Astral Sciences in Trans-Regional Asia (ASTRA)

📢 Publication alert!

We are delighted to share the latest publication from ASTRA researchers Jacob Schmidt-Madsen and Anuj Misra.

"A Tree with Many Roots: Introducing the Zysk Collection of Indic Manuscripts", now open access in Manuscript Studies muse.jhu.edu/article/965563

@mpiwg.bsky.social

Poster for High Gravity Talk with Audrey Truschke on November 20, 2025.

📢 We are excited to announce our next High Gravity Talk with @audreytruschke.bsky.social entitled "Fieldnotes from Battles over Indian History, Society, and Sciences" on November 20, 2025, 16:00 at the Leibniz Hall, Berlin. @mpiwg.bsky.social
🔗 tinyurl.com/mr2jrnz5

📢 Our next High Gravity Talk entitled "Fieldnotes from Battles over Indian History, Society, and Sciences" will be given by @audreytruschke.bsky.social on November 20, 2025, 16:00 at the Leibniz Hall, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
🔗 tinyurl.com/mr2jrnz5
@mpiwg.bsky.social

Jacob Schmidt-Madsen in the lobby of the Institute during an event. He demonstrates an Asian board game opposed to the German board game “Mensch ärgere dich nicht” („Man, Don’t Get Angry“). Photo: Sandra Prengel, 2024.

New podcast episode ☕😌
Jacob Schmidt-Madsen talks to Benjamin Linder on "The Channel” by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) about the history of South Asian #Games and their inherent spiritual and societal meaning 👁️

🎧 bit.ly/44zyeSJ

#HistSci #Cosmology
@astra-mpiwg.bsky.social

📢: Jacob Schmidt-Madsen, Postdoctoral Scholar in the Research Group Astral Sciences in Trans-Regional Asia (ASTRA), spoke to 5 Games 4 Doomsday (5G4D) host Ben Maddox about his research on the Indian origins of "Snakes & Ladders"

🔗: www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/news/jacob-s...

@mpiwg.bsky.social

📢: Our postdoctoral fellow Hamid Bohloul is speaking about "Royal Horoscopes in Persian" in the Research Colloquium ZODIAC next week!

📅: 16 July 2025, 16:00-17:30
🌍: Institut für Wissensgeschichte des Altertums, Arnimallee 10, Raum 010, 14195 Berlin
🔗: www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/zodiac/new...

📢: Postdoctoral Scholar Jacob Schmidt-Madsen was interviewed by The Channel, a podcast by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), about games, our worldview, and spirituality.

🔗: www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/podcast/sout...

This image of the Trifid Nebula (small gas nebula at top right) and the Lagoon Nebula (dominant) fits roughly into the field of view of the large 3.200 Megapixel camera at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The image is a composite of 678 individual images, revealing even faint details.

“The Vera Rubin Telescope will be transformational for my research in #cosmology," says Esra Bulbul, astronomer
@mpe-garching.bsky.social. "With its wide field of view and depth, it will observe billions of #galaxies across vast distances.” www.mpg.de/24900555/ver... @vrubinobs.bsky.social

@istb-univienna.bsky.social is hiring: We are offering a three-year 50% Postdoc Position in the field of Indology and Himalayan Studies at the ISTB in Vienna. Please circulate this advertisement among qualified candidates.

Closing date for applications: June 26

jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universi...

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is about to totally transform astronomy With the ability to scan the entire southern night sky every three days, the huge Vera C. Rubin Observatory could be about to start solving the mysteries of the universe, from dark matter to Planet Nine

With the ability to scan the entire southern night sky every three days, the huge Vera C. Rubin Observatory could be about to start solving the mysteries of the universe, from dark matter to Planet Nine

Session 1B: The Middle Ages in Modern Games (III): Periodisation Beyond the West [Room K018 – hybrid session] Chair: James Worth Muhammad Abdul Karim: No Middle Ages in Timor: Understanding the concept of Middle Ages in Temukung: Cultivation in Drylands Kristina Wittkamp (University of Passau): Medievalisms in Russian-language computer games – depictions of Rus’ between fantasy and historical simulation Hirohito Tsuji (University of East Anglia): Japanese Stereotypes in Medievalist Games: The Onimusha series

Wednesday 25th continues our Middle Ages in Modern Games thread: the focus in this hybrid session is 'Periodisation Beyond the West'.
With Muhammad Abdul Karim, Kristina Wittkamp (Passau), and Hirohito Tsuji @tsujihirohito.bsky.social, UEA)! 👇 #MAMOmonth

Hamid worked closely with Taha Yasin Arslan, assistant professor and head of the Department of the History of Technology at the Institute for the History of Science, Istanbul Medeniyet University. Read more about Hamid's research here 2/2:

www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/research/pro...

Taha Yasin Arslan (left) and Hamid Bohloul (right).

Last week, postdoctoral fellow Dr Hamid Bohloul went to Istanbul Medeniyet University’s Science and Advanced Technology Research and Application Center to discuss ways of reconstructing Ibn al-Shatir's astrolabe clock 1/2 ...

📢 : Tomorrow (June 11, 2025) is the last talk in our Spring 2025 colloquium series "The Ludic Languages of Asia: Sources and Terminologies": Tianyue Lei will deliver a lecture on "Soul and Body of Shengguantu: The Stable Terminology Needled the Way through Gameboards".

📢: Next week in our colloquium series "The Ludic Languages of Asia: Sources and Terminologies": Tianyue Lei will deliver a lecture on "Soul and Body of Shengguantu: The Stable Terminology Needled the Way through Gameboards".

#histsci #games #china
🔗: www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/event/soul-a...

ASTRA Official channel for the Astral Sciences in Trans-Regional Asia (ASTRA) research group at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin.

📢 ASTRA has launched its own YouTube channel, where you can find videos of all our talks from the colloquium series as well as Alex de Voogt's High Gravity Talk. Please check it out and hit the subscribe button!

🔗 www.youtube.com/@ASTRA-MPIWG

Already know the Big Dipper? There's more to this group of stars Most of us can spot the group of stars known as the Plough or the Big Dipper. But there’s more to explore here, says Abigail Beall

Most of us can spot the group of stars known as the Plough or the Big Dipper. But there’s more to explore here, says Abigail Beall

Hamid Bohloul on the left.

👏 Our Postdoctoral Fellow Hamid Bohloul recently delivered a paper in the Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus (PAL) colloquium at the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Munich.

Frank Rövekamp discussing some findings about Shogi from the Ohashi records.

Yesterday Prof. Frank Rövekamp (Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences) gave an inspiring and lively talk on Shogi, the Japanese cousin of Western chess, in the ASTRA colloquium series "The Ludic Languages of Asia: Sources and Terminologies".

🔗 www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/event/shogi-...

South Asian board game and guests in the background.

👏 We are delighted to share ASTRA's latest Feature Story "Playing with the Stars: Heavenly Knowledge, Trans-Regional Journeys, and the Performance of Astral Sciences across Asia".

🔗: www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/feature-stor...

📢 Shogi in the Edo-Period (1600–1867): Glimpses of Real Life from the Ohashi Diaries

www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/event/shogi-...

Horoscope charts with brief prognostications for the Yazdigird years 789–792 (1419–1422) (fol. 86r), from the Nativity Book of Prince Iskandar (d. 1415), grandson of Tamerlane and ruler of Shiraz and Isfahan, cast by Maḥmūd al-Kāshī.

📢 Check out our latest Working Group "Celestial Counselors: Astrologers at the Crossroads of Power in Islamicate Courts" run by Prof. Anuj Misra and Dr. Hamid Bohloul. www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/research/pro...

📢 : The MPIWG invites Guest Residencies for Journalists with a Focus on the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science (2026).

📅 : June 2, 2025.
🔗 : www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/news-events/...

#HistSci #ScienceJournalism #Journalism

Poster for ASTRA colloquium series spring 2025.

📢 Do you want to know more about Shoji, the Japanese cousin of Western chess? Tune in for our next talk "Shogi in the Edo-Period (1600–1867): Glimpses of Real Life from the Ohashi Diaries" by Frank Rövekamp.

📅 : May 14, 2025, 13:00-14:30
💻 : Zoom: tinyurl.com/yc3fte9r
🔗 : tinyurl.com/bd3u6dpf

Collage of three images. The first reads: "Max Planck Institute for the history of Science. Career. We're hiring." The second image shows a group of people at the institute's courtyard. Photography by MPIWG, 20121. The third shows people reading in the institute's library. Photography by MPIWG, 2012.

CfA: Short-term fellowships and research stays open for applications 📖

Scholars of any career stage are invited to apply for research visits to the MPIWG! Please visit our website for details on duration and funding options.

🗓️ Deadlines: May 1/Sept 15
🔗 bitly.cx/bepR5

#HistSci #EnvHist #Sinology

"Max Planck History of Science—Career: We’re hiring!" top right: MPIWG library. Picture by Setform 2017. lower right: Indian board game Pretwa. Source: Sandra Prengel, 2024.

New #StudentJob opportunity!🦸
Research Group "Astral Sciences in Trans-Regional Asia (ASTRA)" seeks to hire a #StudentAssistant in #Communications and #Administration 💫🔭

🗓 Deadline: May 11, 2025
🔗 bit.ly/4eDRUq4

#HistSci #JobsInBerlin #Astronomy
@astra-mpiwg.bsky.social

📢 WE ARE HIRING A NEW STUDENT ASSISTANT!

Come join the Astral Sciences in Trans-Regional Asia (ASTRA) research group as our new student assistant.

📅: Deadline: May 11, 2025
🔗: www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/news-events/...

+++ Ringvorlesung +++
Wie wird die Antike politisch instrumentalisiert? Angeregt durch unser Jahresthema 25/26 diskutieren Expert:innen aus Politik-, Geschichts- & Altertumswissenschaften diese Vereinnahmung im Offenen Hörsaal der @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social. 📣Start: 15.4. lmy.de/tkGJw

job advertisement screenshot https://www.mpg.de/24329299/postdoctoral-scholars1

screenshot of MPIWG Reclaiming "Turtles All The Way Down" working group web page https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/research/projects/reclaiming-turtles-all-way-down-tawd-plural-practices-animal-cosmologies

MPIWG is hiring postdocs in Dept "Artifacts, Action, Knowledge" (includes working groups RTAWD, Heavens in Your Hand, Common Kg, Metals&Minerals) + Dept "Knowledge Systems + Collective Life" and @astra-mpiwg.bsky.social ! Do check "career" page for closing dates: tinyurl.com/2usszea9
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📢 Want to know more about the history of games and the astral sciences? Then come for our inaugural High Gravity Talk with Prof. Alex de Voogt.

📅 : Monday April 7, 2025, 15:00-17:00
📍 : Harnack Haus in Berlin.

It is FREE but registration is required:

🔗 : www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/event/ludic-...