Rienk Vermij

Rienk Vermij is from the Netherlands and was originally trained as a historian. He obtained his PhD at the Institute for History of Science at Utrecht University in 1991. In 2007, he came to OU. He specializes in early modern natural philosophy and astronomy. Among other topics, he has written on the reception of Copernicanism, Aristotelian meteorology, and the Enlightenment. Current research interests are the marginalization of astrology, the use of dedications in scientific texts, and the question how to write the history of science in an age in which the authority of science is no longer self-evident.

Degrees Earned
Doctoraalexamen [Master's degree] in History, University of Utrecht (Netherlands), 1984

Ph.D., Science and Arts [Wetenschappen], University of Utrecht (Netherlands), 1991

Research Interests
Cartesian natural philosophy; Copernicanism; early modern meteorology; Enlightenment, science and religion; science in the Netherlands.  

A History of Western Science: The Basics, Routledge, 2024. 

Thinking on Earthquakes in Early Modern Europe: Firm Beliefs on Shaky Ground, Routledge, 2021.

Rethinking Stevin, Stevin Rethinking: Constructions of a Dutch Polymath, eds. Karel Davids, Fokko Jan Dijksterhuis, Ida Stamhuis, and Rienk Vermij, Brill, 2020.

De geest uit de fles: de verlichting en het verval van de confessionele samenleving, Uitgeverij Nieuwezijds, 2014. 

"Florentius Schuyl and the origin of the beast-machine controversy", History of European Ideas 50 (2024): 193-210.

"Was Johannes Swartenhengst een spinozist?", Mededelingen van de Stichting Jacob Campo Weyerman 46 (2023): 23-28.

with Paul K. Vieth, "Confessionalization and comets. John Bainbridge on the comet of 1618", Annals of science 79 (2022): 275-291.

with Hiro Hirai, "The Marginalization of Astrology: Introduction," Early Science and Medicine 22, no. 5/6 (2017): 405-409.