Interview with Professor Michael Shank

Michael H. Shank is a Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and one of the leading scholars of medieval and early Renaissance scientific thought. His research focuses on late medieval natural philosophy, astronomy, and the intellectual culture of European universities, especially the Viennese tradition and figures such as Regiomontanus and Peuerbach. Shank’s work is known for its close analysis of manuscripts, scholastic reasoning, and the institutional settings in which scientific ideas were taught, debated, and transformed. Through his scholarship, he has helped illuminate the complex pathways by which medieval scientific traditions shaped the foundations of early modern science.

In our interview, we discussed the broader history of astronomy and science, and the interactions between the Islamic world and Western Europe in sharing knowledge, before going into specifics about the astronomer, Johannes Regiomontanus.