Dr. Martin Schmitt
Member - Research Associate
- E-Mail:
- martin.schmitt@uni-paderborn.de
- Phone:
- +49 5251 60-2428
- ORCID:
- 0000-0002-0034-9304
-
- Office Address:
-
Pohlweg 55
33098 Paderborn - Room:
- N4.122
- Office hours:
Thursdays, 3pm
Using computational methods for the history of computing
About Martin Schmitt
Martin Schmitt is a research and teaching fellow at the Historical Institute of Paderborn University. His research interests range from contemporary European history to questions of digitalization and computer networking to environmental history. He has a permanent position for digital history, focusing on the critical reflection of the history of computing and the use of data-driven approaches in historical research. His dissertation “Digitalizing German Banking. Computer Use and the Transformation of German Saving Banks between Capitalism and Socialism, 1957-1991” was published by Wallstein (G?ttingen) in 2021. He has received several awards for his work on the history of computing in East and West Germany, including the Award of the Society for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology 2020 and the Weizenbaum Award 2021 (3rd prize) of the Forum of Computer Scientists for Peace and Social Responsibility e.V.
Curriculum Vitae
Since 10/2023: Research and Teaching Fellow, Paderborn University
03/2018 - 31.12.2023: Associated researcher, Leibniz-Center for Contemporary History
04/2019 - 09/2023: Research Fellow, Technical University of Darmstadt, Institute for History, Section History of Technology
10/2018 - 03/2019: Research fellow at the Helmut Schmidt University, Chair for Modern History of Society, Economy and Technology
06/2014 - 02/2018: Research/doctoral fellow, Leibniz-Center for Contemporary History Potsdam
Ph.D. project ?Digitalization of German Banking, 1958-1991“, supervisors: Prof. Frank B?sch, Prof. Martina He?ler
01.10.2005 - 28.02.2014: Master's degree, University of Tübingen
Major in Modern and Contemporary History; minors in Computer Science and Political Science.
Semester abroad at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Erasmus) and the University of Cambridge.
13.11.2021: Weizenbaum study award by the Forum of Computer Scientists for Peace and Social Responsibility
3rd place for his dissertation ?Digitalisierung der Kreditwirtschaft. Computereinsatz in den Sparkassen der Bundesrepublik und der DDR, 1957-1991“
24.09.2020: Award of the Society for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology 2020
For his dissertation ?Digitalisierung der Kreditwirtschaft. Computereinsatz in den Sparkassen der Bundesrepublik und der DDR, 1957-1991“
22.09.2016: Poster award for excellent young researchers by the German Association of Historians
2nd place at the 2016 meeting in Hamburg, Germany with his Ph.D project
15.01.2016: Award for young researchers in the history of communication by the German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies
For his Master's thesis: "Internet in the Cold War"
Research
Research Interests
- Digitalgeschichte / Die Geschichte des Digitalen Zeitalters
- Deutsch-deutsche Zeitgeschichte in Vergleich und Verflechtung
- Digitalisierung in Europa
- Geschichte des Ost-West-Konfliktes und des Kalten Kriegs
- Digital History
- Umweltgeschichte mit Schwerpunkt Wald
- Gesellschafts- und Technikgeschichte der Computervernetzung
Latest Projects
- Studientag und Semesterschwerpunkt: "Schulisches Lernen im digitalen Wandel und mit KI – was Geschichtslehrerinnen und -lehrer k?nnen müssen“
- Interdisciplinarity between Informatics, Economics and Culture. A History of the Heinz Nixdorf Institute
- ERC SYNERGY GRANT PROJECT: Cultures of the Cryosphere. Infrastructures, Politics and Futures of Artificial Cooling
- Digitalization in the anthropocene: A digital environmental history since the mid 20th Century
- The alien tree? Forest experiments and co-construction of alterity in Spain and Germany in the long 19th Century
Publications
Selected Publications
Socialist AI? Societal Use, Economic Implementation, and the Tensions of Applied Computer Science in Late Socialist GDR
M. Schmitt, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing (2023) 66–79.
Umweltgeschichte der Digitalisierung in der DDR
M. Schmitt, in: M. Grabarits, D. Mares (Eds.), Umweltgeschichte, Wochenschau-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M., 2023, pp. 349–359.
Die Digitalisierung der Kreditwirtschaft. Computereinsatz in den Sparkassen der Bundesrepublik und der DDR 1957-1991
M. Schmitt, Die Digitalisierung der Kreditwirtschaft. Computereinsatz in den Sparkassen der Bundesrepublik und der DDR 1957-1991, Wallstein-Verlag, G?ttingen, 2021.
Histories of Computing in Eastern Europe
C. Leslie, M. Schmitt, Histories of Computing in Eastern Europe, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2019.
Internet im Kalten Krieg: eine Vorgeschichte des globalen Kommunikationsnetzes
M. Schmitt, Internet Im Kalten Krieg: Eine Vorgeschichte Des Globalen Kommunikationsnetzes, transcript, Bielefeld, 2016.
Show all publications
Teaching
Current Courses
- Zeitungen und Zeitschriften als historische Quelle für die (digitale) Geschichtswissenschaft (NG)
- Pers?nliche Geschichte(n) und was wir daraus lernen ? Oral History und Zeitzeugeninterviews als historische Methode am Beispiel Heinz Nixdorfs (NG)
- MAP - Mastermodul Historischer Schwerpunkt A3 (GyGe)
- MAP - Mastermodul Historische Epochen A2 (HRSGe/GyGe)
- Einführung in die Neuere/Neueste Geschichte (NG)
- Das Deutsche Kaiserreich in europ?ischer und globaler Verflechtung (NG)
Outreach
- ?Expedition für das Wissen“ 100th Anniversary of DFG, 2021, Berlin
- Talk ?Zeichen der Zeit“ with the artist Rudi Fischer, 2020, Potsdam
- Small exhibition at the MS-Wissenschaft 2019 (BMBF)
- Citizen dialog ?Computernutzung in der DDR“, 2018, ComputerCenter Potsdam
- Poster presentation at the long night of Science, 2017, Berlin
Scientific Engagement
Since 05/2025 | Board for Ethical Use and Access, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
Leopoldina Data Base ?Victims of Biomedical Research under National Socialism“
Since 14.09.2022 | Chair of the Working Group "History of Computing and Informatics" of the German Informatics Society (GI)
Together with Stefan H?ltgen
01.01.2017 | Vice Chair Working Group 9.7 "History of Computing" der International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)
04.10.2021 | Verband Deutscher Historiker und Historikerinnen, AG Digitale Geschichtswissenschaft
18.11.2020 | DHd e.V., Digital Humanities im deutschsprachigen Raum
01.01.2017 | Special Interest Group Computers, Information and Society (SIGCIS / SHOT)