Scholarshipholder at the Cusanuswerk, grant by the Hans A. Jenemann- Stiftung (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker).
Doctoral student (by Prof. D. A. King, Ph.D.) at the Institute for the History of Science. Working title: ‘Adaptation of medieval, folk-astronomical treatises from the area of Arabic-Islamic culture’.
Description: The relevant manuscripts (Abû Abd Allâh Muhammad ibn Rahîq ibn Abd al-Karîm: …calâ madhâhib al-Arab; Ibrahîm ibn Alî ibn Muhammad al-Janadî al-Asbahî: Kitâb al-Yawâqît fî ilm al- mawâqît; Muhammad ibn Abî Bakr al-Fârisî: Tuhfat al-râghib wa-turfat al-tâlib fî taysîr al-nayyirayn wa-harakât al-kawâkib) promise important information on the history of medieval Arabic-Islamic folk astronomy (the project gives an insight into its methods). Besides folk astronomy is regarding its relations to mathematical astronomy. I intend to investigate in how far folk astronomy was used for every day ritual life. Moreover it has to be taken into consideration that these treatises contain information on the origin of the definitions of Islamic prayer times, on the orientation of the kaba and the alignement of medieval mosques.
Another field of work is the history of the magnetic compass in the realm of medieval Arabic Islam, especially its role as a qibla indicator.