Otto Neugebauer (1899-1990): From Antiquity to the Renaissance

This episode of In Memoriam addresses another monumental figure of the history of science, who made invaluable contributions to the history of astrology: Otto E. Neugebauer (26 May 1899 –19 February 1990). Together with Professors Alexander Jones and Charles Burnett we discuss his life and work and become aware of the scholar, and also the man. Born in Innsbruck, Austria, he became one of the leading figures of the history of mathematics leaving behind a great amount of work ranging from the ancient world to the early modern period. Among his contributions is his short but famous defence of the historical study of astrology, “The Study of Wretched Subjects” (1951), that signals a change in the historiographic mindset on topics such as astrology, magic and alchemy.

A Biographical Memoir by N.M. Swerdlow: http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/neugebauer-otto.pdf

“The Study of Wretched Subjects” (1951) can be found here: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/349279