Simon Fabien

Simon Fabien is a Lecturer in Modern History at Paris Cité University (formerly Paris Diderot University) since 2012. A graduate of the École Normale Supérieure (1999), agrégé d'histoire (2003), and doctor of history (2011), his research explores the intersection of the history of scientific and technical knowledge and the social and cultural history of languages.

His work focuses on the role of languages in knowledge development and circulation, with a particular emphasis on universal language projects from the 16th to 17th centuries. Through a

• Cultural and social history of intellectual practices
• European-scale analysis of knowledge topography
• Material forms of knowledge (correspondences, intertextuality)
• Role of institutions like the Kircher Museum, Propaganda Fide typography, and Royal Society
• Dialogue between Jesuit networks and English scientific circles
• Universal language as a tool for social distinction in the Republic of Letters

his research reconstructs the dynamics of pre-enlightenment intellectual exchange.

Key publication trends include analyses of

• Linguistic knowledge circulation
• Epistemological frameworks for Asian language documentation
• Religious texts as linguistic tools
• European scientific networks
• Intertextuality in early modern scholarship

Prior to 2019, he explored the 15th-18th century European knowledge dialogue, examining how scientific and linguistic practices co-evolved across major European institutions.