Skip to main content
University of Regensburg
DE: diese Seite auf deutsch

Associate Professor Dr Lis Brack-Bernsen

Associate Professor Dr Lis Brack-Bernsen

Website (external link, opens in a new window)

Publications

Monographs:

  • The Basel Maya Tablets – An Astronomical Interpretation of the Inscriptions on Lintels 2 and 3 from Temple IV at Tikal. Doctoral thesis , University of Basel, published in the Proceedings of the Basel Society for Natural History, Vol. 86, Issues 1 and 2 (1976).
  • On the Origins of the Babylonian Lunar Theory: Observation and Theoretical Calculation of Lunar Phases. Habilitation thesis, Boethius Series, Vol. 40 (Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1997).

 

Publications in journals:

  • On the Construction of Column B in System A of the Astronomical Cuneiform Texts, in *Centaurus* 14 (1969), pp. 23–28.
  • Some investigations on the ephemerides of the Babylonian lunar texts, System A, in *Centaurus* 24 (1980), pp. 36–50.
  • With Olaf Schmidt, ‘Bisectable Trapezia in Babylonian Mathematics’, in *Centaurus* 33 (1990), pp. 1–38.
  • On the Babylonian Lunar Theory A; Construction of Column Φ from Horizontal Observations, in *Centaurus* 33 ( 1990), pp. 39–56.
  • Babylonian Lunar Texts: Observation and Theory in *Grazer Morgenländische Studien*, Vol. 3: The Role of Astronomy in the Cultures of Mesopotamia, ed. H. D. Galter (rm Verlag, Graz, 1993), pp. 331–358.
  • Consistency between Column Φ and Babylonian Records of the Lunar Six, contribution to AD RADICES, commemorative volume marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences (IGN) at the University of Frankfurt, ed. A. von Gottstedter (F. Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1994), pp. 45–64.
  • With O. Schmidt, ‘On the Foundations of the Babylonian Column Φ: Astronomical Significance of Partial Sums of the Lunar Four’, in *Centaurus* 37 (1994), pp. 183–209.
  • Empiricism versus Theory: On the Development and Interpretation of Babylonian Astronomy, in Ancient Natural Sciences and their Reception, Vol. 6, ed. K. Döring, B. Herzhoff and G. Wöhrle (Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, Trier, 1996), pp. 7–15.
  • Babylonian Astronomy: A Subfield of Mesopotamian Wisdom and Yet an Exact Natural Science, in Reports from the IBZ ( International Centre for Scientific Encounters, Munich 1996)
  • In Memoriam Olaf Schmidt, Obituary for Professor Olaf Schmidt [in English], in *Historia Mathematica* 24 (1997), pp. 131–134.
  • In Memoriam Olaf Schmidt, published in Danish and in a slightly amended form in *Normat 2*, Oslo (1997).
  • ‘Goal Year Tablets: Lunar Data and Predictions’, a lecture delivered in May 1994 at the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, MIT, Boston, in *Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination*, ed. N. M. Swerdlow, *Publications of the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology* (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts/London, 1999), pp. 149–177.
  • Ancient and modern utilisation of the lunar data recorded on the Babylonian Goal Year tablets (research carried out under a contract with the University of Regensburg), in *Actes de la Vème Conférence Annuelle de la SEAC 1997* (Warsaw, Gdańsk 1999) pp. 13–39.
  • Together with Hermann Hunger, ‘The Babylonian Zodiac: Speculations on its invention and significance’, in *Centaurus* 41 (1999), pp. 280–292.
  • On the Origin of the Zodiac, in Ancient Natural Sciences and Their Reception, Vol. 10, ed . J. Althoff, B. Herzhoff and G. Wöhrle (Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier 2000), pp. 7–11.
  • Predictions of Lunar Phenomena in Babylonian Astronomy, in *Under One Sky*, ed. John M. Steele and Annette Imhausen, *Alter Orient und Altes Testament*, vol. 297 (Ugarit Verlag, Münster 2002), pp. 5–19.
  • With Hermann Hunger, TU 11, ‘A Collection of Rules for the Prediction of Lunar Phases and of Month Lengths’, in SCIAMVS 3 (2002), pp. 3–90.
  • ‘The Path of the Moon, the Rising Points of the Sun, and the Oblique Great Circle on the Celestial Sphere’, in *Centaurus* 45 ( 2003), pp. 5–15.
  • With John M. Steele, ‘Babylonian Mathemagics: Two Mathematical Astronomical/Astrological Texts’, in *Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of David Pingree*, ed. C. Burnett, J.P. Hogendijk, K. Plofker and M. Yano, (Brill 2004), pp. 95–125.
  • With Matthias Brack, ‘Analysing shell structure from Babylon and modern times’, in *International Journal of Modern Physics*, E , vol. 13, no. 1, February 2004, pp. 247–260.
  • The days ‘in excess’ from MUL.APIN. On the ‘first intercalation’ and ‘waterclock’ schemes from MUL.APIN, in *Centaurus* 47 (2005), pp. 1–29.
  • With John M. Steele, ‘Eclipse Prediction and the Length of the Saros in Babylonian Astronomy’, in *Centaurus* 47 (2005), pp. 181–206.
  • With Hermann Hunger, ‘On “the Atypical Astronomical Cuneiform Text E”: A mean-value scheme for predicting lunar latitude’, in *Archiv für Assyriologie* (2007), pp. 96–107.
  • With Chr. Walker, ‘BM 57980: A wrong version of the excellent predicting Rule R’, in *Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes*, vol. 97, Festschrift Hermann Hunger (2007), pp. 5–41.
  • The 360-day year in Mesopotamia, in *Calendars and Years: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient Near East*, ed. J. M. Steele (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2007), pp. 3–100.
  • With H. Hunger and Chr. Walker, ‘KUR – when the old moon can be seen a day later’, in *From the Banks of the Euphrates: Studies in Honour of Alice Louise Slotsky*, ed. Micah Ross (Eisenbrauns 2007), pp. 1–6.
  • With J. M. Steele, ‘A Commentary on Enuma Anu Enlil 14’, in *From the Banks of the Euphrates: Studies in Honour of Alice Louise Slotsky*, ed. Micah Ross (Eisenbrauns 2007), pp. 257–266.
  • With H. Hunger, ‘BM 42282+42294 and the Goal-Year Method’, SCIAMVS 9 (2008), pp. 3–23.
  • ‘Astronomical Cuneiform Texts from Ancient Mesopotamia’ in Scientific Statements and Socially Responsible Decisions. Edited by Christiane Thim-Mabrey, Lis Brack-Bernsen and Daniela Täuber. Books on demand GmbH, Norderstedt, 2010. pp. 261–300.
  • “Methods for understanding and reconstructing Babylonian predictive rules”, in: Writings of early scholars in the ancient Near East, Egypt, Rome, and Greece, edited by Annette Imhausen and Tanja Pommerening, Beiträge zur Altertumskunde, vol. 286 (Berlin: de Gruyter 2010), pp. 277–297.
  • With J. M. Steele: “14th Month Intervals of Lunar Velocity and Column F in Babylonian Astronomy: Atypical Text C”, in: The Empirical Dimension of Ancient Near Eastern Studies/ Die empirische Dimension altorientalischer Forschungen, edited by Gerhard J. Selz in collaboration with Klaus Wagensonner, Wiener Offene Orientalistik, LIT Verlag, Vienna 2011, pp. 111–130.
  • “Prediction of days and pattern of the Babylonian Lunar Six”, *Archiv für Orientforschung* 52 (2011), pp. 156–178 or “Babylonian Astronomy and Mathematics”, Mitteilungen der mathematischen Gesellschaft in Hamburg, Vol. XXXIII, 2013, pp. 47–77.
  • On Straight and Curved Squares; BM 15285. Online commemorative volume for Marinus Taisbak’s 80th birthday. 2014.
  • “Otto Neugebauer’s Visits to Copenhagen and His Connection to Denmark”, in A. Jones et al. (eds), A Mathematician’s Journeys, Archimedes 45, 2016, pp. 107–126.
  • Together with Christiane Thim-Mabrey, “Word Problems through the Ages”, in Storytelling and Calculation in the Early Modern Period: Regensburg Studies on Medieval Literature and Culture, Volume 1, Edith Feistner, Alfred Holl (eds.) (2016), pp. 153–178.
  • “Scientific Communication from a History of Science Perspective : The Case of Mathematics and Astronomy in Ancient Mesopotamia” in *Why Scientific Communication Works So Well: Prerequisites, Methods and Formats of a Millennia-Old Form of Communication and the University of the Future IX Regensburg Symposium*, edited by Christiane Thim-Mabrey and Markus Kattenbeck. UR Publication Server of the University of Regensburg, (2018) pp. 4:1–4:17
  • ‘The Observational Foundations of Babylonian Astronomy’ in *Hellenistic Astronomy: The Science in Its Contexts*, edited by Alan C. Bowen and Francesca Rochberg (Brill, 2020), pp. 171–189
  • ‘Babylonian astronomy: a new understanding of column Φ’ in *Archive for History of Exact Sciences*, Volume 74, Issue 6 ( 2020) , pp. 605–640.
  • ‘The Babylonian Dodecatemoria and Calendar Texts: Inverse Schemes for Determining Position and Times for the Schematic Sun and Moon’ in *Aestimatio: Sources and Studies in the History of Science*, vol. 2, issue 1 (2021), pp. 59–80.
  • “Babylonian House-numbers and Squares of Zodiacal Signs: Origin of Quadruplicities, Part I” in *Aestimatio: Sources and Studies in the History of Science*, vol. 2, issue 2 ( 2021), pp. 43–58>
  • ‘Babylonian House-numbers and Squares of Zodiacal Signs: Origin of Quadruplicities, Part II’ in *Aestimatio: Sources and Studies in the History of Science*, vol. 3, issue 1 ( 2022), pp. 97–119
  • The Babylonian origin of the “Planetary Terms” in “On Scribes and Scholars: Essays in Honour of Waynw Horowitz” (2025), eds. Zilberg, Gabbay, Bloch and Ayali-Darshau, Gorgias Press, NJ, USA, pp. 33–42.
  • “Early Babylonian Astronomy: Observations and Numerical Fits” in *Archimedes 74: Studies in Premodern Sciences in Memory of Noel M. Swerdlow: Antiquity to the Renaissance*. Edited by Francesca Rochberg. (2026) Springer, pp. 3–32.

 

Encyclopaedia entries:

  • Article on Babylonian astronomy for the major new Danish encyclopaedia (Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1995).
  • Article on the Mayan calendar systems for the new major Danish encyclopaedia (Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1997).
  • “The Beginnings of Astronomy in Mesopotamia” in Brinkmann (ed.), The Gods’ Engine Room: How Our Future Was Invented – An exhibition by the Liebighaus Sculpture Collection. Frankfurt am Main, 8 March to 10 September (2023) Deutscher Kunstverlag, pp. 34–41


Book reviews:

  • J. E. S. Thompson, *A Commentary on the Dresden Codex: A Maya Hieroglyphic Book*, Amer. Philosoph. Soc. (Philadelphia 1972), reviewed in *Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences* 100 (1976), pp. 154–155.
  • B. L. van der Waerden, *Science Awakening II* (Oxford Univ. Press 1974), reviewed in *Centaurus* 20 (1977), pp. 327–328.
  • N. M. Swerdlow, *The Babylonian Theory of the Planets* (Princeton University Press 1999), reviewed in *ISIS* 90:4, pp. 798–799.
  • H. Hunger and D. Pingree, *Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia*, HdO Vol. 44 (Brill 1999), reviewed in *Archiv für Orientforschung* 48/49 (2003/2004), pp. 244–247.
  • Annette Imhausen, Egyptian Algorithms. A Study of Middle Egyptian Mathematical Problem Texts (Harrassowitz Verlag 2003), reviewed in *Historia Mathematica* 31 (2004), pp. 228–230.
  • Eleanor Robson, *Mathematics in Ancient Iraq: A Social History* (Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2008), in: *Journal of World History*
  • Rita Watson and Wayne Horowitz: “A Naturalistic Analysis of the Babylonian Astronomical Treatise MUL.APIN”, Essay Review, Annals of Science, 2012, 1–5.
  • Mebert, J. – The Venus Tables of Amm?-?aduqa and their significance for the astronomical dating of the Old Babylonian period. (Archiv für Orientforschung, Supplement 31). BIBLIOTHEKA ORIENTALIS LXX no. 1–2 January–April 2013.
  • Kassandra J. Miller and Sarah L. Symons (Editors): *Down to the Hour: Short Time in the Ancient Mediterranean Near East*. Time, Astronomy, and Calendars: Texts and Studies, Volume 8 (Leiden: Brill, 2020), reviewed in BMCR 2020.11.44 Bryn Mawr Classical Review
  • Scholars and Scholarship in Late Babylonian Uruk Christine Proust, John Steele (Editors): *Why the Sciences of the Ancient World Matter 2*. (Springer, 2019) in *Centaurus* 2021, 63: pp. 807–809.

 

Editorial roles:

  • Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Science and Medicine (Copenhagen: Munksgaard), Associate Editor (1999–2009).
  • Scientific Statements and Socially Responsible Decisions. Edited by Christiane Thim-Mabrey, Lis Brack-Bernsen and Daniela Täuber. Books on demand GmbH, Norderstedt, 2010.
  • Science – Reality – Human Action. Edited by Christiane Thim-Mabrey, Lis Brack-Bernsen and Alexander Fink. Books on demand GmbH, Norderstedt, 2011
To top