Petra G. Schmidl

Dr. Petra G. Schmidl

Associated Researcher

Department Geschichte
Senior Fellow of Medieval History

Postal Address: Kochstr. 4
D-91054 Erlangen

Associated Researcher, Project „Des Sultans Sternkunde. al-Ashraf ˁUmar (st. 1296) und sein Kitāb al-Tabṣira fī ˁilm al-nujūm“

Academic Positions

  • since 2019   PI of the project “The sultan and the stars. al-Ashraf ˁUmar (Yemen, d. 1296) and his ‘Kitāb al-Tabṣira fī ˁilm al-nujūm’ (see tabsira.hypotheses.org/)
  • 2018-2019   Research assistant, Lehrstuhl für mittelalterliche Geschichte, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • -2017   Visiting fellow, International Consortium for Research in the Humanities “Fate, freedom and prognostication. Strategies for coping with the future in East Asia and Europe” (IKGF), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • 2014-2017   Research assistant, Exzellenzcluster “Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen” (ExNO), Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
  • 2014-2015   Visiting fellow, International Consortium for Research in the Humanities “Fate, freedom and prognostication. Strategies for coping with the future in East Asia and Europe” (IKGF), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • 2012-2014   Research assistant, Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften (IOA), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
  • -2013   Visiting fellow, International Consortium for Research in the Humanities “Fate, freedom and prognostication. Strategies for coping with the future in East Asia and Europe” (IKGF), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • -2012   Teaching substitute Vormoderne Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
  • 2009-2012   Research assistant and lecturer, Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften (IOA), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
  • 2008-2009   Fellow, Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung, Düsseldorf
  • 2002-2007   Research assistant, Institut für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

Areas of Research

  • pre-modern astronomy and astrology in Islamicate societies
  • knowledge and science in Rasūlid Yemen (13th-15th century)
  • prognostic, divinatory, and mantic practices
  • timekeeping, calendars
  • astronomical instruments, astrolabes
  • basic and simple methods and procedures
  • comparative perspectives, knowledge transfer
  • presentation of knowledge

See also: https://tabsira.hypotheses.org/

Dissemination Activities and Outreach

  • 2023   Interview by the Deutschlandfunk “Warum die Muslime schon früh die Sterne studierten” (www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/astrolabien-und-gebetskalender-warum-muslime-schon-frueh-die-sterne-studierten-dlf-kultur-57a4837f-100.html)
  • 2021   Workshop “Den Himmel in der Hand. Zu Gebrauch und Geschichte des Astrolabiums“ during the Humanities Festival “Blicke in die Zukunft“ at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • 2021   Podcast „Die Sterne deuten“ in the series “Tell me a History”, produced by Nadja Danilenko (tellmeahistory.net/tmah041-die-sterne-deuten/)
  • 2020   Podcasts “A Thirteenth Century Yemeni manuscript” and “A Book of Knowledge from Thirteenth Century Yemen” in the series of the Ad-Astra-Project, produced by Helena Avelar and Luís Ribeiro (theastraproject.org/a-thirteenth-century-yemeni-manuscript-with-petra-g-schmidl/; theastraproject.org/a-book-of-knowledge-from-13th-century-yemen-with-petra-schmidl/

  • International Society for the Critical Study of Divination (ISCSD)
  • Commission on History of Science and Technology in Islamic Societies (CHOSTIS) in the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS) (President since 2023)
  • Scientific Instrument Commission (SIC) in the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science IUHPS

Selected Publications

  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Ashraf ˁUmar’s Tabṣira: Chapter xxxiv. Rainbows, shooting stars, and haloes as signs of the future”, in: Herbers, Klaus; Lehner, Hans-Christian (eds.): Dreams, nature, and practices as signs of the future in the European Middle Ages (Prognostication in history 10). Leiden, Boston 2022, 252-309. (Arabic text and English translation also published on tabsira.hypotheses.org/)
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Introductory surveys. Medieval traditions of prognostication in the Islamic world”, in: Heiduk, Matthias; Herbers, Klaus; Lehner, Hans-Christian (eds.): Prognostication in the Medieval world. A handbook. Berlin 2021, 189-242.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Knowledge in motion: An early European astrolabe and its possible medieval itinerary”. Medieval Encouters 23 (2017), 149-197. Repr. Ackermann, Silke; Burnett, Charles; Rodríguez Arribas, Josefina; Szpiech, Ryan (eds.): Astrolabes in Medieval cultures. Leiden, Boston 2019, 149-197.
  • Orthmann, Eva; Schmidl, Petra G.: “The provenance and history of the Dustūr al-munajjimīn and its manuscript”, in: Orthmann, Eva, Schmidl, Petra G. (eds.): Science in the city of fortune. The Dustūr al‑munajjimīn and its world (Bonner Islamstudien 39). Berlin 2017, 13-33.

Full list of publications by Petra G. Schmidl