Donatella Germanese

Donatella Germanese is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin, one of the more than 80 research institutes administered by the Max Planck Society. She also serves as an Associated Scholar at the Chair of Science, Technology and Gender Studies at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg. Her work focuses on understanding scientific thinking and practice as historical phenomena.

Germanese studied philology, foreign languages, and literature at the University of Florence. She completed her doctoral degree in 1998 in German Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin with a monograph on the literary journal Pan (1910–15).

Her research centers on the interface between literature, the arts, technology and science, with particular emphasis on the twentieth century. She examines how technology and scientific topics were presented to the public and elaborated in literary theories, debates, and works. Recent projects include her collaboration with Maria Rentetzi on Cold War atomic mobile exhibitions and their role in science diplomacy. Her work also investigates corporate magazines in postwar Italy as sites where literature, photography, and fine arts engaged with modern industrial society, while considering the legacy of Italy's fascist past.

Germanese's publication record spans over three decades, with recent focus on atomic exhibitions and science diplomacy. Her work reveals consistent patterns in examining how scientific knowledge is communicated to the public and integrated into cultural contexts, particularly through visual and literary forms. She has made significant contributions to understanding the historical relationship between science and culture in Cold War Europe.

Germanese has held numerous visiting positions including at the European University Institute in Florence (2015-16), the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (2009-10), and the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin (1985-86). She organizes a 'Science in Translation' reading group at MPIWG and has presented her research at international conferences worldwide.

She has collaborated on multiple research projects including 'Practices of Displaying Science and Technology in the 1980s,' 'Epistemic Configurations: The Formation of Anthropocene Knowledge,' and 'Oil Corporate Magazines in the 1950s and 1960s,' demonstrating her engagement with interdisciplinary research teams focused on the historical dimensions of science and technology.