Bernardo Mota, Henrique Leitão), 2014". Review of Obras Matemáticas Francisco de Melo, Vol. 1: Edição crítica e tradução, 45, (2018): 182-195.
    Published
  3. Gessner, Samuel. "Losing Touch with Nature: Literature and the New Science in Sixteenth Century England (Mary Thomas Crane), 2014". Review of Losing Touch with Nature: Literature and the New Science in Sixteenth Century England 5, 5 (2016): 250-256.
  4. Gessner, Samuel. "Rome and modern science. Between Renaissance and Enlightenment". Review of Rome et la science moderne. Entre Renaissance et Lumières, études réunies par Antonella Romano 133, 3 (2012): 453-456. http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=ORCID&SrcApp=OrcidOrg&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS_CPL&KeyUT=WOS:000307278500009&KeyUID=WOS:000307278500009.
  5. Gessner, Samuel. "ANDERSEN, Kirsti, 2007. The Geometry of an Art. The History of the Mathematical Theory of Perspective from Alberti to Monge. Berlin: Springer". 18, 1 (2010): 123-126. http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=ORCID&SrcApp=OrcidOrg&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS_CPL&KeyUT=WOS:000279004200008&KeyUID=WOS:000279004200008.
  6. Gessner, Samuel. "Michael KOREY, Die Geometrie der Macht, die Macht der Geometrie. Mathematische Instrumente und fürstliche Mechanik um 1600 aus dem Mathematisch-Physikalischen Salon, Berlin, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2007". Review of Die Geometrie der Macht, die Macht der Geometrie. Mathematische Instrumente und fürstliche Mechanik um 1600 aus dem Mathematisch-Physikalischen Salon 131, 4 (2010): 620-621.
Conference paper
  1. Bispo, Renato; Gessner, Samuel; Blanc, Joana. "“Oughtred´s Circles of Proportion 2.0: A proof of concept for hands-on science engagement”". Paper presented in 13th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2022), New York, 2022.
    In press
  2. Gessner, Samuel. "Visualizing the geometry of the 8th sphere in Alfonsine astronomy (15th and 16th c.)". Paper presented in Geometrical reasoning and visual culture – shaping astronomy and other scientiae mediae, International Workshop ALFA, Paris, 2021.
  3. Gessner, Samuel; HUSSON, Matthieu. "Movement of the fixed stars: between tabular and geometrical approaches in Alfonsine astronomy". Paper presented in Histoire et philosophie des mathématiques – Tableaux, tables et raisonnements, SPHERE, 2020.
  4. Gessner, Samuel. "Entre aritmética e geometria: diferentes meios de expressão na explicação do movimento das estrelas fixas (sécs. XIV e XV)". Paper presented in 33º Encontro do SNHM, Leiria, 2020.
  5. Gessner, Samuel; MOTA, Bernardo. "A edição do De compositione astrolabii de Andaló di Negro (c. 1330): um trabalho entre filologia e história da geometria projectiva". Paper presented in 33º Encontro do SNHM, Leiria, 2020.
  6. Gessner, Samuel. "Probing the fitness of instruments: materializing the movement of the 8th sphere for the lecture hall, court and library". Paper presented in 39th Scientific Instrument Symposium, London, 2020.
  7. Gessner, Samuel. "The transposition of numerical data from tables onto the scales of instruments: Teorice novelle (15th c.)". Paper presented in 9th ESHS Conference, Visual, material and sensory cultures of science, Bologna, 2020.
  8. Gessner, Samuel. "Armillaires à trepidation : imaginer le mouvement des astres avec du bois et du laiton". Paper presented in Café des Historiens, Observatoire de Paris, Paris, 2020.
  9. Gessner, Samuel. "Ad salvandam diversitatem in motu fixorum: thinking about observation in assessing Werner’s trepidation theory". Paper presented in Clues of observations practices. Astronomy and natural sciences in late medieval Europe (Latin, Arabic and Hebrew), Paris, 2019.
  10. Gessner, Samuel. "Inventio or Operatio? Mathematical Instruments at the Jesuit College of Lisbon (1590-1630)". Paper presented in Workshop Mathematical Instruments and Geometric Practice in Early Modern Applied Mathematics, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza, 2019.
  11. Gessner, Samuel. "As deslocações de J.Ch. Gall de Ingolstadt a Goa passando por Lisboa: o percurso intelectual de um matemático jesuíta no início do século 17". Paper presented in 13. Lusitanistentag, Räume, Grenzen und Übergänge in der portugiesischsprachigen Welt, Universität Augsburg, Augsburg, 2019.
  12. Gessner, Samuel. "Early modern mathematics as transcultural knowledge: a reflection on the historian’s tools". Paper presented in Transcultural knowledge, 1st European Society of the History of Science, Young Scholars Meeting 2019, L’Observatoire, Paris, 2019.
  13. Gessner, Samuel. "Embedding new theory in brass: Alfonsine trepidation spheres". Paper presented in Session: Manuscripts, instruments, tables and computation in Alfonsine astronomy, Congress of the History of Science Society HSS, Utrecht, 2019.
  14. Gessner, Samuel. "“Instrumentos de papel: como usar as volvelles no Astronomicum Caesareum (1540)". Paper presented in Seminário Permanente de Astronomia Antiga, CIUHCT/UL – DHFC / FCUL, Lisbon, 2019.
  15. Gessner, Samuel. "Planetary instruments in the Alfonsine corpus". Paper presented in Research Seminar ALFA, Observatoire, Paris, 2019.
  16. Gessner, Samuel. "Material Culture of Alfonsine Astronomy: a sketch". Paper presented in Research Seminar ALFA, Observatoire, Paris, 2019.
  17. Gessner, Samuel. "Teodoro de Almeida (1722-1804) as a ‘planetarium maker’ in France and Portugal". Paper presented in Understanding Eisinga’s case: non-scholarly practitioners around 1800, Franeker, 2019.
  18. Gessner, Samuel. "Thinking with instruments and the appropriation of logarithms on the Iberian Peninsula around 1630". Paper presented in International Workshop Mathematical and Astronomical Practices in pre-Enlightenment Scotland and her European Networks, St. Andrews, 2018.
  19. Gessner, Samuel. "Manual and mental exercise: a mathematical instrument in early modern Lisbon”". Paper presented in International Workshop Breaking silences with object-centred approaches, Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência; Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, Lisbon, 2018.
  20. Domingues, João Caramalho; Gessner, Samuel; Sá, Carlos Correia de. "Logaritmos em Portugal (sécs. XVII e XVIII)". 2014.
Conference poster
  1. Tirapicos, Luís; Gessner, Samuel. "A global history of the 1919 solar eclipse: the international circulation of photographs taken by the British expeditions". Paper presented in Fourth International Conference on the History of Physics, 2022.
  2. Tissot, Isabel; Manso, Marta; Gessner, Samuel. "Preservar o uso e a alteração de instrumentos científicos: o contributo da conservação de evidências materiais para a história da ciência". Paper presented in VI Encontro Luso- Brasileiro de Conservação e Restauração: Conexões,, 2021.
  3. BECK, Michael; CLOUTER, Chris; Gessner, Samuel; KOREY, Michael; WACKER, Markus. "All heavenly motions daily in view’: Interdisciplinary approaches to the conservation of Philipp Imser’s planetary clock in the Technisches Museum Wien". Paper presented in Heritage Science Days, 2017.
Journal article
  1. Gessner, Samuel. "Os astrolábios planisféricos em Portugal: tradição e diversidade". Anais/Actas do 9º Encontro Luso-Brasileiro de História da Matemática, Edição Especial da Revista Brasileira de História da Matemática (2024):
    In press
  2. Samuel Gessner. "'Si te omnimoda delectat precisio': early astronomical instruments with scales and the multiple meanings of precision in the sixteenth century". Annals of Science 81 1-2 (2023): 30-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2023.2285845.
    10.1080/00033790.2023.2285845
  3. Gessner, Samuel. "Aferir o peso do conhecimento: a cultura matemática dos almotacés no século XVI". Suplemento do Boletim da SPM 81 (2023):
    In press
  4. Luís, Cristina; Scarso, Davide; Tirapicos, Luís; Gessner, Samuel. "Editorial: Reflections on HoST's Last Triennium". HoST - Journal of History of Science and Technology 17 1 (2023): 1-3. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/host-2023-0001.
    10.2478/host-2023-0001
  5. "Trepidation spheres: Variant representations of the eighth sphere and the debate about the movement of the apogees and the fixed stars in Alfonsine astronomy". Centaurus (2021): http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1600-0498.12412.
    10.1111/1600-0498.12412
  6. Gessner, Samuel; KOREY, Michael; GAULKE, Karsten. "The Anomalous Sun: Variant Mechanical Realizations of Solar Theory on Planetary Automata of the Renaissance". Nuncius. Journal for the history of material and visual culture of science 35 2 (2020): 191-234.
  7. Raynaud, D.; Gessner, Samuel; Mota, B.. "Andalò di Negro's De compositione astrolabii: a critical edition with English translation and notes". Archive for History of Exact Sciences 73 6 (2019): 551-617. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85071311005&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    Published • 10.1007/s00407-019-00235-x
  8. Gessner, Samuel. "Heavenly Networks Celestial Maps and Globes in Circulation between Artisans, Mathematicians, and Noblemen in Renaissance Europe". Nuncius-Journal of the History of Science 30 1 (2015): 75-95. http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=ORCID&SrcApp=OrcidOrg&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS_CPL&KeyUT=WOS:000348280800004&KeyUID=WOS:000348280800004.
    10.1163/18253911-03001004
  9. Gessner, S.. "The Journals and the Instrument Maker: Visuality of Butterfield's Instruments in the Journal des Sçavans and the Philosophical Transactions around 1680". Nuncius 30 3 (2015): 610-636. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84948649517&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1163/18253911-03003005
  10. Gessner, S.; Leitão, H.. "Una tribus ratio: Ikonographie der Wissensvermittlung und Selbstdarstellung der Jesuiten im Mathematiksaal des Kollegs Santo Antão in Lissabon". Mathematische Semesterberichte 62 1 (2015): 1-6. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84925539167&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1007/s00591-014-0138-0
  11. Leitão, H.; Gessner, S.. "Euclid in tiles: The mathematical azulejos of the Jesuit college in Coimbra". Mathematische Semesterberichte 61 1 (2014): 1-5. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84894233052&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1007/s00591-014-0130-8
  12. Lourenço, M.C.; Gessner, S.. "Documenting Collections: Cornerstones for More History of Science in Museums". Science and Education 23 4 (2014): 727-745. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84897022694&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1007/s11191-012-9568-z
  13. Gessner, S.. "The use of printed images for instrument-making at the arsenius workshop". Early Science and Medicine 18 1-2 (2013): 124-152. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84885634833&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1163/15733823-0005A0005
  14. Gessner, Samuel. "The conception of a mathematical instrument and its distance from the material world: the ‘Pantometra’ in Lisbon, 1638". Studium 4 4 (2012): 210-227. http://dx.doi.org/10.18352/studium.1556.
    Published • 10.18352/studium.1556
  15. Chandelier, J.; Gessner, S.; Palsky, G.; Hoock, J.; König-Pralong, C.; Benzoni-Gavage, S.; Brian-Jaisson, F.. "Langage et Cultures Savantes". Revue de Synthese 133 3 (2012): 451-469. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84864685793&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1007/s11873-012-0196-1
  16. Gessner, Samuel. "Bons Procédés Entre Érudits: Un mésolabe pour l’édition de l’Architecture de Vitruve (1567)". Revue de Synthèse 131 4 (2010): 523-541. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11873-010-0134-z.
    10.1007/s11873-010-0134-z
  17. Gessner, S.. "Friendly services between scholars". Revue de Synthese 131 4 (2010): 523-541. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-78651291183&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1007/s11873-010-0134-z
  18. Gessner, Samuel. "The Geometry of Power. The Power of Geometry. Mathematical Instruments and Princely Mechanical Devices from around 1600". Revue De Synthese 131 4 (2010): 620-621. http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=ORCID&SrcApp=OrcidOrg&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS_CPL&KeyUT=WOS:000286198300010&KeyUID=WOS:000286198300010.
  19. Gessner, Samuel. "Knowing how to handle instruments: geometry in Italian writings on architecture (1545-1570)". Revue D Histoire Des Mathematiques 16 1 (2010): 1-62. http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=ORCID&SrcApp=OrcidOrg&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS_CPL&KeyUT=WOS:000208275200001&KeyUID=WOS:000208275200001.
  20. Gessner, Samuel. "The Vopelius – Schissler connection: transmission of knowledge for the design of celestial globes in the 16th century". SIS Bulletin, Journal of the Scientific Instrument Society 104 (2010): 32-42.
  21. Gessner, Samuel. "Para a história das séries infinitas – a tradução de um estudo sobre um aspecto matemático da obra de Álvaro Tomás de Lisboa". Boletim da SPM 62 (2010): 61-66.
    Published
  22. Gessner, Samuel. "H. Wieleitner, ‘Para a história das séries infinitas na Idade Média cristã’". Boletim da SPM 62 (2010): 67-87.
    Published
  23. Gessner, Samuel. "Le "per numero" et le "per linea" dans les écrits d'architecture du Cinquecento". Scholion 3 (2004): 61-81. https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-719974.
    Published • 10.5169/seals-719974
Online resource
  1. Gessner, Samuel; Redweik, Paula; REIS, Susana. Circles of proportions. 2023. http://tiny.cc/Circles-of-Proportion.
Thesis / Dissertation
  1. Gessner, Samuel. "Mathématiques et applications: Les mathématiques dans les écrits d’architecture italiens, 1545-1570". PhD, Université Denis-Diderot Paris 7, 2006.
  2. Gessner, Samuel. "Les proportions et l’interprétation de Vitruve par Daniele Barbaro". Master, Université Paris Diderot, 1999.

Other

Other output
  1. Savoir manier les instruments : la géométrie dans les écrits italiens d'architecture (1545-1570). Revue d'Histoire des Mathematiques. 2010. Gessner, Samuel; Gessner, S.. http://www.numdam.org//articles/RHM_2010__16_1_1_0.
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2024/01/23 Inventing contour-lines and experiment with diagrams: North & Stjernfelt EIDA Seminar
Observatoire de Paris (Paris, France)
2024/01/10 Astronomy in drawing and crafting: Astronomical diagrams and instruments Séminar Paléographie des manuscrits astronomiques et astrologiques
IRHT (Paris, France)
2023/12/15 The Visual Cultures of Astronomers: Tracing Early Modern Astronomy through Diagrams Early Modern Knowledge #2
CIUHCT (Lisbon, Portugal)
2023/11/16 Contra várias probabilidades: A materialidade da observação do eclipse solar de 1919 na Ilha do Príncipe 7º Encontro N acional de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Ciência, tecnologia e ambiente na história: um mundo em crise
Universidade de Évora (Évora, Portugal)
2023/10/26 Eclipses solares na Idade Média: técnicas computacionais na previsão da hora e magnitude Seminar Helena Avelar on Ancient Astronomy and Astrology
(Lisboa, Portugal)
2023/09/20 A clever but short-lived instrument type from fifteenth-century Erfurt: the Theorice Novelle Through Ages, Cultures, Concepts: Instruments in Collections, Books, Archives. Scientific Instrument Commission (SIC) - XLII Annual Symposium
(Palermo, Italy)
2023/09/20 Making Eddington’s instruments visible at the solar eclipse station in Principe, 1919 Through Ages, Cultures, Concepts: Instruments in Collections, Books, Archives. Scientific Instrument Commission (SIC) - XLII Annual Symposium
(Palermo, Italy)
2023/09/16 ‘Ample resources of labor and material’: The material conditions of success of the British Expeditions to the 1919 Total Solar Eclipse in Colonial and National contexts Invisible Labor in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 7th Biennial Kathleen A. ZarSymposium
University of Chicago (Chicago, United States)
2023/09/12 Hands, Minds & Matter: Handling Sources of Material Culture in the History of Science RUTTER TRAINING SCHOOL: The long life of manuscripts: from material to immaterial texts
(Lisbon, Portugal)
2023/09/12 Hands, Minds & Matter: Handling Sources of Material Culture in the History of Science RUTTER TRAINING SCHOOL: The long life of manuscripts: from material to immaterial texts
(Lisboa, Portugal)
2023/09/07 Theorice Novelle instruments: A Fifteenth Century Form of Appropriation of Alfonsine Astronomy at the Universities of Erfurt and Leipzig ALFA Conference
(Madrid, Spain)
2023/06/24 Aferir o peso do conhecimento: a cultura matemática dos almotacés no século 16 4º Encontro Ibérico de História da Matemática
(Leiria, Portugal)
2023/06/23 Control and management by knowledge: the mathematical culture of weights and measures in early modern Portugal Early modern knowledge #1
CIUHCT (Lisboa, Portugal)
2023/03/28 Diagramming the eighth sphere: A genealogy of Comitibus and Peurbach Towards the EIDA corpus for the history of astronomical diagrams, EIDA launch conference
Obesrvatoire de Paris (Paris, France)
2023/03/14 Hands-on workshop on editing diagrams EIDA Seminar
Observatoire de Paris (Paris, France)
2023/03/09 Cosmological diagrams between sense and reason Hi-Phi Seminar
Departamento de História e Filosofia das Ciências, Faculdade de Ciências (Lisboa, Portugal)
2023/03/08 Re-presenting the eclipse of May 29, 1919: the global circulation of British photographs 1st Workshop e3global
(Lisboa, Portugal)
2022/12/08 Tables and planetary instruments: two complementary error modalities? Errare et perseverare. Erreurs et corrections à la fin du Moyen Âge, Séminaire ‘Sciences et philosophie de l’antiquité à l’âge classique’
SPHERE (Paris, France)

Event organisation

Event name
Type of event (Role) 		Institution / Organization
2023/03/28 - 2023/03/30 Principal organizer together with Divna Manolovna, Matthieu Husson, Scott Trigg: Towards the EIDA corpus for the history of astronomical diagrams, kick-off conference of EIDA - Editing and analysing hIstorical astronomical Diagrams with Artificial intelligence (2023/03/28 - 2023/03/30)
Conference (Member of the Organising Committee)
 Observatoire de Paris, France
2022/09/07 - 2022/09/10 Principal organizer with Sophie SERRA: 'Approximation, Precision and Error as Actors’ Categories in the Alfonsine Astronomical Tradition', session at 10th Conference of the European Society of the History of Science (ESHS) (2022/09/07 - 2022/09/10)
Symposium (Co-organisor)
2022/02/22 - 2022/07/12 Mathematical cultures. Cycle of Seminars (2022) orgs. Samuel GESSNER & Daniele MOLININI (2022/02/22 - 2022/07/12)
Seminar (Co-organisor)
 Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Portugal

Universidade de Lisboa Centro de Filosofia das Ciências, Portugal

Committee member

Activity description
Role 		Institution / Organization
2022/09/19 - 2022/09/23 “Visualization of Instruments / Instruments in Film”, Session at The Past, Present, and Future of Scientific Instrument Studies, XLI Scientific Instrument Symposium, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, 19 – 23 September 2022. (principal organizer with Michael KOREY) Scientific Instrument Commission IUHPST, France
2022/09/07 - 2022/09/10 “Approximation, Precision and Error as Actors’ Categories in the Alfonsine Astronomical Tradition”, Symposium at the 10th ESHS Conference, Science Policy and the Politics of Science, Brussels, 7 – 10 September 2022. (principal organizer with Sophie SERRA)
Coordinator
 European Society of History of Science, France
2022/03/09 - 2022/03/10 Diagram Diversity in the Light of Digital Humanities: Types and Ambiguous Cases, #2, online: Paris, Beijing, Christchurch (co-organizer with Scott TRIGG, Matthieu HUSSON)
Member
 Observatoire de Paris, France
2021/11/18 - 2021/11/19 Diagram Diversity in the Light of Digital Humanities: Types and Ambiguous Cases, online: Paris, Berlin, Seoul, 18 & 19 November 2021 (Samuel GESSNER principal organizer with Matthieu HUSSON, Anna JERRATSCH, Eunsoo LEE)
Coordinator
 Observatoire de Paris, France

Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Germany

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea

Conference scientific committee

Conference name Conference host
2023/09/18 - 2033/09/22 Through Ages, Cultures, Concepts: Instruments in Collections, Books, Archives. Scientific Instrument Commission (SIC) - XLII Annual Symposium

Course / Discipline taught

Academic session Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization
2023/10/01 - 2024/01/31 Aulas teórico-práticas Ciência e Cultura, cadeira de Ana Simões Ciência e Cultura (Licenciatura) Universidade de Lisboa, Departamento de História e Filosofia das Ciências, Portugal

Evaluation committee

Activity description
Role 		Institution / Organization Funding entity
2023/11/15 - 2023/11/17 Abstract refereeing for 7º Encontro Nacional de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia (ENHCT), Évora
Evaluator

Mentoring / Tutoring

Topic Student name
2024/06/01 - 2027/08/31 Instruments planétaires (supervisor Matthieu Husson, PSL Paris) Clément Cartier
2022/09/01 - 2027/08/31 L’art de l’horloger et l’art du géomètre : Christiaan Huygens, ses artisans et l’invention des horloges à pendule (1656-1673) (supervisor: Giovanna Cifoletti, EHESS, Paris) Bertrand Paoloni
2024/01/22 - 2026/08/31 Maos que moldaram o olhar: um estudo sobre as origens e o fabrico dos primeiros telescopios na Europa entre os seculos XVI e XVIl (Henrique Leitão/Luís Tirapicos, FCiencias, Lisbon) Isadora Monteiro
2022/09/01 - 2026/08/31 A clockmaker’s mathematics: A technology-based approach to the mathematical works of Jost Bürgi (Roy Wagner, ETH, Zurich) Damian Moosbrugger
2023/03/23 - 2025/08/31 A astrometeorologia e sua prática no Portugal Moderno Séculos XVI e XVII (supervisor Henrique Leitão/Luís Ribeiro, FCiencias, Lisbon) Eunice Santos
2022/09/01 - 2024/02/09 Mathematics and Politics. Mastering Time (supervisor Roy Wagner, ETH, Zurich) Peter-Maximilian Schmitt
Distinctions

Other distinction

2019 Keynote speaker
European Society of History of Science - Young Scholars Meeting, France
2018 Keynote speaker
Joint Conference of the Atlantic Medieval Association & Atlantic Medieval and Early Modern Group, Canada
2017 Appointment as an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Arts
Mount Allison University, Canada
2016 Museum Fellow
KSB Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Germany
2013 Invitated professor EHESS
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France
2012 Invitated professor EHESS
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France