Publications

I. Monographs on the History of Science and Mathematics

Upcoming! Hans Blumenberg, Mathematical Non-Conceptuality, and the Failed Search for Linguistic Purity in the 20th Century. Accepted for publication, London: Palgrave (expected on 2027).

On Joachim Jungius’ Texturæ Contemplatio. Texture, Weaving and Natural Philosophy in the 17th Century. Within the book series: International Archives of the History of Ideas. Cham: Springer (2023).

Ramified Surfaces: On Branch Curves and Algebraic Geometry in the 20th Century, within the book series: Frontiers in the History of Science, Basel: Birkhäuser (2022).

Grenzen der Formalisierung. Von Leibniz bis Lacan (with: Seppi, Angelika), ilinx.Kollaborationen , Leipzig: Spector Books (2021).

A History of Folding in Mathematics: Mathematizing the Margins, within the book series: Science Networks. Historical Studies, Basel: Birkhäuser (2018).

II. Editorship

Paper(s) as a Carrier of Thought, ed. by: Friedman, Michael; Zetti, Daniela. Special issue of Technikgeschichte vol. 91/3 (2024).

Model and Mathematics, ed. by: Friedman, Michael; Krauthausen, Karin, Basel: Birkhäuser (2022).

Active Materials, ed. by Fratzl, Peter; Friedman, Michael; Krauthausen, Karin; Schäffner, Wolfgang, Berlin: de Gruyter (2021).

Martin Heidegger: Die Falte der Sprache, ed. by Friedman, Michael; Seppi, Angelika, Wien: Turia + Kant (2017).

On Folding: Towards a new field of interdisciplinary research, ed. by Friedman, Michael; Schäffner, Wolfgang, Bielefeld: transcript (2016).

Psychoanalysis: Topological Perspectives, ed. by Friedman, Michael; Tomšič, Samo, Bielefeld: transcript (2016).

Conceptualizing Screen Practices – How Head-Mounted Displays Transform Action and Perception, ed. by Friedman, Michael; Friedrich, Kathrin; Stein, Christian; Queisner, Moritz, Special Issue for MediaTropes (2016).

IV. Articles in Journals and in Anthologies

* Articles marked by * are published in proof-read journals / anthologies

(I) History of AI, Mathematics and Computer Sciences

coming: * Between Nature-Fracturing And Recipe-Providing: On Recent Practices of ‘Reading’ in 21st Century Materials Sciences, to appear in: Pierre de Jouvancourt, Sacha Loeve, Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent (ed.), Materials in the Anthropocene, 2027. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.

coming: * Big AI-Based Mathematics and the Redistribution of Epistemic Labor (with: Kish Bar-On, Kati), to appear in: Social Studies of Science, 2026.

coming: Geometric Diagrams in the Age of AI: From Tarski's Mechanization to AlphaGeometry, to be published in: Horst Bredekamp, Sabine Marienberg, Wolfgang Schäffner (eds.), Philosophie der Aktivität von Form und Materie, 2026, Berlin: De Gruyter.

* From Soap Films to Stereoscopy: Computer-generated Visualizations of Minimal Surfaces during the 1960s, in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 2026, online: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/11691027 , doi: 10.1109/MAHC.2026.3731821.  

* Rethinking Mathematical Intuition in the Age of AI (with: Kish Bar-On, Kati), Math Intelligencer, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00283-026-10561-y

* Mathematical anxiety in the age of AI: Opacity, role inversion, and the changing place of the mathematician, Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, 2026. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949882126001398  


* Eine verschwindende Materialität? Die Algorithmisierung der Papierfaltung Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts. In: Ulf Hashagen, Rudolf Seising (ed.), Algorithmische Wissenskulturen. Der Einfluss des Computers auf die Wissenschaftsentwicklung. 2025, Wiesbaden: Springer Vieweg, 275-299.

* ‘Dynamische Mathematik’ at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century: On Friedrich Fröbel’s Paper Practices, In: History of Universities XXXVIII/1 2025, ed.: Davide Crippa And Marco Sgarbi, Oxford University Press, 165-197.

* A tale of a threshing machine: Images of the Voigt-Leibniz mathematical-agricultural machine at the beginning of the 18th century, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 105, 2024, 17-31, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2024.01.005 .

* On ‘contour apparent’, ‘courbe de contact’ and ramification curves: Duality between a principle and a tool, in: Krömer, Ralf/ Haffner, Emmylou (ed.), Duality in 19th and 20th Century Mathematical Thinking. Cham : Birkhäuser, 2024, 33–59.

* Examining Mehrtens’ (Counter)modernism in captivity: On Bernard d’Orgeval’s mathematical research in the Oflags, Science in Context 35 (4), 2022, p. 366 – 394.

* On fluidity of the textual transmission in Abraham bar Hiyya’s Ḥibbur ha-Meshiḥah ve-ha-Tishboret (with: Garber, David). Archive for History of Exact Sciences, 2022, published online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00407-022-00297-4 

* Paper, Plaster, Strings: Exploratory Material Mathematical Models between the 1860s and 1930s. Perspectives on Science 29 (4), 2021, p. 436-467.

* On Mascheroni's La geometria del compasso at the beginning of the 19th century, Historia Mathematica, 2021 published online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hm.2021.05.002. 

* Haüy, Weiß, Fröbel: the influence of nineteenth-century crystallography on the mathematics of Friedrich Fröbel’s Kindergarten. Part 2: new evidence from unpublished notes (with: Jose Muñoz Alvis), Paedagogica Historica 2021, published online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00309230.2021.1876744 

* Haüy, Weiß, Fröbel: the influence of nineteenth-century crystallography on the mathematics of Friedrich Fröbel’s kindergarten. Part 1: the published materials (with: Jose Muñoz Alvis), Paedagogica Historica, 2021, published online: https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2020.1865424 

* Friedrich Fröbel’s conception of crystallography and the mathematical education at the 19th century kindergartens, in: Barbin, Évelyne et al. (ed.), Dig where you stand 6, Münster: WTM-Verlag, 2020, p. 303–316.

* How to notate a crossing of strings? On Modesto Dedò’s notation of braids, Archive for History of Exact Sciences, 1–32, 2019, published online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00407-019-00238-8. (in print: Archive for History of Exact Sciences 74 (2020), p. 281-312)

Coloring the fourth dimension? Coloring polytopes and complex curves at the end of the 19th century, in: Bock von Wülfingen, Bettina (ed.): Meaningful Color. Epistemology of Color in the Sciences, Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2019, pp. 81–98.

* A plurality of (non-)visualizations: Branch points and branch curves at the turn of the 19th century, Revue d’histoire des mathématiques 25 (1), 2019, p. 109–194.

* “Falling into Disuse”: The Rise and Fall of Froebelian Mathematical Folding within British kindergartens, Paedagogica Historica 54(5), 2018, pp. 564–587.

* Folding in Recreational Mathematics during the 17th-18th Centuries: Between Geometry and Entertainment (with: Rougetet, Lisa), Acta Baltica Historiae et Philosophiae Scientiarum, vol. 5, No. 2, 2017, pp. 5-34.

* A Failed Encounter in Mathematics and Chemistry: The Folded Models of van ‘t Hoff and Sachse, Theory of Science, vol. 38 (3), 2017, pp. 359-386.

* Two Beginnings of Geometry and Folding: Hermann Wiener and Sundara Row, Journal of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, vol. 31(1), 2016, pp. 52-68.

(II) History of the Natural Sciences

Weaving the Past into the Present: Joachim Jungius’s Historical Narratives of “Contemplative” Textile Practices in Seventeenth-Century Hamburg. In: Hilary J. Bernstein, Fabien Montcher, and Megan Armstrong (eds.), Constructing European Historical Narratives in the Early Modern World, New York: Iter Press, 2026, 463-495.

*  “Tirer d’eux leurs secrets”: Leibniz on Artisanal Knowledge and “Secret” Geometry (with Beirach, Y.,). N.T.M. 33, 107–144 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00048-025-00414-8

On Blumenberg's Mathematical Caves, or: How Did Blumenberg Read Wittgenstein's Remarks on the Philosophy of Mathematics? In: Fragio, Albertoet al. (ed.), Hans Blumenberg's History and Philosophy of Science, Cham: Springer, 2025, p. 29-51.

* Paper(s) as a Carrier of Thought. Introduction (with: Zetti, Daniela), Technikgeschichte 91/3, 2024, p. 201-219.

* On metaphors of mathematics: Between Blumenberg’s nonconceptuality and Grothendieck’s waves. Synthese 203/149, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-024-04558-3

Froebel’s mathematical thinking, German Idealism and the occupation of plaiting, in: Bruce, Tina et al. (eds.) The Bloomsbury Handbook to Friedrich Froebel. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023, p. 36-44.

* The Agency of Materials and the Materiality of Agency (with: Krauthausen, Karin), Spontaneous Generations 11, the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, 2023, online: https://www.spontaneousgenerations.com/friedkrauth

“ ‘Je met le pied sur la marche d’en haut’: Leibniz on the Embodied Knowledge of Textile Artisans”, in: Li, W. et al. (ed.), "Le present est plein de l’avenir, et chargé du passé" : Proceeding of the XI. Internationalen Leibniz-Kongresses, Band 1. Hannover : Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Gesellschaft e.V., 2023, p. 452-462.

* Leibniz and the Stocking Frame: Computation, Weaving and Knitting in the 17th century, Minds & Machines, 2023, online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-023-09623-3

* Joachim Jungius and the Transfer of Knowledge from Weaving to Mathematics in the 17th Century, Cahiers François Viète III-13, 2022, p. 43-82.

How to Grasp an Abstraction: Mathematical Models and Their Vicissitudes Between 1850 and 1950. Introduction (with: Krauthausen, Karin), in: Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin (eds.), Model and Mathematics: From the 19th to the 21st Century. Cham: Birkhäuser, 2022, p. 1-49.

* Metaphorical reactions in 1932: from the mathematical ‘crisis of intuition’ to ‘reconstruction in the exact sciences’, British Journal for the History of Mathematics 2022, published online: https://doi.org/10.1080/26375451.2022.2052631

Materials Matter: Introduction (with: Krauthausen, Karin), in: Fratzl, Peter / Friedman, Michael / Krauthausen, Karin / Schäffner, Wolfgang (ed.), Active Materials, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2021, p. 1-36.

Sempers Hütte und die Grenzen der Mathematik, in: Krauthausen, Karin / Ladewig, Rebekka (ed.), Modell Hütte, Berlin/Zürich: diaphanes, 2021, p. 385-410.

Bilder der Mathematik. Von Maschine und Architektur zu Organismus und Milieu, in: Ladewig, Rebekka / Seppi, Angelika (ed.), Milieu Fragmente: Technologische und ästhetische Perspektiven. Leipzig: Spector Books, 2020, p. 284–302.

* Baroquian Folds: Leibniz on Folded Fabrics and the Disruption of Geometry, in: Sriraman, Bharath (ed.), Handbook of the Mathematics of the Arts and Sciences. Springer, Cham, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70658-0_93-1 (published online)

Klee, Laban, Schlemmer, Marey: Four conceptions of movement in the 1920s, in: Braun, Pierre (ed.), Digital Klee – Pedagogical Sketchbook – An Inquiry Into The Future Of Form, Dijon: Les presses du reel 2020, p. 56–74.

* On Mathematical Towers of Babel and “Translation” as an Epistemic Category, The Mathematical Intelligencer, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00283-020-09969-x (published online).

Aktive Materie (with: Krauthausen, Karin), in: Fratzl, Peter et al. (ed.), Materialforschung: Impulsgeber Natur. Innovationspotenzial biologisch inspirierter Materialien und Werkstoffe (acatech DISKUSSION), München: utzverlag, 2019, p. 84–86.

* The material reasoning of folding paper (with: Rittberg, Colin), Synthese 2019, p. 1–35.

* Mathematical Formalization and Diagrammatic Reasoning: The Case Study of the Braid Group between 1925 and 1950, British Journal for the History of Mathematics 34, 2019, pp. 34–59.

Questioning dance notation (with: Katan-Schmid, Einav), in: Alexandre, Véronique/Chueke, Zélia/Vassileva, Biliana (ed.), Du signe à la performance, Paris: L'Harmattan, 2019, pp. 405–435.

* Virtually Treatable: Temporalities and Encodings of Traumatic Experiences (with: Friedrich, Kathrin), Angles, vol. 7: Digital Subjectivities, ed.: Larsonneur, Claire, 2018. http://angles.saesfrance.org/index.php?id=1524

Jenseits der (deutschen) Sprache. Eine mathematisch-hebräische Falte, in: Friedman, Michael / Seppi, Angelika (ed.), Martin Heidegger: Die Falte der Sprache, Vienne: Turia + Kant, 2017, pp. 193-226.

Die Falte(n) der Sprache(n). Zur Einführung (with: Seppi, Angelika), in: Friedman, Michael / Seppi, Angelika (ed.), Martin Heidegger: Die Falte der Sprache, Vienne: Turia + Kant, 2017, pp. 7-35.

* Birdly/EyeSect: Two Possible Spatializations of Vision, MediaTropes, vol. 6(1), 2016, pp. 114-136.

* Conceptualizing Screen Practices: How Head-Mounted Displays Transform Action and Perception (with: Friedrich, Kathrin/Queisner, Moritz/Stein, Christian), MediaTropes, vol. 6(1), 2016, pp. i-v.

Inspirierte Mechanik. Active matter als Maschine und Struktur (with: Krauthausen, Karin), in: Doll, Nikola/Bredekamp, Horst/Schäffner, Wolfgang (ed.), +ultra gestaltung schafft wissen, Leipzig: E.A: Seemann, 2016, pp. 171-176.

Folding and Geometry: Buckminster Fuller’s Provocation of Thinking (with: Krausse, Joachim), in: Friedman, Michael/Schäffner, Wolfgang (ed.): On Folding: Towards a New Field of Interdisciplinary Research, Bielefeld: transcript, 2016, pp. 139-173.

* About repetition and the limits of formalization, Problemi, vol. 9-10/16, 2016, pp. 215-234.

Torus and Identification: The Beginning of Lacanian Mathematics, in: Friedman, Michael/Tomšič, Samo (ed.), Psychoanalysis: Topological Perspectives, Bielefeld: transcript 2016, pp. 153-190.

That Obscure Space of Thinking (with: Tomšič, Samo), in: Friedman, Michael/Tomšič, Samo (ed.), Psychoanalysis: Topological Perspectives, Bielefeld: transcript, 2016, pp. 7-27.

On Folding: Introduction of a New Field of Interdisciplinary Research (with: Schäffner, Wolfgang), in: Friedman, Michael/Schäffner, Wolfgang (ed.): On Folding: Towards a New Field of Interdisciplinary Research, Bielefeld: transcript, 2016, pp. 7-29.

* Über drei Erscheinungen von Unterschied in der Mathematik, Berichte zur Wissenschafts-geschichte, vol. 39 (1), 2016, pp. 7–35.

* Harmonie déformée: Kepler, Lacan et les questions ouvertes du structuralisme (with: Tomšič, Samo), Implications Philosophiques, vol. 2(2), 2015, pp. 1-12.

V. Interviews on History of Mathematics and the Natural Sciences 

Interview with Myfanwy E. Evans: Entanglements On and Models of Periodic Minimal Surfaces (with: Myfanwy E. Evans, Karin Krauthausen). In: Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin (eds.), Model and Mathematics: From the 19th to the 21st Century. Birkhäuser, Cham 2022, p. 255-266.

Interview with Anja Sattelmacher: Between Viewing and Touching—Models and Their Materiality (with: Anja Sattelmacher, Karin Krauthausen). In: Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin (eds.), Model and Mathematics: From the 19th to the 21st Century. Birkhäuser, Cham 2022, p. 381-401.

Interview with Ulf Hashagen: Exhibitions and Mathematical Models in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (with: Ulf Hashagen, Karin Krauthausen). In: Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin (eds.), Model and Mathematics: From the 19th to the 21st Century. Birkhäuser, Cham 2022, p. 403-430.

Interview with Andreas Daniel Matt: Real-Time Mathematics (with: Andreas Daniel Matt, Karin Krauthausen). In: Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin (eds.), Model and Mathematics: From the 19th to the 21st Century. Birkhäuser, Cham 2022, p. 431-445.

Interview with Thomas Speck: “You Don’t Want to Build an Oak Tree – You Want to Invent It.” Plants as Active Matter (with: Thomas Speck, Karin Krauthausen). In: Fratzl, Peter/ Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin/ Schäffner, Wolfgang (eds.), Active Materials, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (2021), p. 55-78.

Interview with Joanna Aizenberg: On Responsive and Adaptive Materials (with: Joanna Aizenberg, Karin Krauthausen). In: Fratzl, Peter/ Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin/ Schäffner, Wolfgang (eds.), Active Materials, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (2021), p. 79-94.

Interview with Jean-François Joanny: Activity, Instabilities, and Defects (with: Jean-François Joanny, Karin Krauthausen). In: Fratzl, Peter/ Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin/ Schäffner, Wolfgang (eds.), Active Materials, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (2021), p. 117-128.

Interview with Barbara Mazzolai: Plants, Plantoids, and Active Materials (with: Barbara Mazzolai, Karin Krauthausen). In: Fratzl, Peter/ Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin/ Schäffner, Wolfgang (eds.), Active Materials, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (2021), p. 129-144.

Interview with Robert Shepherd: On Soft Robots, Biomimetics, and Beyond (with: Robert Shepherd, Karin Krauthausen). In: Fratzl, Peter/ Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin/ Schäffner, Wolfgang (eds.), Active Materials, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (2021), p. 145-156.

Interview with Ramin Golestanian: Living Matter, or What Is Life? (with: Ramin Golestanian, Karin Krauthausen). In: Fratzl, Peter/ Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin/ Schäffner, Wolfgang (eds.), Active Materials, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (2021), p. 157-172.

Interview with Nikolaus Correll: Robotic Materials (with: Nikolaus Correll, Karin Krauthausen). In: Fratzl, Peter/ Friedman, Michael/ Krauthausen, Karin/ Schäffner, Wolfgang (eds.), Active Materials, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter (2021), p. 173-190.