
Julia Voss (born 1974) is a German journalist and scientific historian. She is a writer and art critic who works at the ''
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', ...
''.
["53rd International Art Exhibition"](_blank)
La Biennale (2009). Retrieved 1 August 2011
Biography
Voss was born in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. She majored in modern German literature, art history and philosophy at
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württe ...
,
Humboldt University
The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick Willi ...
in Berlin and at
Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...
in London.
She received her master's degree in 2000 with a thesis on the literary forms of the debate on
Darwinism
Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that ...
().
From 2001 to 2004, she pursued her art history dissertation, ''One long Argument. Die Darwinismus-Debatte im Bild'' as part of a research project at the
Max Planck Institute
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
. She examined the role of images in the development of
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
's
theory of evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation te ...
. She received her doctorate at Humboldt University at the end of 2005 and was presented the
Max Planck Society
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...
's
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn (; 8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist who was a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is referred to as the father of nuclear chemistry and father of nuclear fission. Hahn and Lise Meitner ...
Award for her dissertation. Her dissertation was published in 2007.
In 2008, she wrote an article about
Michael Ende
Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende (12 November 1929 – 28 August 1995) was a German writer of fantasy and children's fiction. He is known for his epic fantasy '' The Neverending Story'' (with its 1980s film adaptation and a 1995 animated televisio ...
's children's novel, ''
Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer
''Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver'' (german: Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer, italics=yes, link=no) is a children's novel written by Michael Ende. The main characters are Emma the steam locomotive, her driver (locomotive), driver ...
'', in which she examined Ende's motives for writing the book. Written in 1960, Ende's novel is a classic in Germany and has been translated into 33 languages.
"Auf der Insel mit zwei Bergen"
''Focus'' magazine (4 August 2010). Retrieved 31 July 2011 In her article, called "Jim Button saves the theory of evolution" ("Jim Knopf rettet die Evolutionstheorie"), Voss presented evidence that Ende wanted to write a contrast to Nazi racial ideology
The Nazi Party adopted and developed several pseudoscientific racial classifications as part of its ideology (Nazism) in order to justify the genocide of groups of people which it deemed racially inferior. The Nazis considered the putative "A ...
and their misuse of Darwin's theory of evolution.[Martin Wittmann]
"Nazis raus aus Lummerland"
''Focus'' magazine (9 August 2010). Retrieved 31 July 2011 Ende, who had grown up in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, used numerous Nazi symbols and references in his book, reversing their discriminatory aspect and turning them into anti-racist and multi-cultural images.[Julia Voss]
"Jim Knopf rettet die Evolutionstheorie"
''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (16 December 2008). Retrieved 31 July 2011 Voss' article also identified Jemmy Button
Orundellico, known as "Jeremy Button" or "Jemmy Button" (c. 1815–1864), was a member of the Yaghan (or Yámana) people from islands around Tierra del Fuego, in modern Chile and Argentina. He was taken to England by Captain FitzRoy in HMS ''B ...
as the basis for Ende's lead character, Jim Knopf, translated in English as Jim Button.
Voss received the Sigmund Freud Prize
The Sigmund Freud Prize or Sigmund Freud Prize for Academic Prose (German ''Sigmund Freud-Preis für wissenschaftliche Prosa'') is a German literary award named after Sigmund Freud and awarded by the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (Ge ...
for Scientific Prose from the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung
The Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung (in English German Academy for Language and Literature) was founded on 28 August 1949, on the 200th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt. It is seated in Darmstad ...
for her study of Darwin's theory of evolution in 2009. In 2009, she also served on the jury of the Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
.
Publications
* ''Darwins Bilder. Ansichten der Evolutionstheorie 1837–1874''. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main (2007)
* ''Charles Darwin zur Einführung''. Junius Verlag, Hamburg (2008)
* ''Darwins Jim Knopf''. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main (2009)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voss, Julia
German journalists
German women journalists
German newspaper journalists
21st-century German journalists
Living people
1974 births
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung people
21st-century German women