Michael Schüring received his PhD in 2004 from the Humboldt-Universität Berlin. In his dissertation he examined how after 1945 the Max Planck Society handled scientists who had been dismissed from the predecessor organization, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, during the years of National Socialism. From 2004 to 2005, he has worked as an author and advisor for the exhibition “Albert Einstein: Chief Engineer of the Universe,” in Berlin. In 2006, he conducted research for the Society of German Chemists in Frankfurt, studying the history of its predecessor organizations under National Socialism. Since 2006, Michael Schüring has taught modern German history, history of science, and environmental history as a DAAD Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
While in residence as a visiting fellow at the RCC, Michael Schüring will be conducting research on a project entitled, “West German Protestants and Nuclear Technology, 1970-1990.” This project is an investigation of the role of the West German Protestant churches during the protests against nuclear energy in the 1970s and 1980s. Although both the political position and responsibility of the German churches have been investigated with respect to National Socialism and the collapse of the German Democratic Republic, their unique and remarkable stance towards non-military nuclear technology after 1945 has been barely touched upon. This project can be embedded within the long history of the environmental spirit in Germany, the role of the church as a moral authority, and the profound change of the political landscape in West Germany after the student protests of 1968.