I was born in Heidelberg, Germany, and obtained BA and MA degrees in history and philosophy from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. During my studies I developed a keen interest in the history of science, and its cultural, philosophical, and technical dimensions. I then trained at the University of California-Berkeley and Caltech, where I assisted in editing the Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. During my PhD at Princeton University, I refocused on early modern science specializing in earth and environment. Thereafter I was elected research fellow at Trinity College.

My research focuses on premodern knowledge of earth, life, and environment. My first book project, The Graveyard of Shells, shows how Europeans used the fossilized remains of shells to conceive extinct species (‘lost species’) three centuries before the discovery of the dinosaurs. My second book project, Science and Sense, will analyze the work of visually impaired naturalists, mathematicians, and artisans, recovering how blind practitioners used their nonvisual senses – particularly touch – to gain insight into the natural world