Ovanes Akopyan

Ovanes Akopyan is a postdoctoral researcher specializing in Renaissance and early modern intellectual history, currently affiliated with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow. His career includes roles as a Research Fellow at the University of Innsbruck (2017-2022) and an Andrew W Mellon Fellow at Harvard University's Villa I Tatti (2022-2023). His research bridges history of science, medicine, and ideas, focusing on cosmological debates, astrology, and early modern responses to natural disasters.

• PhD in Renaissance Studies, University of Warwick (2017)
• Supervisors: Dr Maude Vanhaelen, Prof Paul Botley

Key research themes include:

• Intellectual History: Reassessing Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's anti-astrological legacy and its reception.
• Science & Cosmology: Analyzing tidal theories before Newton and Patrizi da Cherso's contributions.
• Disaster Studies: Co-editing Disaster in the Early Modern World (Routledge, 2024).

His 15 most recent articles span topics like volcanic aesthetics, Jesuit interpretations of tides, and Ficino's medical astrology, reflecting interdisciplinary engagement with Renaissance humanism, scientific authority, and environmental history. Awards include the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship and ERC Advanced Grant participation. He co-edited volumes on fate, fortune, and Patrizi's philosophy, with a forthcoming monograph on natural disasters.