• PhD, summa cum laude, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, 1995
• MA, with highest distinction, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, 1990
• BA, University of Cologne, 1985
• Studied history, political science and art history in Cologne, Munich and the US
• Citizenship: US and Germany

UGC 112: The Emergence of the Global World
HIS 313: 20th Century Europe
HIS 315: German Culture and Society, 1789-1989
HIS 346: 19th Century Europe
HIS 378: Nazi Germany
HIS 395: History of the Cold War
HIS 420: The Third Reich in Europe
HIS 472: Topics in the History of Science
HIS 501: Historical Inquiry (Introductory Course for Ph.D. Students)
HIS 525: Cultural History of Science and Medicine
HIS 571: Readings in 20th Century German History
HIS 580: Modern European Core Seminar
HIS 637: Problems in European History
HIS 647: 20th Century International Relations

German, European and Transatlantic History from the 18th to the 20th century; history of science and knowledge; history of historiography; Emigration after 1933

Alexander von Humboldt and the Emergence of the Global World: A Biography

Alexander von Humboldt: A Concise Biography. Trans. Robert Savage. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2024.

Alexander von Humboldt. Munich: C. H. Beck, 2019; second edition 2024.

Kennedy in Berlin (2008). New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Kennedy in Berlin (2003): Politik, Kultur und Emotionen im Kalten Krieg. Paderborn, 2003.

Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848-1914. 1st ed. 1998, 2nd enlarged paperback ed., Munich, 2002.

[Popularizing Science in the Nineteenth Century: Civil Culture, Scientific Education, and the Public Sphere in Germany, 1848-1914]

Die Freiheitsglocke in Berlin -- The Freedom Bell in Berlin, co-authored with Veronika Liebau. Berlin: Jaron, 2000.

The Second Generation: Emigrés from Nazi Germany as Historians. With a Biobibliographic Guide, co-edited with Hartmut Lehmann and James J. Sheehan. New York: Berghan Books, 2016, paperback edition 2018.

The GSA Fortieth Anniversary Issue (Special issue of German Studies Review 39, no. 3, October 2016), co-edited with Sabine Hake and Brad Prager.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Berlin - Washington, 1800-2000: Capital Cities, Cultural Representations, and National Identities, co-edited with Christof Mauch, New York, Cambridge, 2005, paperback edition 2005.

America, the Vietnam War and the World: Comparative and International Perspectives, co-edited with Lloyd C. Gardner, and Wilfried Mausbach. New York, Cambridge, 2003.

“Humboldtian Science and Humboldt’s Science,” History of Science 62 (2024).

“Good Bye, Lenin! (2003): Coping with Change ‒ and the Future in the Counterfactual,” in Deutsche Filmgeschichten: Historische Porträts (Wallstein, 2023).

“Peter Paret (1924–2020),” Historische Zeitschrift 314 (2022).

“Alexander von Humboldt am Rhein: Zur regionalen Grundlage von Humboldts Wissenschaft, Reisen und Politikverständnis 1789–1848,” Rheinische Vierteljahresblätter 85 (2021).

“Alexander und Wilhelm von Humboldt: Vom Orinoco nach Java,” in Deutschland. Globalgeschichte einer Nation, Munich: C. H. Beck, 2020.

"Social Relations, Shared Practices, and Emotions: Alexander von Humboldt’s Excursion into Literary Classicism and the Challenges to Science around 1800," Journal of Modern History 91 (2019)

"Georg G. Iggers, (1926-2017)," Central European History 51 (2018) 

“German Naturalists in the Pacific around 1800: Entanglement, Autonomy, and a Transnational Culture of Expertise,” in Explorations and Entanglements: Germans in Pacific Worlds from the Early Modern Period to World War I, ed. Hartmut Berghoff, Frank Biess, and Ulrike Strasser. New York: Berghahn Books, 2018.

“Refugees from Nazi Germany as Historians: Origins and Migrations, Interests and Identities,” in The Second Generation: Émigrés from Nazi Germany as Historians, ed. Andreas W. Daum et al. (Berghahn Books, 2016).

“Kennedy and Berlin,” in A Companion to John F. Kennedy, ed. Marc J. Selverstone (Wiley Blackwell, 2014).

“The Two German States in the International World," in Oxford Handbook of Modern German History, ed. Helmut Walser Smith (Oxford University Press, 2011).

"Die Ironie des Unzeitgemäßen. Anmerkungen zu Alexander von Humboldt," in Zeitschrift fuer Ideengeschichte 4 (Spring 2010).

"Varieties of Popular Science and the Transformations of Public Knowledge: Some Historical Reflections," in Isis 100 (June 2009).

“Nation, Naturforschung und Monument: Humboldt-Denkmäler in Deutschland und den USA,” in Die Kunst der Geschichte. Historiographie, Ästhetik, Erzählung, ed. Martin Baumeister et al. (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009).

“’Atlantic Partnership’ or Simply ‘A Mess’? Performative Politics and Social Communication in the Western Alliance During the Kennedy Presidency,” in John F. Kennedy and the ‘Thousand Days:’ New Perspectives on the Foreign and Domestic Policies of the Kennedy Administration, ed. Manfred Berg and Andreas Etges (Winter, 2007).

“Capitals in Modern History: Inventing Urban Spaces for the Nation,” in Berlin - Washington, 1800-2000: Capital Cities, Cultural Representation, and National Identities, ed. Andreas W. Daum and Christof Mauch (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

“Wissenschaft and Knowledge,” in Germany 1800-1870, ed. Jonathan Sperber (Oxford University Press, 2004).

“Science, Politics, and Religion: Humboldtian Thinking and the Transformations of Civil Society in Germany, 1830-1870,” in Science and Civil Society (= Osiris, no. 17). (Chicago University Press, 2002).

“‘The Next Great Task of Civilization:’ International Exchange in Popular Science. The German-American Case, 1850-1900,” in The Mechanics of Internationalism: Culture, Society, and Politics 1850-1914, ed. Martin H. Geyer and Johannes Paulmann (Oxford University Press, 2001)

“Alexander von Humboldt, die Natur als ‘Kosmos’ und die Suche nach Einheit: Zur Geschichte von Wissen und seiner Wirkung als Raumgeschichte,” in Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 23 (2000).

• Meyersohn Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and Mentoring, 2024
• Humboldt Research Prize, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2019
• Baird Society Resident Fellowship, Smithsonian Institution, 2017
• Research Fellowship, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), 2014-15
• Humanities Institute, UB, Research Fellowship, 2013
• Grants for Conference “The Second Generation” by Fritz Thyssen Foundation and ZEIT Foundation – Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, 2011
• Faculty in Leadership Fellowship, SUNY Buffalo, 2006-7
• John F. Kennedy Fellowship, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University, 2001-2
• Feodor Lynen Fellowship at Columbia University, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2001-2 (declined)
• Publication Grant for Excellent Dissertation, Verwertungsgesellschaft V.G. Wort, 1996
• Andrew Mellon Resident Research Fellowship, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, Pa., 1992
• Dissertation Fellowship, German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C., 1992
• Dissertation Fellowship and Travel Grants, Gerda Henkel Stiftung, 1991-96
• Scholarship, Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, 1984-1989