Lorenz Oken and nineteenth-century German Romantic science: Transformation from 'naturphilosoph' to professional scientist through the institutionalization of science

Capsule. Lorenz Oken (1779--1851) was a catalyst to the institutionalization and professionalization of German science, acting as its agent and mediator in the first half of the Nineteenth Century. With passionate involvement and dedication to science and "Bildung," Oken moved from Naturphilosophie to Naturwissenschaft. Through his agency in intellectual, scientific, institutional and political endeavours he achieved national and international acclaim.;Overview. This thesis highlights Lorenz Oken in a new perspective: as a major figure in the transformation of Nineteenth Century science, not only in Germany but also throughout Europe, in the context of the institutionalization and professionalization of science during the first half of the Nineteenth Century. I focus on Oken's intellectual, scientific, institutional and political activities in relation to the transformation of Naturphilosophie to Naturwissenschaft. Oken moved from Naturphilosophie to Naturwissenschaft in the context of institution building, particularly in the domain of natural science. Oken raised German national consciousness through science as well as through his political participation. Oken made a contribution to pedagogy in the field of science research at the occasion of the founding of the University of Berlin (1809). His Journal Isis, published between 1817 and 1848, linked scientists from all over Europe, serving as a forum for polemic, debate, interchange of ideas and for publications or announcements. It serves today as a cultural prism for tracing scientific developments and political crossroads during its era. The "Gesellschaft deutscher Naturforscher und Arzte" which Oken founded in 1822 continued to flourish for decades. The "Gesellschaft" was a travelling conference convening annually in a different university city or research institution in several European countries. Scientists from all over Europe exchanged scientific information, delivered papers, showed inventions, and engaged in collaborative research projects. I credit Oken in terms of the institutionalization and professionalization of science achieved through Isis and through the "Gesellschaft" by way of text in the encyclopedic journal or through participation at national and international conferences and their resultant cultural production.;Oken and his encyclopedic knowledge, together with his huge spectrum of vision for the development and promotion of science, perpetuated the existence of the "Gesellschaft" to this day.;Oken emerges as one of the most significant figures in the history of the professionalization of science in Germany in the Nineteenth Century. He contributed to the paradigm shift from Naturphilosophie towards the rationalization of Wissenschaft on the path to science.