Search
Program Calendar
Browse By Day
Browse By Time
Browse By Person
Browse By Room
Browse By Session Type
Personal Schedule
Sign In
This paper deals with the transfer of knowledge between Germany and Great Britain focusing on the Scottish mathematicians and physicians John Craig and his pupil Duncan Liddel. Their biographies and works will be assessed against the background of the cultural and institutional framework of the northern European Renaissance. Post- Melanchthonian humanistic universities and gymnasia such as Rostock, Helmstedt, Frankfurt (Oder), Copenhagen and Danzig constituted an institutional réseau that offered a space for the circulation of people and ideas. Scottish scholars such as Craig and Liddel made their careers in these centers and participated in the scientific controversies of the time (over post-Copernican astronomy, Melanchthonian humanism and Paracelsian medicine). Eventually, both came back to Great Britain: Craig became court physician to James I and VI and Liddel acted as a benefactor of the University of Aberdeen. I will reflect on their role as cultural mediators between the German-speaking area and Great Britain.