Dr. Katrin Kleemann
"The German Maritime Museum allows me to reconstruct maritime knowledge production using historical documents and objects in an international and interdisciplinary environment."
Dr. Katrin Kleemann, Postdoctoral Researcher
+++ currently on parental leave +++
About the person
Dr. Katrin Kleemann is an environmental historian and historian of science working on oceanography, meteorology, climate history, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the German Maritime Museum / Leibniz Institute for Maritime History. Katrin studied history, cultural anthropology, and geology at the University of Kiel, the Free University Berlin, and LMU Munich. In 2020, she obtained her doctorate from LMU Munich with a major in history and a minor in geology. She was a member of the international and interdisciplinary doctoral program "Environment and Society" at the Rachel Carson Center. Previously, Katrin worked at the Department of History at the University of Freiburg, the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at LMU Munich, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and was a fellow at the John Carter Brown Library (Providence, USA) and the Scott Polar Research Institute (Cambridge, UK).
Current research projects
The History of the German Maritime Observatory, 1875–1945
Contact
Curriculum Vitae
| 2022 | Research fellowship at The Polar Museum, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, UK |
From 2021 | Postdoctoral Researcher at the German Maritime Museum |
2021 | Fellow at the John Carter Brown Library, Providence, Rhode Island, USA |
2020-2021 | Lecturer in the Department of History, University of Freiburg |
2020-2021 | Visiting Scholar at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU Munich |
2020-2021 | Lecturer for the Junior Year in Munich programme at LMU Munich and Wayne State University (Michigan, USA) |
2015-2020 | Doctoral studies in Modern and Contemporary History (major) and Geology (minor) at LMU Munich and member of the PhD program "Environment and Society" at the Rachel Carson Center, LMU Munich; PhD thesis on "A Mist Connection: The Laki Eruption and Its Legacy" |
2015-2017 | Research Associate at the Environment & Society Portal, LMU München |
2012-2014 | Research Assistant at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin |
2011-2014 | Study of Early Modern History at the Free University of Berlin, Degree: Master of Arts |
2007-2010 | Studied History and European Ethnology at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, degree: Bachelor of Arts |
Publications
Monograph
Kleemann, Katrin. A Mist Connection: An Environmental History of the Laki Eruption of 1783 and Its Legacy. Berlin und Boston: De Gruyter. (Historical Catastrophe Studies) (forthcoming, tentative publication date: May 2023).
Research articles
Kleemann, Katrin. “Visualisierungen des Meeres in den Segelhandbüchern und Atlanten der Deutschen Seewarte, 1882-1910” (=Visalizations of the Ocean in the Sailing Handbooks and Atlases of the German Maritime Observatory, 1882-1910). In Medialitäten des Meeres (=Mediality and the Sea), edited by Ruth Schilling and Dennis Niewarth. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2023. (forthcoming)
White, Sam, Qing Pei, Katrin Kleemann, Lukáš Dolák, Heli Huhtamaa und Chantal Camenisch. “New Perspectives on Historical Climatology.“ In: Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 14, Nr. 1 (2023): e808. doi.org/10.1002/wcc.808.
Kleemann, Katrin. “Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783.” In: Global Environment 15, no. 3 (October 2022): 456–489 (34). doi.org/10.3197/ge.2022.150302.
Stoffel, Markus, Christophe Corona, Michael Sigl, Heli Huhtamaa, Emmanuel Garnier, Samuli Helama, Sébastien Guillet, Francis Ludlow, Arlene Crampsie, Katrin Kleemann, Chantal Camenisch, Joseph McConnell, and Chaochao Gao. “Climatic, Weather and Socio-Economic Conditions Corresponding with the Mid-17th Century Eruption Cluster.” In: Climate of the Past 18, no. 5 (2022): 1083-1108. doi.org/10.5194/cp-2021-148.
Kleemann, Katrin. “Maximum Latewood Density Analysis Solves Long-Standing Mystery between Temperature Reconstructions and Historical Records.” In: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 37, no. 4 (2022): e2022PA004444. doi.org/10.1029/2022PA004444.
Degroot, Dagomar, Kevin Anchukaitis, Martin Bauch, Jakob Burnham, Fred Carnegy, Jianxin Cui, Kathryn de Luna, Piotr Guzowski, George Hambrecht, Heli Huhtamaa, Adam Izdebski, Katrin Kleemann, Emma Moesswilde, Naresh Neupane, Timothy Newfield, Qing Pei, Elena Xoplaki, and Natale Zappia. “Towards a Rigorous Understanding of Societal Responses to Climate Change.” In: Nature 591 (2021): 539-550. doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03190-2.
Kleemann, Katrin. “Living in the Time of a Subsurface Revolution: The 1783 Calabrian Earthquake Sequence.” Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia (Summer 2019), no. 30. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8767.
Kleemann, Katrin. “Telling Stories of a Changed Climate: The Laki Fissure Eruption and the Interdisciplinar- ity of Climate History,” edited by Katrin Kleemann and Jeroen Oomen, RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society 2019, no. 4, 33–42. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8823.
Kleemann, Katrin. “‘Moby Dick’ in the Rhine: How a Beluga Whale Raised Awareness of Water Pollution in West Germany.” Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia (Spring 2018), no. 6. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8222.
Edited volumes
Kleemann, Katrin, ed. “Ecopolis München 2019.” Environment & Society Portal, Virtual Exhibitions 2020, no. 2. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/9005.
Kleemann, Katrin, and Jeroen Oomen, eds. “Communicating the Climate: From Knowing Change to Changing Knowledge,” RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society 2019, no. 4. doi.org/10.5282/rcc/8822.
Awards
2022: Cambridge-Leibniz Museum & Collection Fellowship, awarded by the Leibniz Research Alliance „Value of the Past“ for a four-week-long research fellowship at The Polar Museum, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, UK
2021: Lectureship for the course "Gender and Environment in History, 1700-2021", funded as a gender equality measure in the Structure and Development Plan of the Faculty of Humanities of the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg
2021: Recipient of a Printing Grant for the publication of the dissertation by the Siblings Boehringer
2021: Recipient of a Printing Grant for the publication of the dissertation by the Academic Society of Freiburg im Breisgau
2021: Winner of De Gruyters Open Access Book Anniversary Competition with A Mist Connection, the book will be published open access
2021: Finalist for the 2020 dissertation prize of the World History Association (WHA)
2021: Barbara S. Mosbacher Fellowship for archival research at the John Carter Brown Library, USA
2020-2021: Recipient of the Envirotech Communications Fellowship
2019: Recipient of the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) Research Grant for conducting archival research
2018-2019: Recipient of a Dissertation Research Grant of the Andrea von Braun Foundation (2 years). This foundation supports interdisciplinary research
2017: Winner of the Jury‘s First Prize in a photography competition, which was organized by the GraduateCenter of LMU Munich; the topic was “The Subject of my Research.“
Services to Profession
From 2022: Appointed Council Member, International Commission of the History of Oceanography
From 2022: Representative for Early Career Researchers, Steering Group of “Climate Reconstruction and Impacts from the Archives of Societies“ (CRIAS), Past Global Changes (PAGES)
2020-2021: Envirotech Communications Fellow
From 2019: Member of the Digital Communications committee, American Society for Environmental History (ASEH)
From 2018: Board Member and Curator of the “Disaster Histories” Collection, Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History, which is published by the Rachel Carson Center and the ESEH
2017-2019: Elected Speaker of the doctoral program “Environment and Society“ at the Rachel Carson Center, LMU Munich
From 2016: Social Media Editor, Climate History Network and HistoricalClimatology.com
Teaching
University of Freiburg
Course “Introduction to Environmental History in a Transatlantic Perspective, 17th to 21st centuries,” (Summer 2021, seminar (Proseminar) for BA students, one term, taught in German).
Course“Gender and Environmental History, 1700-2021,” (Summer 2021, seminar (Übung) for BA and MA students, one term, taught in German).
Course“Extreme Environmental and Weather Events during the Little Ice Age, 1250-1900,” (Winter 2021, seminar (Proseminar) for BA students, one term, taught in German).
Course“The Environment in the Newspaper, 1700-1900,” (Winter 2021, seminar (Übung) for BA and MA students, one term, taught in German).
LMU Munich and Wayne State University, Michigan, USA
Seminar “Green Germany? Environment and Society from the Enlightenment to Fridays for Future,“ together with Dr. Martin Meiske. (Summer term 2020—summer term 2021, seminar for BA/BSc, MA/MSc students, two terms, taught in German and English).
LMU Munich
Course “Blogging in Practise. How to Present your Research or Professional Projects on the Internet?” (Winter term 2020, one day workshop for BA and MA students, taught in German).
Course “Academic Blogging: How to Present Your Research Online” (Winter term 2018—summer term 2020, one day workshop for doctoral students, three terms, taught in English).
Membership
Climate History Network (CHN)
Climate Reconstruction and Impacts from the Archives of Societies (CRIAS)
Envirotech
European Society for Environmental History (ESEH)
International Commission of the History of Oceanography (ICHO)
Leibniz Postdoc Netzwerk
Past Global Changes (PAGES)
Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society (VICS)
Women‘s Environmental History Network (WEHN)