Ruixuan Du

Ruixuan Du is a predoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Department III, led by Etienne Benson and Dagmar Schäfer. She holds a BA in Cultural Studies and European Ethnology from Humboldt University and an MA in the History of Science from Technische Universität Berlin, completed in 2020.

Her research explores the intersection of medical practices, visualization, and imagination in early modern China. Key topics include the use of human and animal bodily waste as medication, medical artifacts between the 16th and 19th centuries, and theoretical frameworks such as Xiang (象) theory and the 'imagined human body.'

She has presented her work at MPIWG colloquia, including analyses of Late Ming external medicine and the written forms of 17th-century Chinese medical practices. Her broader interests span practical knowledge, material culture, and visual culture in historical scientific contexts.