Advisory Board

Abdel-Samad, Hamed

Hamed Abdel-Samad, political scientist, historian, author

Hamed Abdel-Samad was born in 1972 in Giza (Egypt) as the son of an imam. He studied English and French in Cairo; in 1995 he came to Germany and studied political science in Augsburg. After completing his studies Hamed Abdel-Samad worked as an academic in Erfurt and Braunschweig as well as in Japan, where he was engaged in Eastern spirituality. Until the end of 2009 he conducted research and taught at the Institute for Jewish History and Culture at the University of Munich. Then he decided to become a full-time writer.

Albert, Hans

Prof. Dr. Dr. Hans Albert, philosopher of science

Hans Albert, philosopher of science, was born in Cologne in 1921. He attended the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences in Cologne. In 1952 he received his PhD in political science. From 1952 to 1958 he was an assistant at the Research Institute for Social and Administrative Sciences at the University of Cologne. In 1958 he met Karl Popper at the Alpbach University Weeks. From 1961 to 1969 Albert was, along with Popper, Adorno, and Habermas, one of the leading protagonists of the so-called positivism dispute.

Altmann, Andreas

Andreas Altmann, writer, travel reporter

After graduating from high school in 1970, Andreas Altmann hitchhiked through Europe for a year, then studied psychology and law and worked in various professions, including gardener, road construction worker, taxi driver, investment consultant, night porter, and dressman. From 1971 to 1974 he studied acting at the Mozarteum Salzburg. In the following years he was signed at the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel in Munich and at the Schauspielhaus in Vienna.

Antweiler, Christoph

Prof. Dr. Christoph Antweiler, ethnologist

Ethnologist Christoph Antweiler was born in Cologne in 1956. He studied geology-paleontology in Cologne. In 1987 he earned his PhD in ethnology with a dissertation on cultural revolution. From 1988 to 1991 Antweiler worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Ethnology in Cologne. From 1991 to 1992 he conducted field research in Makassar on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Arnold, Uwe-Christian

Uwe-Christian Arnold, medical doctor, deceased 2019

Uwe-Christian Arnold was born in Berlin in 1944. After graduating from high school he studied medicine in Berlin and received his license to practice in 1973. He then specialized in urology and worked in his own practice from 1980 to 2000. In addition he qualified as a sports physician, diving physician, and occupational physician and in this function also supervised companies. He first dealt with the subject of "humane euthanasia" in the mid-1990s. Based on the idea that the patient should be the focus of treatment and not the disease, Uwe-Christian Arnold has advocated the right to medically assisted suicide for the past 15 years and helps terminally ill people die.

Basieux, Pierre

Dr. Pierre Basieux, mathematician/game theorist, deceased 2016

Basieux was born in 1944 in Vienna (Austria). He was a Belgian citizen and spent his childhood in Styria and Namur. He studied mathematics, physics, and philosophy at the University of Graz and received his PhD. From 1975 to 1977 he was a high school teacher on the North Sea island of Langeoog and then worked as a freelancer until 1983. From 1984 to 1994 he worked for various companies. He then earned his living as a freelance book author and management consultant.

Baudson, Tanja Gabriele

Dr. Tanja Gabriele Baudson, psychologist, giftedness researcher

Tanja Gabriele Baudson, born in Koblenz in 1976, majored in Romance and American Studies at the University of Bonn and at the Sorbonne in Paris (master's degree in 2002) and in psychology in Bonn and Gold Coast (Australia). In 2011 she received her PhD with summa cum laude from the University of Trier on the topic: "The (Mis-)Measure of Children's Cognitive Abilities". She also spent several months in Japan and the USA for research purposes.

Birnbacher, Dieter

Prof. Dr. Dieter Birnbacher, philosopher

Birnbacher was born in Dortmund in 1946. He studied philosophy, English, and general linguistics in Düsseldorf, Cambridge, and Hamburg. In 1973 he received his PhD in Hamburg. In 1978 he accepted a position as Academic Councillor. He habilitated in 1988. In 1993 he became professor of philosophy at the University of Dortmund and in 1996 professor of philosophy at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. Birnbacher is a member of the Philosophisch-Politische Akademie e.V.

Blom, Philipp

Dr. Philipp Blom, historian, author

Philipp Blom (born 1970 in Germany) earned his PhD in history after studying in Vienna and Oxford. From 1997 to 2001 he lived in London, where he first worked as an editor in a publishing house and then as an author and freelance foreign correspondent for German, Swiss, and British newspapers, magazines, and radio stations. In 2001 Philipp Blom left Great Britain and moved to Paris to focus entirely on his books. Since 2006 he has lived in Vienna. In addition to his books he also works as a journalist and hosts the programme "Von Tag zu Tag" ("From Day to Day") on the Austrian cultural channel Ö1. Lecture and reading tours take him to various European countries, the USA, and South America. From 2009 to 2010 he held a research fellowship at the International Research Center for Cultural Studies in Vienna.

Braungart, Michael

Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart, process engineer, chemist ("Cradle to Cradle")

Michael Braungart, born 1958 in Schwäbisch Gmünd, studied chemistry and process engineering in Constance, Darmstadt, Hanover, and Zurich. In the 1980s he became involved in the environmental organization Greenpeace, assisting from 1982 with the establishment of the chemistry division, which he took over in 1985. In the same year he earned his PhD in chemistry at the University of Hanover.

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