- Propaedeutic Exam, Technical Physics, Technical University of Twente (Netherlands),1978
- Doctoraalexamen [Master's degree] in History, University of Utrecht (Netherlands), 1984
- Ph.D., Science and Arts [Wetenschappen], University of Utrecht (Netherlands), 1991
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.