News : Chair for Indian Philosophy and Intellectual History inaugurated at Heidelberg University

Germany & South Asia: Chair for Indian Philosophy and Intellectual History inaugurated at Heidelberg University in Germany

Chair for Indian Philosophy and Intellectual History inaugurated at Heidelberg University

June 30, 2010

On Monday, 28th June, the Heinrich Zimmer Chair for Indian Philosophy and Intellectual History awarded by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) was inaugurated at the Heidelberg University in Germany. Prof Dhruv Raina, the first holder of the Heinrich Zimmer Chair, held his inaugural lecture at the event.

India's Ambassador to Germany, Sudhir Vyas, inaugurated the Chair at the Alte Aula in Heidelberg University. For the establishment of the Chair, Heidelberg University and the ICCR – India’s highest-ranking institution for the promotion of international cultural exchanges – signed a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2009. It is the first professorship of its kind and is being initially awarded for two years. The chair is integrated into the Cluster of Excellence ‘Asia and Europe in a Global Context’ as well as into the South Asia Institute at the Ruperto Carola.

Besides research and teaching at the Cluster and at the South Asia Institute, an intensive exchange with scholars from various institutions is planned, especially with the Department of Philosophy. The chair takes its name from Heinrich Zimmer, who was a Professor of Indian Philosophy in Heidelberg.

Prof Dhruv Raina

“The professorship strengthens the leading position of the Cluster and the South Asia Institute in academic relations between Germany and India. It is a great pleasure for us to have won Dhruv Raina, an outstanding representative of his field, for research and teaching”, said Cluster Co-Director Prof. Dr. Axel Michaels.

Dhruv Raina received his Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Science from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is Professor of History of Science and Education at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi. His research areas are the theory and history of science in India, especially the philosophical and sociological aspects.

At the opening, Rector of the Heidelberg University Prof. Bernhard Eitel and Ambassador Vyas gave welcome speeches. Prof. Michaels and South Asia Institute Director Prof. Dr. Marcus Nüsser introduced Prof. Raina and his work. Under the title ‘The Impossible Dream of Needham´s Indian Apostle’, Prof. Raina then pointed out that the Indian Scientific History of the 1950s could have taken a different direction and highlighted UNESCO's role in this context.

The inaugural ceremony was also followed at the JNU, the Max Mueller Bhavan/Goethe-Institut Delhi and other partner institutions in India. The lecture was broadcast live around the globe from the Alte Aulain Heidelberg and was mentioned on various platforms.

Talking about his new position, Prof Raina said, “I feel very honoured that I was selected as the first holder of this chair, which bears the name of such an important Indologist. The chair provides scholars from India an opportunity to intensively pursue their research interests and interact with scholars at this first class research centre.”