Back to Richard Weikart's homepage

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., 1994, University of Iowa
  • Primary field: Modern European History
  • Specializations: Modern Germany, European Intellectual History
• M.A., 1989, Texas Christian University
  • Major: Modern European History
• B.A., summa cum laude, 1980, Texas Christian University

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• 2004-present, Professor, 1999-2004, Associate Professor; 1994-99, Assistant Professor, California State University, Stanislaus
  • Courses taught: European Graduate Studies; International Relations Seminar; Modern Germany; Twentieth-Century Europe; Hitler and the Nazi Era; European Intellectual History; Western Science and Society since Copernicus; History of Western Christianity; Evolution, Religion, and Society; Senior Thesis; World Civilizations I & II
• Summer 1994, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Iowa
  • Course taught: Twentieth-Century Crisis (Europe, 1914-45)
• 1993-94, 1990-91, Teaching Assistant, University of Iowa
  • Courses taught: Twentieth-Century Crisis (Europe, 1914-45) (3x); The Political Left in Modern History (3x). I had full teaching responsibilities for three sections of each of these courses each year.
• 1987-89, Teaching Assistant, Texas Christian University
  • Course: History of Western Civilization to 1500

AWARDS AND PRIZES

• Outstanding Research Professor, 2004-05, California State University, Stanislaus.
• Templeton/American Scientific Affiliation Lecture Series Contest, 2004, Second Prize for the video lecture, "From Darwin to Hitler" Available for viewing on-line at: webcast.ucsd.edu:8080/ramgen/UCSD_TV/8987.rm
• Elected to the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, 2000.
• Forum for History of Human Science 1996 bienniel prize for the best recent dissertation in the history of human science.
• Selma V. Forkosch Prize for the best article in the Journal of the History of Ideas in 1993.
• Phi Alpha Theta membership, 1988.

FELLOWSHIPS AND RESEARCH GRANTS

• Sabbatical from CSU, Stanislaus, 2000-2001, to write first draft of a book, "Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Devaluing Human Life in Germany."
• Research Fellowships from the Center for Science and Culture, 2000-2001, 1998-99, 1997; partial funding for a sabbatical and released time, plus funding for three trips to archives in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Poland.
• Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Grants from California State University, Stanislaus, 2000-2001, 1999-2000, 1998-99, 1997-98, 1996-97, 1995-96; grants for research assistants and funds for travel to European archives, UC-Berkeley, Stanford, and the Hoover Institution.
• Grants Incentive Program, California State University, Stanislaus, Summer 1995; a grant for research trips to UC-Berkeley, Stanford, and the Hoover Institution.
• Fulbright Fellowship, 1992-93, for dissertation research at the University of Bonn, Germany.
• Gordon Prange Fellowship, spring 1993, for dissertation research in European archives.
• University of Iowa Fellowship, 1989-92, offered to the top 20-25 entering graduate students in the entire university.
• Academic Achievement Award scholarship, 1976-80, Texas Christian University.

PUBLICATIONS

(a) BOOKS

• From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
• Socialist Darwinism: Evolution in German Socialist Thought from Marx to Bernstein. San Francisco: International Scholars Publications, 1999. See the H-Net Review.
• The Myth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. San Francisco: International Scholars Publications, 1997.

(b) CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

• "The Impact of Social Darwinism on Antisemitic Ideology in Germany and Austria, 1860-1945," in Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Evolution, ed. Geoffrey Cantor and Marc Swetlitz (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming
• "'Evolutionäre Aufklärung'? Zur Geschichte des Monistenbundes" ("'Evolutionary Enlightenment'? A History of the Monist League"), in Wissenschaft, Politik, und Öffentlichkeit: Von der Wiener Moderne bis zur Gegenwart (Science, Politics, and the Public Sphere: From Modernist Vienna to the Present), ed. Mitchell G. Ash and Christian H. Stifter. Vienna: WUV Universitätsverlag, 2002. Pp. 131-48.

(c) JOURNAL ARTICLES

• "Does Darwinism Devalue Human Life?" Human Life Review 30, 2 (Spring 2004): 29-37.
• "Progress through Racial Extermination: Social Darwinism, Eugenics, and Pacifism in Germany, 1860-1918," German Studies Review 26 (2003): 273-94.
• "Darwinism and Death: Devaluing Human Life in Germany, 1860-1920," Journal of the History of Ideas 63 (2002): 323-344.
• "Laissez-Faire Social Darwinism and Individualist Competition in Darwin and Huxley," The European Legacy 3 (1998): 17-30.
• "A Recently Discovered Darwin Letter on Social Darwinism," Isis 86 (1995): 609-11.
• "Marx, Engels, and the Abolition of the Family," History of European Ideas 18 (1994): 657-72.
• "The Origins of Social Darwinism in Germany, 1859-1895," Journal of the History of Ideas 54 (1993): 469-88.
• "Scripture and Myth in Dietrich Bonhoeffer," Fides et Historia 25 (1993): 12-25.

(d) ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES

• "Ludwig Büchner," "Houston Stewart Chamberlain," "Karl Marx," "Karl Vogt," and "August Weismann," in Dictionary of the Darwinism Controversy (forthcoming).
• "Eugenics" and "Social Darwinism," in Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics (Macmillan, forthcoming 2005).
• "Eugenics," "Scientific Racism," and "Social Darwinism," in Encyclopedia of Antisemitism, Anti-Jewish Prejudice and Persecution, ed. Richard Levy (ABC-Clio, forthcoming).
• "Mendel," in Encyclopedia of Science and Religion (Detroit: Gale Group, 2003).
• "Hugo De Vries," in World of Genetics (Detroit: Gale Group, 2001).
• "Sociobiology," "Human Genome Project," "E. O. Wilson," "Thomas Malthus," "August Weismann," "Francis Galton," "Konrad Lorenz," and "Anton Dohrn," in Science and Its Times (Detroit: Gale Group, 2000).
• "Genetics," in The History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition: An Encyclopedia, ed. Gary B. Ferngren. (NY: Garland Publishers, 2000). Pp. 479-80.
• "Eugenics," in The Encyclopedia of Religion in American Politics (Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1999). Pp. 92-93.

(e) BOOK REVIEWS AND REVIEW ESSAYS

• Naomi Baumslag, Murderous Medicine: Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus, on H-German (an H-Net list) (forthcoming).
• Peter Cohen, "Homo sapiens 1900" (video), in American Historical Review (forthcoming).
• Edwin Black, War against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race, in Holocaust and Genocide Studies (forthcoming).
• Jan Sapp, Genesis: The Evolution of Biology, in Isis 96 (2005): 99.
• Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, ed. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, on H-German (an H-Net list) (April 2005). On-line at http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=140161118778819
• Christine Rosen, Preaching Eugenics: Religious Leaders and the American Eugenics Movement, in Journal of Religion 85 (2005): 340-41.
• Richard T. Gray, About Face: German Physiognomic Thought from Lavater to Auschwitz, on H-German (an H-Net list), February 2005.
• Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience, in German Studies Review 27 (2004): 643-44.
• Michael Bulmer. Francis Galton: Pioneer of Heredity and Biometry, in Heredity 93 (2004): 522.
• Barbara Rabi, Ärztliche Ethik-Eine Frage der Ehre? Die Prozesse und Urteile der ärztlichen Ehrengerichtshöfe in Preussen und Sachsen 1918-1933, in German Studies Review 27 (2004): 394-95.
• Reinhard Mocek, Biologie und soziale Befreiung: Zur Geschichte des Biologismus und der Rassenhygiene in der Arbeiterbewegung, in German Studies Review 27 (2004): 395-96.
• Richard Steigmann-Gall, The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945, in German Studies Review 27 (2004): 174-76.
• "Killing Them Kindly: Lessons from the Euthanasia Movement" [reviews Ian Dowbiggin, A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America; N. D. A. Kemp, 'Merciful Release': The History of the British Euthanasia Movement; and Wesley J. Smith, Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America], in Books and Culture: A Christian Review (Jan./Feb. 2004), 30-31.
• Francis R. Nicosia and Jonathan Huener, eds., Medicine and Medical Ethics in Nazi Germany: Origins, Practices, Legacies, on H-German (an H-Net list), February 2003; on-line at: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=149281055622253
• Steven E. Aschheim, In Times of Crisis: Essays on European Culture, Germans, and Jews, in History: Reviews of New Books 30 (2002): 65.
• "Father of Eugenics," [reviews Nicholas Wright Gillham, Sir Francis Galton: From African Exploration to the Birth of Eugenics], in Books and Culture: A Christian Review (May/June 2002): 42.
• "The Roots of Hitler's Evil" [reviews Brigitte Hamann, Hitler's Vienna, and Ian Kershaw, Hitler], in Books and Culture: A Christian Review (Mar./Apr. 2001): 18-21.
• Udo Benzenhöfer, Der gute Tod? Euthanasie und Sterbehilfe in Geschichte und Gegenwart, in German Studies Review 24 (2001): 665-66.
• Annette Wittkau-Horgby, Materialismus: Entstehung und Wirkung in den Wissenschaften des 19. Jahrhunderts, in German Studies Review 24 (2001): 609-10.
• David Livingstone, et al, eds., Evangelicals and Science in Historical Perspective, in Fides et Historia 33 (2001): 145-46.
• Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur, in Isis 91 (2000):168-70.
• Ronald Numbers, Darwinism Comes to America, in Fides et Historia 32 (2000): 171-72.
• Peter Fritzsche, Germans into Nazis, in Fides et Historia 32 (2000): 142-43.
• "Brave New China: The Return of Eugenics," [reviews Frank Dikötter, Imperfect Conceptions: Medical Knowledge, Birth Defects and Eugencis in China] in Books and Culture: A Christian Review (Sept./Oct. 1999): 28-29.
• Michael Burleigh, Ethics and Extermination: Reflections on Nazi Genocide, in German Studies Review 21 (1998): 622-23.
• Uwe Gerrens, Medizinisches Ethos und theologische Ethik: Karl und Dietrich Bonhoeffer in der Auseinandersetzung um Zwangssterilisation und Euthanasie in Nationalsozialismus, on H-German (an H-Net list), October 1998; on WWW at: http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=6022908908053 .
• James M. Glass, "Life Unworthy of Life": Racial Phobia and Mass Murder in Hitler's Germany, on H-German (an H-Net list), September 1998.
• Thomas Junker and Marsha Richmond, Charles Darwins Briefwechsel mit deutschen Naturforschern: Ein Kalendarium mit Inhaltsangaben, biographischem Register und Bibliographie, in Isis 89 (1998): 347.
• Anne Harrington, Reenchanted Science: Holism in German Culture from Wilhelm II to Hitler, in German Studies Review 21 (1998): 159-60.
• Mike Hawkins, Social Darwinism in European and American Thought, 1860-1945: Nature as Model and Nature as Threat, on H-NEXA (an H-Net list), September 1997. Review is on the WWW at: http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=8662877114333.
• John H. Kautsky, Karl Kautsky: Marxism, Revolution and Democracy, in German Studies Review 20 (1997): 167-68.
• Diane B. Paul, Controlling Human Heredity, 1865 to the Present, on H-NEXA (an H-Net list), April 1997. Review is on the WWW at: http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=22060863214096
• "Who Is Dietrich Bonhoeffer for Us Today?: A Review Essay," Fides et Historia 29 (1997): 72-81.
• Wolfgang J. Mommsen, Imperial Germany, 1867-1918: Politics, Culture, and Society in an Authoritarian State, in History: Reviews of New Books 24 (1996): 179.
• John M. Efron, Defenders of the Race: Jewish Doctors and Race Science in Fin-de-Siècle Europe, in German Studies Review 19 (1996): 349-50.
• Peter Gay, The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud, vol. 3: The Cultivation of Hatred, in Fides et Historia 28 (1996): 106-7.

(f) WEB PAGES

• German History Source

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AND LECTURES

• Lecture/Powerpoint Presentation, "From Darwin to Hitler," at the following places:
  • CSU, Stanislaus, Dec. 5, 2005
  • Turlock Rotary Club, October 18, 2005
  • Denver, October 13, 2005
  • Costa Mesa, CA, May 7, 2005.
  • Seattle Pacific University, April 7, 2005.
  • Biola University, April 24, 2004.
  • Westmont College, April 14, 2004.
  • University of California, Santa Barbara, April 13, 2004. Available for viewing on-line at: webcast.ucsd.edu:8080/ramgen/UCSD_TV/8987.rm
• Paper presentation, "The Sources of Hitler's Ethic," German Studies Association, Washington, DC, October 2004 (forthcoming).
• Lecture/Powerpoint Presentation, "From Darwin to Hitler," Intelligent Design and the Future of Science Conference, Biola University, April 24, 2004.
• Lecture/Powerpoint Presentation, "From Darwin to Hitler," Westmont College, April 14, 2004.
• Lecture/Powerpoint Presentation, "From Darwin to Hitler," University of California, Santa Barbara, April 13, 2004.
• Lecture/Powerpoint Presentation, "Eugenics: Science or Ethics," at CSU, Stanislaus, April 5, 2004.
• Paper presentation, "The Impact of Social Darwinism on Antisemitic Ideology in Germany and Austria, 1860-1945," Conference on Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Evolution, Arizona State University, February 29-March 1, 2004.
• Paper presentation, "Darwinism and Devaluing Human Life: An Historical Perspective," at Conference on Biology and Purpose: Altruism, Morality, and Human Nature in Evolutionary Theory, Calvin College, November 2002.
• Paper presentation, "Darwinism, Monism, and the Search for a Scientific Ethics in Germany, 1890-1914," at History of Science Society Conference, Denver, November 2001.
• Paper presentation, "Darwinism, Monism, and the Secularization of Ethics in Wilhelmine Germany," at German Studies Association Conference, Washington, DC, October 2001.
• Participant, Templeton Foundation Faculty Seminar on "Biology and Purpose: Altruism, Morality, and Human Nature in Evolutionary Theory," Calvin College, July 2-27, 2001.
• Paper presentation, "Darwinism and Death: Devaluing Human Life in Germany, 1859-1918," at West Coast History of Science Society Conference, University of California, Berkeley, May 2000.
• Paper presentation, "Evolutionäre Aufklärung? Zur Geschichte des Monistenbundes" ("Evolutionary Enlightenment? A History of the Monist League"), at Rudolf-Goldscheid Symposium: "Das grosse Misverständnis? Wissenschaft, Politik, und Öffentlichkeit von der 'Wiener Moderne' bis heute," (The Great Misunderstanding? Science, Politics, and the Public Sphere from 'Modern Vienna' till Today"), University of Vienna, November 1999.
• Paper presentation, "German Darwinism and the Right to Life, 1860-1914," at Conference on Faith and History Far West Conference, Trinity International University, October 1999.
• Moderator of panel, "European Turbulence," at Phi Alpha Theta Northern California Regional Conference, Turlock, March 1999.
• Participant in colloquium, "Freedom and Responsibility in the Writings of Charles Darwin," Tuscon, AZ, January 1999.
• Paper presentation, "Evolution, Ethics and Devaluing Human Life in Germany," at Conference on Faith and History California Conference, April 1998.
• Paper presentation, "The Peculiar Pacifism of Ernst Haeckel: Social Darwinist Militarism before and during World War I," at German Studies Association Conference, Seattle, October 1996.
• Moderator of panel, "Aggression and Appeasement in the 1930s," at Phi Alpha Theta Northern California Regional Conference, Sacramento, April 1996.
• Paper presentation, "Pietist Social Reform in Prussia, 1800-1848," at Missouri Valley History Conference, Omaha, March 1990.

LANGUAGES

• German - reading and speaking
• French - reading