Cornelis J. (Kees-Jan) Schilt

Cornelis J. (Kees-Jan) Schilt is a Research Professor at the VUB specializing in the history and philosophy of early modern knowledge-making. He studied Physics and Astrophysics (BSc 2005) and History and Philosophy of Science (MSc 2007) at Utrecht University and received his DPhil (2018) from the University of Oxford. Formerly a Junior Research Fellow at Linacre College, University of Oxford, he worked as a Postdoc with the Oxford-based Newton Mint Papers Project. As a Senior Editor and Transcription Manager with the online Newton Project, he has been responsible for the editing, transcription, and publication of Isaac Newton's writings since 2013.

His research focusses on early modern science, philosophy, theology and chronology, and in particular on the life and writings of Isaac Newton and the many fields of knowledge-making Newton was involved in. He is also intrigued by the questions that modern quantum mechanics and artificial intelligence pose, the science-religion debates of the past and present, and the interaction between Eastern and Western knowledge. He is currently the Principal Investigator of the ERC-StG Project ‘Traces de la verité: on the reappropriation of ancient wisdom in early modern natural philosophy’, aka VERITRACE.