Dr. Petra G. Schmidl

Associated Researcher

Department Geschichte
 Postal Address: Kochstr. 4
D-91054 Erlangen


IKGF Visiting Fellow February 2013 - July 2013

IKGF Visiting Fellow October 2014 - March 2015

IKGF Visiting Fellow October 2017 - December 2017


Current position

Curriculum Vitae

Petra G. Schmidl is a historian of science with a focus on pre-modern astronomy and astrology, prognostication, and instrumentation in Islamicate societies. After studying history, history of science, anthropology, and physics, as well as learning Arabic, she received her doctoral degree from the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt in 2005 for her work on three folk astronomical treatises from 11th-century Hijaz and 13th-century Yemen. These hitherto unpublished texts are all characterized by providing information on timekeeping, regulating the prayer times, and finding the direction to Mecca that differ fundamentally from the primarily mathematical methods described in, e.g., zījes, astronomical-astrological handbook with tables, a genre of pre-modern scholarly writing mainly in Arabic, but also in Persian.

Petra G. Schmidl's research concentrates on pre-modern astronomical, astrological, and prognostic practices in Islamicate societies with a main emphasis on Rasūlid Yemen (13th-15th century) and its scholarly engaged sultans. Ensuing from that and interested in a comparative perspective she addresses not only questions of interdependencies with rulership and with religion of these scholarly traditions, but also of the subject matter assigned to the history of science in general and the role of prognostication and instrumentation in it. She also investigates how knowledge is presented in manuscripts and on instruments, mainly the astrolabe, and how it moves among different cultures and languages.

Education

Institution and Location Degree Year(s) Field of Study
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt Magister artium 1995 Medieval History
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt Dr. phil. nat. 2005 History of Science

Previous positions

2018-2019Research assistant, Lehrstuhl für mittelalterliche Geschichte, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
2017 Visiting fellow, International Consortium for Research in the Humanities (IKGF), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
2014-2017 Research assistant, Exzellenzcluster “Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen (ExNO)”, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
2014-2015 Visiting fellow, International Consortium for Research in the Humanities (IKGF), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
2012-2014 Research assistant, Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften (IOA), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
2013 Visiting fellow, International Consortium for Research in the Humanities (IKGF), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
2012 Teaching substitute Vormoderne Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
2009-2012 Research assistant and lecturer, Institut für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften (IOA), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
2008-2009 Fellow, Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung, Düsseldorf
2002-2007 Research assistant, Institut für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

Dissemination activities (Selection)

2023Interview by the Deutschlandfunk “Warum die Muslime schon früh die Sterne studierten”
2021 Workshop “Den Himmel in der Hand. Zu Gebrauch und Geschichte des Astrolabiums” during the Humanities Festivals “Blicke in die Zukunft” at the IKGF Erlangen
2021 Virtual talk “Wahrsager an der Macht. Sultan al-Ashraf Umar und August von Sachsen als wahrsagende Herrscher“ during the exhibition “Zeichen der Zukunft” im Germanischen Nationalmuseum Nürnberg (together with Ulrike Ludwig)
2021 Podcast “Die Sterne deuten” in the series “Tell me a History”, produced by Nadja Danilenko
2020 Podcasts “A Thirteenth Century Yemeni manuscript” and “A Book of Knowledge from Thirteenth Century Yemen” in the series of the Ad-Astra-Project, produced by Helena Avelar and Luís Ribeiro

Publications (until December 2022)

Books

  • Orthmann, Eva; Schmidl, Petra G. (eds.): Science in the city of fortune. The Dustūr al munajjimīn and its world (Bonner Islamstudien 39). Berlin 2017.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: Volkstümliche Astronomie im islamischen Mittelalter. Zur Bestimmung der Gebetszeiten und der Qibla bei al-Aṣbaḥī, Ibn Raḥīq und al-Fārisī (Islamic philosophy, theology and science 68). Leiden 2007.

Articles

Concerning mainly al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Kitāb al-Tabṣira fī ʿilm al-nujūm

  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter xxxvii.1. Qibla schemes as text-image arrangements with an example from 13th century Yemen”, in: Korn, Lorenz; Metzler, Berenike (eds.): Writing as intermediary. Text-image relations in early modern Islamic cultures. Bamberg 2022, 65-96. (DOI: 10.20378/irb-54329; Arabic text and English translation also published on tabsira.hypotheses.org/)
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter xxxiv. Rainbows, shooting stars, and haloes as signs of the future”, in: Herbers, Klaus; Lehner, Hans-Christian (eds.): Dreams, nature, and practices as signs of the future in the European Middle Ages (Prognostication in history 10). Leiden, Boston 2022, 252-309. (Arabic text and English translation also published on tabsira.hypotheses.org/)
  • Mimura, Taro; Schmidl; Petra G.: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter x (H,25a,8 25b,6) - Apogee and perigee. Published 2022-08-31 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Mimura, Taro; Schmidl, Petra G.: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter ix (H,22b,3 25a,8) - Lunar nodes, eclipses, fortune and misfortune of the planets, elections. Published 2022-07-19 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter xi (H,25b,6-26a,2) - Aspects. Published 2022-03-31 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter iv (H,12a,8-12b,13) - Male and female degrees; bright, dark, dull, and void degrees. Published 2022-03-30 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Neuigkeiten zu ‘Des Sultans Sternkunde’”. Jemen-Report 52 (2021), 124-125. (also available on tabsira.hypotheses.org/author)
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter iii (H,11b,16-12a,7) - Divisions of the zodiacal signs. Published 2021-12-11 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Petra G. Schmidl: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter xxx (H,92a,1-94a,30) - Timekeeping by means of the lunar mansions. Published 2021-04-01 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter xlix (H,160b,7-162b,0 [after the table]) - Symbols of the planets, alphanumerical notation. Published 2021-02-19 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: chapter l (H,163a,1-165b,12) - Multiplication, Hindu-Arabic numerals. Published 2021-01-30 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: The Preface. Announcing an introductory text?”. Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften 22 (2020), 163-196. (also available on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: The table of contents. Supporting sovereign decision-making in 13th century Yemen?”, in: Grünbart, Michael (ed.): Unterstützung bei herrscherlichem Entscheiden. Experten und ihr Wissen in transkultureller und komparativer Perspektive (Kulturen des Entscheidens 5). Göttingen 2020, 216-232. (Arabic text and English translation also published on tabsira.hypotheses.org/)
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter xlvii (H,153b,1-154a,7) - Mathematical geography, geographical table. Published 2020-10-01 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter vii (H,15b,22-16b,8) - Lords of the triplicities, decans. Published 2020-06-06 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: al-Ashraf ʿUmar's Tabṣira: Chapter ii (H,11a,24-11b,15) - Tropical, fixed, and bicorporeal signs. Published 2020-05-08 on tabsira.hypotheses.org/
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Ashraf ʿUmar'sTabṣira: Chapter xxvii.1. Numbers in the service of religion in an example from 13th century Yemen”, in: Kratz, Reinhard Gregor; Schimmelpfennig, Laura V. (eds.): Zahlen- und Buchstabensysteme im Dienste religiöser Bildung (Studies in education and religion in ancient and pre-modern history in the Mediterranean and its environs 5). Tübingen 2019, 75-111.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Des Sultans Sternkunde. Al-Ashraf ʿUmar (st. 1296) und sein Kitāb al-Tabṣira fī ʿilm al-nujūm”. Jemen-Report 47:1-2 (2016): 36-40. (also available on tabsira.hypotheses.org/author)
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Magic and medicine in a 13th c. treatise on the science of the stars. The Kitāb al-Tabṣira fī ʿilm al-nujūm of the Rasulid sultan al-Ashraf ʿUmar”, in: Hehmeyer, Ingrid; Regourd, Anne; Schönig, Hanne (eds.): Herbal medicine in Yemen: Traditional knowledge and practice, and their value for today’s world (Islamic history and civilization 96). Leiden 2012, 43-68. (also available on tabsira.hypotheses.org/ sub chapter xiv)
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “The Planets and their corresponding colours in astrology - an example from 13th century Yemen”, in: Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (ed.):Colours in culture and science (Nuncius Hamburgensis - Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften 22). Hamburg 2011, 548-573. (also available on tabsira.hypotheses.org/ sub chapter viii)
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Rulers as authors in 13th century Yemen. al Ashraf ʿUmar's oeuvre”. To appear in the proceedings of the conference “Rulers as Authors. Knowledge, authority and legitimacy” organised by Sonja Brentjes, Maribel Fierro, and Tilman Seidensticker, Hamburg, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC), December 2017.

Concerning other astronomical and astrological issues

  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Introduction to books on ‘mathematical Sciences’. Some observations”, in: Maróth, Miklós; Lánczky, István; Oroszi, Gyöngyi (eds.): Catalog of Bayazit II’s library (The Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies. Documenta et monographiae 9). Piliscsaba 2022, 777-796.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “List of books on ‘mathematical sciences’”, in: Maróth, Miklós; Lánczky, István; Oroszi, Gyöngyi (eds.): Catalog of Bayazit II’s library (The Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies. Documenta et monographiae 9). Piliscsaba 2022, 797-870.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Astral Sciences. Traditions and practices in the Medieval Islamic world”, in: Heiduk, Matthias; Herbers, Klaus; Lehner, Hans-Christian (eds.): Prognostication in the Medieval world. A Handbook. Berlin 2021, 532-550.
  • Orthmann, Eva; Schmidl, Petra G.: “The provenance and history of the Dustūr al-munajjimīn and its manuscript”, in: Orthmann, Eva, Schmidl, Petra G. (eds.): Science in the city of fortune. The Dustūr al munajjimīn and its world (Bonner Islamstudien 39). Berlin 2017, 13-33.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “The sources and the composition of the Dustūr al-munajjimīn. 1. Contents and compilation of maqāla I-VIII”, in: Orthmann, Eva, Schmidl, Petra G. (eds.): Science in the city of fortune. The Dustūr al munajjimīn and its world (Bonner Islamstudien 39). Berlin 2017, 37-79.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “The Dustūr al-munajjimīn or Does a sovereign need astronomy to structure his reign?”, in: Campion, Nicholas; Rappenglück, Michael A.; Rappenglück, Barbara; Silva, Fabio (eds.): Astronomy and power. How worlds are structured. Proceedings of the SEAC (Société Européenne pour l’astronomie dans la culture) 2010 Conference (BAR International Series 2794). Oxford 2016, 247-251.
  • “Lunar elections in Ibn Rahiq’s folk astronomical treatise”, in: Burnett, Charles; Gieseler Greenbaum, Dorian (eds.): From MāshāˀAllāh to Kepler. Theory and practice in Medieval and Renaissance astrology. Ceredigion, Wales 2015, 425-453.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Islamic folk astronomy”, in: Ruggles, Clive L. N. (ed.): Handbook of archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy. New York 2015, 1927-1934.
  • “Islamische Astronomie - eine kurze Einführung”, in: Fansa, Mamoun (ed.): Ex oriente lux? Wege zur neuzeitlichen Wissenschaft. Begleitband zur Sonderausstellung “Ex oriente lux? Wege zur neuzeitlichen Wissenschaft” im Augusteum, Oldenburg. Mainz 2009, 124-139.
  • Herrera-Casais; Mónica; Schmidl, Petra G.: “The earliest known schemes of Islamic sacred geography”, in: Akasoy, Anna; Raven, Wim (eds.): Islamic thought in the Middle Ages. Studies in text, transmission and translation, in honour of Hans Daiber (Islamic philosophy, theology and science 75). Leiden, Boston 2008, 275-300.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “On timekeeping by the lunar mansions in Medieval Egypt”, in: Soltysiak, Arkadiusz (ed.): Time and astronomy in past cultures. Warszawa, Torun 2006, 75-87.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Dusk and dawn in Medieval Islam. On the importance of twilight phenomena with some examples of their representations in texts and on instruments”, in: Campion, Nicholas (ed.): The Inspiration of astronomical phenomena. Proceedings of the Fourth Conference on the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena (Magdalen College, Oxford, 3-9 August 2003). Bristol 2004, 393-412.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Finding the direction to Mecca with folk astronomical methods: qibla schemes in a Medieval Yemeni text by al-Fārisī”, in: Esteban, César; Belmonte, Juan Antonio (eds.): Oxford VI and SEAC 99. Astronomy and cultural diversity. La Laguna 2000: 177-182.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Zur Bestimmung der Qibla mittels der Winde”, in: Eisenhardt, Peter; Linhard, Frank; Petanides, Kaisar (eds.): Der Weg der Wahrheit. Aufsätze zur Einheit der Wissen¬schaftsgeschichte. Festgabe zum 60. Geburtstag von Walter G. Saltzer. Hildesheim, New York 1999: 135-146.

Concerning further prognostic practices and occult sciences

  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Introductory Surveys. Medieval traditions of prognostication in the Islamic world”, in: Heiduk, Matthias; Herbers, Klaus; Lehner, Hans-Christian (eds.): Prognostication in the Medieval world. A handbook. Berlin 2021, 189-242.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Astral Sciences. Traditions and practices in the Medieval Islamic world”, in: Heiduk, Matthias; Herbers, Klaus; Lehner, Hans-Christian (eds.): Prognostication in the Medieval world. A handbook. Berlin 2021, 532-550.
  • Cooper, Glen M.; Schmidl, Petra G.: “Geomantic artefacts in the Medieval Islamic world”, in: Heiduk, Matthias; Herbers, Klaus; Lehner, Hans-Christian (eds.): Prognostication in the Medieval world. A handbook. Berlin 2021, 794-797.

Concerning instruments

  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Das Astrolabium des Ahmad Ibn Muhammad al-Naqqash / The astrolabe of Ahmad Ibn Muhammad al-Naqqash”, in: Feist, Marie-Therese (ed.): Zeichen der Zukunft. Wahrsagen in Ostasien und Europa / Signs of the future. Divination in East Asia and Europe. Nürnberg 2021, 180-184.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Knowledge in motion: An early European astrolabe and its possible medieval itinerary”. Medieval Encouters 23 (2017), 149-197. Repr. Ackermann, Silke; Burnett, Charles; Rodríguez Arribas, Josefina; Szpiech, Ryan (eds.): Astrolabes in Medieval cultures. Leiden, Boston 2019, 149-197.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Using astrolabes for astrological purposes. The earliest evidence revisited”, in: Ackermann, Silke; Dunn, Richard; Strano, Giorgio (eds.): Heaven and earth united. Instruments in astrological contexts. Leiden, Boston 2018 (Scientific instruments and collections 6), 4-23.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “‘Mirror of the stars’ - The astrolabe and what it tells about pre-modern astronomy in Islamic societies”, in: Brentjes, Sonja; Edis, Taner; Richter-Bernburg, Lutz (eds.): 1001 Distortions. How (not) to narrate history of science, medicine, and technology in non-Western cultures (Bibliotheca Academia, Reihe Orientalistik 25). Würzburg 2016, 173-187.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Al-Ḫugāndī und sein Astrolab. Aspekte der Astronomie und der Astrologie unter den Abbasiden”, in: Häuser der Weisheit. Wissenschaft im Goldenen Zeitalter des Islam. Mainz am Rhein 2015, 34-37.
  • Abu Zayed, Mohamed; King, David A.; Schmidl, Petra G.: “From a heavenly Arabic poem to an enigmatic Judaeo-Arabic astrolabe”. Suhayl - Journal for the History of the Exact and Natural Sciences in Islamic Civilisation 10 (2012): 85-142.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Sternwarte, Astrolab und Tafelwerk. Kleine Einblicke in die Islamische Astronomie”. Antike Welt 6 (2010): 16-21.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Astrolabien. With addenda by Karsten Gaulke”, in: Der Ptolemäus von Kassel. Landgraf Wilhelm IV. von Hessen-Kassel und die Astronomie (Kataloge der Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel 38). Kassel 2007, 218 231.
  • Charette, François; Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Khwārizmī and practical astronomy in ninth-century Baghdad. The earliest extant corpus of texts in Arabic on the astrolabe and other portable instruments”. SCIAMVS - Sources and Commentaries in Exact Sciences 5 (2004): 101-198.
  • “Medieval Arabic sources on the magnetic compass”, in: Ansari, Razaullah (ed.): Science and technology in the Islamic world. Proceedings of the XXth International Congress of History of Science (Liège, 20-26 July 1997). Volume XXI (De Diversis Artibus. Collection of Studies from the International Academy of the History of Science 64 [N.S. 27]). Turnhout 2002, 195-208.
  • Charette, François; Schmidl, Petra G.: “A universal plate for timekeeping by the stars by Ḥabash al-Ḥāsib: Text, translation and preliminary commentary”. Suhayl - Journal for the History of the Exact and Natural Sciences in Islamic Civilisation 2 (2001): 107-159.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Two early Arabic sources on the magnetic compass (revised translation of a master thesis, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt 1994)”. Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 1 (1997/98): 81-132.
  • “Ein Astrolab aus dem 17. Jahrhundert - prachtvoll und verfälscht”, in: Gotstedter, Anton von (ed.): Ad radices. Festband zum fünfzigjährigen Bestehen des Instituts für Geschichte der Natur¬wissenschaften der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. Stuttgart 1994: 291-314.

Contributions to Encyclopedias

  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Fārisī, Kamāl al-Dīn”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Leiden 2007 - to date.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Magnetic compasses”, in: Ibrahim Kalin (ed. in chief). The [Oxford] Encyclopedia of Islam and Philosophy, Science, and Technology. 2 volumes. Oxford 2014.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Ashraf”, in: Hockey, Thomas et al. (eds.): Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. 2 volumes. Berlin, New York 2007. Rev. 2nd edition 2014.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Fārisī”, in: Hockey, Thomas et al. (eds.): Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. 2 volumes. Berlin, New York 2007. Rev. 2nd edition 2014.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Kāshī”, in: Hockey, Thomas et al. (eds.): Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. 2 volumes. Berlin, New York 2007. Rev. 2nd edition 2014.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-ʿUrḍī”, in: Hockey, Thomas et al. (eds.): Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. 2 volumes. Berlin, New York 2007. Rev. 2nd edition 2014.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Hārūn b. Yaḥyā”, in: Buisseret, David et al. (eds.): The Oxford Companion to World Exploration. 2 volumes. New York 2007.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Ibn Buṭlān”, in: Buisseret, David et al. (eds.): The Oxford Companion to World Exploration. 2 volumes. New York 2007.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Maqdisī”, in: Buisseret, David et al. (eds.): The Oxford Companion to World Exploration. 2 volumes. New York 2007.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “al-Ṣūfī”, in: Hoffmann, Dieter; Laitko, Hubert; Müller-Wille, Staffan (eds.): Lexikon der bedeutenden Naturwissenschaftler. 3 volumes. Heidelberg, Berlin 2003-2004.

Reviews

  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Islamicate occult sciences in theory and practice, edited by Liana Saif, Francesca Leoni, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, and Farouk Yahya”. International Journal of Divination and Prognostication 3 (2022), 235 240.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Astronomical instruments in the Ottoman empire. Scientific instruments between East and West. Edited by Neil Brown, Silke Ackermann and Feza Güngergun (Scientific Instruments and Collections, 7; Brill, Leiden, 2019). Pp. Xvii + 283. €139. ISBN 9789004412835”. Journal for the History of Astronomy 51 (2020), 497-499.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “On Astronomia: An Arabic critical edition and English translation of Epistle 3. Edited and translated by F. Jamil Ragep and Taro Mimura. Foreword by Nader El-Bizri (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London 2015), pp. xxv + 162 (introduction, translation, appendices, indices), pp. 164 (edition), 50 £. ISBN 978 0 1987 4737 6”. Early Science and Medicine 21 (2016): 357-359.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.; Vafea, Flora: “Two editions of the earliest text on the astrolabe: De usu astrolabii eiusque constructione. Ioannes Philoponos. Edited and translated by Alfred Stückelberger, assisted by Heiner Rohner (de Gruyter, Berlin, 2015). Pp. xi +93. Traité de l’astrolabe. Jean Philopon. Edited and translated by Claude Jarry (Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 2015). Pp. clxxxv + 73”. Journal for the History of Astronomy 47:4 (2016): 449-451.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “An eleventh-century Egyptian guide to the universe. The Book of Curiosities.” Edited and translated by Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith. Islamic philosophy, theology and science. Texts and studies 87. Leiden and Boston: E. J. Brill, 2014”. Imago Mundi. The International Journal for the History of Cartography 67:2 (2015): 255-256.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Brentjes, Sonja 2010: Travellers from Europe in the Ottoman and Safavid empires, 16th-17th centuries. Seeking, transforming, discarding knowledge. Variorum Collected Studies Series. Farnham, Surrey, and Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate. 337 S., 85 £, ISBN 13 978-1-4094-0533-7”. NTM - Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin 20:1 (2012): 54-56.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Andreas Kleineberg, Christian Marx, Eberhard Knobloch, and Dieter Lelgemann (authors). Germania und die Insel Thule: Die Entschlüsselung von Ptolemaios‘ ‘Atlas der Oikumene’. 131 pp., maps, diags., bibli., index. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2010”. Isis 103:2 (2012): 396.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “The melon-shaped astrolabe in Arabic astronomy. Texts edited with translation and commentary by E. S. Kennedy, P. Kunitzsch and R. P. Lorch, Stuttgart 1999. 235 S. (Boethius Bd. 43)”. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 153 (2003): 199-201.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Mònica Rius: La Alquibla en al-Andalus y al-Magrib al-Aqṣā. Barcelona: Firotip 2000 (Anuari de Filologia, Universitat de Barcelona, 21, B-3), 357 and 62 pp. (Arabic text)”. Archives internationales d’histoire des sciences 50 (2000): 404-405.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Donald R. Hill: Studies in Medieval Islamic technology. From Philo to al-Jazarī, from Alexandria to Diyār Bakr. Edited by David A. King. Aldershot: Ashgate 1998 (Variorum Collected Studies Series, CS 555)”. Archives internationales d’histoire des sciences 49 (1999): 211.
  • Schmidl, Petra G.: “Erde, Sonne, Mond und Sterne - Rezension einer Ausstellung”. Frühneuzeitinfo 8:1 (1997): 146-147.

Translations

  • Berggren, J. Lennart: Mathematik im mittelalterlichen Islam. Berlin, Heidelberg 2011 (Engl. original: Berggren, J. Lennart: Episodes in the Mathematics of Medieval Islam. New York 1986.)