Bochum becomes the center of Avicenna research – new professor brings knowledge!

Bochum becomes the center of Avicenna research – new professor brings knowledge!

March 8, 2025 marks an important day for the Ruhr University Bochum, as Prof. Dr. Andreas Lammer takes up his professorship for Arabic studies with a focus on the history of knowledge. His aim is to research the history of science and philosophy in the context of Arab scholars. Lammer is following a long tradition that has had an impact beyond the boundaries of his field since the 1970s. In particular, he focuses on the work of the influential scholar Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), whose philosophy he sees as central to the connection between ancient and Islamic science.

Avicenna, who is considered a doctor, philosopher, natural scientist and mathematician, revised Aristotle's philosophy and further developed it into a unified system. Lammer sees this process as a key function for the later development of knowledge in Europe. As part of his research, he will lead the research project “Avicenna Live: The Immediate Context of Avicenna’s Intellectual Formation” (ALIVE), which is funded by a “Starting Grant” from the European Research Council (ERC) with 1.5 million euros until the end of 2028 news.rub.de reported.

Research and teaching

Lammer has had an impressive academic career. He studied philosophy and German at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, followed by a master's program in philosophy at King's College London. He earned his doctorate at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where his doctorate in philosophy and Arabic studies made him an expert in his field. He previously worked at various universities in Germany, including Würzburg and Cologne, where he led important research projects on the Greek-Arabic-Latin history of philosophy and science, such as ruhr-uni-bochum.de highlights.

His research focuses not only on Avicenna, but also on the reception of (late) ancient Greek science in the Islamic world. Lammer also examines the lasting influence of Arabic texts on European intellectual history, a topic that he believes is often overlooked. Many works by Arab scholars written between the 8th and 14th centuries contributed significantly to the development of modern science and philosophy, such as qalamquest.com explained.

Avicenna and his influences

Avicenna's works in particular have had a lasting impact on the face of European science. His “Canon of Medicine” became a reference work that was highly valued in both Europe and the Middle East. But Arab scholars also had great influence in other disciplines: Al-Khwarizmi is revered as the father of algebra, while astronomers like Al-Battani created precise star catalogs. These achievements illustrate the central role of Arab scientists in the preservation and further development of ancient knowledge.

The translations of many ancient Greek texts into Arabic in the “House of Wisdom” in Baghdad contributed significantly to the transmission of knowledge to later times in Europe. The central question Lammer asks is how the philosophy of Avicenna and other Arab scholars influenced scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages, particularly through their translations and adaptations into Latin.

With the planned Avicenna Research Center at the Faculty of Philology in Bochum, Lammer is pursuing the goal of reaching out to international researchers and thus further intensifying the commitment to the history of Arabic knowledge. He aims to generate further third-party funding in order to sustainably promote these important topics and make them accessible to the broader public.