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Dr. Gregor Lax
Focus area:
The History of Earth System Research in the Max Planck SocietyProfile
Gregor Lax’s main interests lie in the history of science policy, of organizational, institutional and structural developments in science as well as the genesis, development and power of science policy discourse formations. After completing the MA program “History, Philosophy and Sociology of Sciences” (HPSS) he received his doctorate from the University of Bielefeld in 2014. The focus of his doctoral thesis was on the relationship between basic and applied research in the context of science policy and innovation in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1945. From 2011 to 2014 Lax worked as a research scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) in Mainz as part of a project on the institute’s history. The research focus of his postdoctoral projects between 2014 and 2016, which were also supported by the MPIC, was on the history of the atmospheric sciences in Germany. In 2016–2017 he worked as a science coordinator for the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat), where he supervised the evaluation of extensive research infrastructure projects, especially in the field of atmospheric and Earth system sciences, for a national roadmap for the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. In addition, he was concerned with strategies for the promotion of excellence, transfer processes as well as the current debate on a potential erosion of trust in science. In January 2018, Gregor Lax started working as a Research Scholar in the GMPG Research Program on the history of Earth system research in the MPG.
Personal Page at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Selected Publications
Crutzen, Paul, Susanne Benner, Gregor Lax and Hans Günter Brauch (eds.): Paul J. Crutzen: The Anthropocene. A New Phase of Earth History: Impacts for Science and Politics. Hamburg: Springer 2018 (forthcoming).
Lax, Gregor: From Anthropogenic Influences to the Anthropocene. A Historical View on Paul Crutzen’s Research, since the 1970’s until Today. In: Paul Crutzen, Susanne Benner, Gregor Lax and Hans Günter Brauch (eds.): Paul J. Crutzen: The Anthropocene. A New Phase of Earth History: Impacts for Science and Politics. Hamburg: Springer 2018 (forthcoming).
Schauz, Désirée and Gregor Lax: Between Professional Devotion, National Needs, Fascists Claims and Democratic Virtues. The Language of Science Policy in Germany. In: David Kaldewey and Désirée Schauz (eds.): Basic and Applied Research. Language and the Politics of Science in the Twentieth Century. New York: Berghahn 2018 (forthcoming), 76–104.
Edited Books:
Crutzen, Paul, Susanne Benner, Gregor Lax and Hans Günter Brauch (eds.): Paul J. Crutzen: The Anthropocene. A New Phase of Earth History: Impacts for Science and Politics. Hamburg: Springer 2019/20 (F.C.).
Books:
Lax, Gregor: Das ‚lineare Modell der Innovation‘ in Westdeutschland. Eine Geschichte der Hierarchisierung von Grundlagen- und Anwendungsforschung nach 1945. Baden-Baden: Nomos 2015.
Lax, Gregor: From Atmospheric Chemistry to Earth System Sciences. Contributions to the recent history of the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry ( Otto-Hahn-Institute), 1959-2000. Berlin: GNT 2018.
Pre-Prints:
Lax, Gregor: Von der Athmosphärenchemie zur Erforschung des Erdsystems. Beiträge zur jüngeren Geschichte des Max-Planck-Instituts für Chemie (Otto-Hahn-Insitute), 1959-2000, in: Florian Scmaltz, Jüren Renn, Carsten Reinhardt and Jürgen Kocka (eds.): Pre-Print Reihe des GMPG-Projekts, Nr. 5, Berlin 2018.
Lax, Gregor: "Wissenschaft zwischen Planung, Aufgabenteilung und Kooperation. Zum Aufstieg der Erdsystemforschung in der MPG, 1968–2000." Ergebnisse des Forschungsprogramms Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Preprint 12. Edited by Florian Schmaltz, Jürgen Renn, Carsten Reinhardt and Jürgen Kocka. Berlin 2020.
Book Sections:
Lax, Gregor: From Anthropogenic Influences to the Anthropocene. A Historical View on Paul Crutzen’s Research, since the 1970’s until Today. In: Paul Crutzen, Susanne Benner, Gregor Lax and Hans Günter Brauch (eds.): Paul J. Crutzen: The Anthropocene. A New Phase of Earth History: Impacts for Science and Politics. Hamburg: Springer 2019 (F.C.).
Schauz, Désirée and Gregor Lax: Between Professional Devotion, National Needs, Fascists Claims and Democratic Virtues. The Language of Science Policy in Germany. In: David Kaldewey and Désirée Schauz (eds.): Basic and Applied Research. Language and the Politics of Science in the Twentieth Century. New York: Berghahn, 2018, 76–104.
Kant, Horst and Gregor Lax: Chronik des KWI/MPI für Chemie. In: Horst Kant and Carsten Reinhardt (eds.): 100 Jahre Kaiser-Wilhelm-/Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie (Otto-Hahn-Institut). Facetten seiner Geschichte. Berlin: Archiv der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft 2012, 261–277.
Kant, Horst, Gregor Lax and Carsten Reinhardt: Die Wissenschaftlichen Mitarbeiter des Kaiser-Wilhelm-/ Max-Planck-Instituts für Chemie (Kurzbiographien). In: Horst Kant and Carsten Reinhardt (eds.): 100 Jahre Kaiser-Wilhelm-/Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie (Otto-Hahn-Institut). Facetten seiner Geschichte. Berlin: Archiv der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft 2012, 307–367.
Journal Articles:
Lax, Gregor: Zum Aufbau der Atmosphärenwissenschaften in der BRD seit 1968. NTM 24/1 (2016), 81–107.
Lax, Gregor: Zur Etablierung des Jazz in Westdeutschland nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Jazzpodium 6 (2014), 36–39.
Crutzen, Paul, Gregor Lax and Carsten Reinhardt: Paul Crutzen on the Ozone Hole, Nitrogen Oxides, and the Nobel Prize. Angewandte Chemie 52/1 (2013), 48–50.
Harmant, Olivier, Ellen Irons, Gregor Lax, Dariya Manova, Anna Lellie Svensson and Masahiro Terada: "A Slobjects Exercise: What’s in Our Pockets?" Anthropocene Curriculum 2014, http://www.anthropocene-curriculum.org/pages/root/campus-2014/slow-media/a-slobjects-exercise-what-s-in-our-pockets/, last accessed Nov 29, 2017.
Reports/Reviews:
Lax, Gregor: Anwendungsorientierung in der universitären Forschung. Historische Perspektiven auf eine aktuelle Debatte. 04.03.2011–05.03.2011, München. Conference Proceedings. H-Soz-u-Kult, April 6, 2011, http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/tagungsberichte/id=3601, last accessed Nov 29, 2017.
Presentations
24-26/07/2019
Annual Meeting of the History of Science Society, Utrecht
History of Earth System Sciences in the MPG
02/03/2018
Abendrede anlässlich der Eröffnung der Paul Crutzen Graduate School in Mainz
From Anthropogenic Influences to the Anthropocene. Notes on Paul Crutzen’s Research since 1970
23/11/2017
Vortragsreihe im Rahmen des Tropos-Kollquiums, Leibniz-Institut für Troposphärenforschung, Leipzig
Atmosphären- und Erdsystemforschung in Deutschland. Historische Perspektiven auf Wissenschaft zwischen Grundlagenforschung und gesellschaftlicher Relevanz
24–26/07/2019
Jahrestagung der History of Science Society, Utrecht
History of Earth System Sciences in the MPG
12/11/2018
GMPG-Kolloquium, Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science, Berlin
Planung, Aufgabenteilung und Kooperation: Expansion der Erdsystemwissenschaften in der MPG seit 1968
06–07/09/2018
Meeting of the Anthropocene Working Group, Stratigraphical Subcommission of the World Meteorological Society, Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry, Mainz
Participation
24–25/05/2018
Workshop: Changing the Earth's Surface, Bergische Universität, Wuppertal
Participation
26/03/2018
GMPG-Kolloquium, Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science, Berlin
Erdsystemwissenschaften in der MPG. Eckdaten, Thesen, Problemstellungen
07/03/2018
Workshop: Digitial Humanities, Max-Planck-Insitute for the History of Science, Berlin
Participation
23/11/2017
Vortragsreihe im Rahmen des TROPOS-Kolloquiums, Leibniz-Institut für Troposphärenforschung, Leipzig
Atmosphären- und Ersystemforschung in Deutschland. Historische Perspektiven auf Wissenschaft zwischen Grundlagenforschung und gesellschaftlicher Relevanz
17–18/01/2017
Workshop Ernergy Transformations, Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science und Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Berlin
Participation
14/03/2016
Workshop: "Modernizing Climate in the Environmental, Atmospheric, and Geosciences: Nordic Contributions and the International Context", KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
Sources, Sinks and Cycles. On the Formation Process of the Atmospheric Sciences in the Federal Republic of Germany
21/09/2015–23/09/2015
Fifth Sino-German International Conference: "Ethical Challenges of Science and Technology", Dalian University of Technology (China)
From 'Basic Research' to 'Geo-Engineering'. Atmospheric Scientists in the Federal Republic of Germany
07/08/2015
Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry, Mainz
Atmosphärenchemie am MPIC, 1959–1968
12/05/2015
Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science, Berlin
Atmosphären- und biogeochemische Forschung am MPIC, 1968–2000
04/02/2015
Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry, Mainz
Atmosphärenchemie am MPIC, 1968–1978
11/2014
"Anthropocene Campus 2014", Workshop-Konferenz des Hauses der Kulturen der Welt and the Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science
Slobjects (Group presentation)
20/02/2014–22/02/2014
International Conference: "Basic Science and Applied Science", Universität Bonn
‘Grundlagenforschung‘ and ‘Anwendungsforschung‘ in Science Policy Contexts in Western Germany after World War II
04/06/2012
Vortragsreihe am Institut für Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung, Universität Bielefeld
Ein human(istisch)es Antlitz für Grundlagen- und Anwendungsforschung in der BRD in den 1950ern
19/06/2011
Kolloquium "Wissenschaftsgeschichte", Universität Bielefeld
Die Attraktivität der Linearität. Zur Entstehung einer Innovationsrhetorik