Torsten Bendl

Since February 2025, a PhD student at the Chair of History of Science, funded by a scholarship from the Hans Böckler Foundation, (working title of the doctoral thesis: ‘The dissemination and use of glass plate slides to popularise astronomy in German-speaking countries between approximately 1850 and 1950’)

October 2024 to September 2025: Research assistant at the Junior Professorship for Public History at the University of Regensburg

January to December 2024: Research Fellow at the Chair of History of Science at the University of Regensburg

Since 2023: voluntary work as spokesperson for the Driburger Kreis (a network for early-career historians of the history of science, medicine and technology in German-speaking countries)

2020–2023: Studied the history of science in Regensburg; graduated with a Master of Arts from the University of Regensburg (thesis:“Scientific Personae – The multifaceted activities of Lyceum professor Karl Stöckl (1873–1959)”)

2021–2023 Research assistant at the Chair of History of Science, University of Regensburg

2021–2023 Research assistant in the programme coordination office for the History department at the University of Regensburg

2022 Research placement at Leiden University (Netherlands)

2019: Internship at the Mittelbayerische Zeitung in Regensburg

2016–2020 Studied Political Science and History in Regensburg; graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Regensburg (thesis topic: ‘Towards a totalitarian democracy? An analysis of digital politics in contemporary China’)

Since 2018: Freelance work as a castle guide at the Thurn und Taxis Museums: guided tours of St Emmeram Palace in German and English

2015–2016: Studied Physics in Regensburg, did not graduate

Since 2013, voluntary work with the Friends of the Regensburg Observatory Association (Verein der Freunde der Sternwarte Regensburg e.V.), initially as a speaker and assistant on special guided tours, and since 2019 as treasurer and member of the executive committee

A History of the Popularisation of Science in the 19th and 20th Centuries

History of Astronomy

Visual and Material Culture

History of Photography

History of Projection

In conjunction with: Bick, Katharina: Research project: Astrophotography using glass photographic plates between 1850 and 1950, in: Mitteilungen zur Astronomiegeschichte 57 (2025), p. 3.

Review of: Kuhn, Konrad J./Nitsche, Martin/Thyroff, Julia/Waldis, Monika (eds.): ZwischenWelten. Crossing Boundaries between History and Cultural Studies, History Education and Political Education. Festschrift for Béatrice Ziegler, Münster 2021, in: Bavarian Yearbook of Folklore. Published on 7 October 2025. Available online at: https://kblg.badw.de/kbl-digital/rezensionsportal/aktuelle-rezensionen/ansicht/detail/5677.html (external link, opens in a new window).

In collaboration with: Klein, Gina Maria and Stöger, Alexander: The Driburg Circle – An Institution in the History of German Science, in: NTM – Journal for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (2024), doi.org/10.1007/s00048-024-00394-1.

In collaboration with: Hoffmann, Susanne M.: ‘Essay: Ursa Major in North American Cultures’, in: Hoffmann, Susanne M./Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (eds.): Astronomy in Culture. Cultures of Astronomy (Nuncius Hamburgensis – Contributions to the History of the Natural Sciences, Vol. 57), Hamburg 2022, pp. 383–395.

The Educational Mission of the Regensburg Public Observatory, in: Regensburg Public Observatory (ed.): 100 Years, Regensburg 2020, pp. 20–21.

The search for the origins of the Regensburg Public Observatory: An excursion into the history of astronomy, in: Regensburg Public Observatory (ed.): 100 Years, Regensburg 2020, pp. 48–49.

Numerous popular science articles on astronomical topics in the *Mittelbayerische Zeitung* and in *Abenteuer Astronomie*.

Academic presentations

“Max Wolf and Commercialised Lantern Slides: A Complicated Relationship” (in Edinburgh, at the joint conference of the History of Science Society and the European Society for the History of Science, 2026), 16 July 2026

“To the Stars: Glass Slides and Their Role in Conveying Astronomical Knowledge” (in Regensburg, as part of the interdisciplinary annual conference of the Early Career Forum 2026), 22 June 2026

“From Talbot to Wolf: Astrophotographic Slides between Commercial Trade and Public Astronomical Education” (in Görlitz, at the conference of the Working Group on the History of Astronomy of the Astronomical Society), 20 September 2025

“Slides as Media of Knowledge. How Astronomy Came to the Screen” (in Munich, as part of the advanced seminar on the history of science at LMU Munich), 10 July 2025.

“From the Observatory to the Screen: The Journey of Astronomical Glass Plate Slides” (in Wuppertal, at the workshop “Materials for Research and Learning”), 27 April 2025.

“Karl Stöckl and the Regensburg Public Observatory” (lecture as part of the Regensburg University Library’s events for the Night of Libraries), 4 April 2025; Co-curation of the accompanying exhibition organised by the University Library and Archives from 24 March 2025 to 7 April 2025.

‘“Science does not lie in the Laterna magica” – Resistance, failures and problems in the introduction of projection apparatus for the popularisation of science in the late 19th and early 20th centuries’ (in Lüneburg, at the 2024 conference of the Driburger Kreis), 24 September 2024.

‘Traversing Boundaries: Karl Stöckl’s Role in Bridging Science in Early 20th-Century Germany” (in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, at the conference “Circulating Knowledge – 20 Years after”, available online (external link, opens in a new window)), 10 August 2024.

‘The Infrastructure behind Astronomical Lantern Slides in Early 20th-Century Germany’ (in Aberystwyth, Wales, UK, as part of the BSHS Annual Conference), 12 July 2024.

“The Academic Persona: An Analysis Based on the Example of Lyceum Professor Karl Stöckl (1873–1959)” (in Stuttgart, as part of the DIALOGO Colloquium at the University of Stuttgart), 9 April 2024.

“Professor Karl Stöckl – Globally active, locally connected” (in Passau, at the invitation of the Passau Natural Sciences Society), 11 May 2023.

“Multiplying Knowledge – Karl Stöckl and the Translation of Scientific Research” (in English, as part of the colloquium organised by the Chair of the History of Science at the University of Regensburg), 9 November 2022.

“The Lyceum Professor Karl Stöckl – A populariser and disseminator of science at the beginning of the 20th century” (in Erfurt, at the conference of the Driburger Kreis), 20 September 2022.

Popular science lectures

- as part of his work at the Regensburg Public Observatory -

‘General Introduction to Astronomy’ (in German and English), delivered more than 250 times since 2014.

‘An Introduction to Non-Western Constellations’ (adult education centre course, two sessions), held annually since the 2022/23 winter term.

‘Galaxies – Islands in Space’ (adult education centre course, one session), held annually since the 2017/18 winter term.

“The History of Astrology – and Why It Is No Longer a Science”, 15 March 2024.

“In the Footsteps of Satellites – a Journey to Alien Worlds in Space” (together with Dr Christine Thoms, as part of the “Satellite Somnium” art project), 29 September 2023.

‘The History of Astronomy in Regensburg’ (as part of a visit by the Dieterskirchen Astronomy Society), 6 May 2023.

“Comets – Icy Vagabonds in the Solar System”, 11 November 2022/14 September 2018/13 February 2015.

‘Professor Karl Stöckl: The Founder of the Public Observatory – Active Locally, Globally Connected’ (as part of Open Monument Day 2022), 11 September 2022.

“Modern Applications of Kepler’s Laws” (as part of the City of Regensburg’s series of events to mark the 400th anniversary of Johannes Kepler’s birth), 20 August 2021.

“The mythology behind the constellations”, 30 March 2019/19 August 2016.

“Exoplanets – Alien Worlds Orbiting Alien Stars”, 17 February 2017.

“Supernovae – Cosmic Killers Create Gold and Life” (substitute lecture), 15 April 2016.

“The Sun – The Star We Live By” (as a stand-in), 21 March 2015.

Co-organisation of the Driburger Kreis 2026 (in Prague, in English)

Co-organisation of the Driburger Kreis 2025 (in Dresden)

Co-organisation of the Driburger Kreis 2024 (in Lüneburg)

“Telescopes and Tradition: The History of Astronomy in Regensburg as an Exhibition Project” (seminar, in collaboration with Dr Christian Reiß, Prof. Dr Juliane Tomann and Bernadette Mischka), summer term 2025.

“The University’s Historical Instrument Collection – 19th-Century Science in 1,000 Objects” (seminar), summer term 2024.

• Project management and curation (together with Dr Sebastian Karnatz) of the special exhibition “Ad Astra. 50 Years of the Friends of the Regensburg Observatory Association’ on the history of astronomy in Regensburg from the 11th century to the present day, in the special exhibition space of the Regensburg Historical Museum from 20 May 2026 to 11 September 2026.

  Co-organisation of the accompanying lecture series

  Blog post ‘From seminar to museum – How an exhibition came about with the involvement of many people’

• Digitisation of the slide collection from the estate of Karl Stöckl, in collaboration with Regensburg University Library and the MMZ at the University of Regensburg

• Podcast project: ‘Praxis Public History’ podcast

  Episodes for Regensburg: https://mediathek2.uni-regensburg.de/list/2845

  Episodes from across Germany: https://public-history.media/