Kurt Josten
Encyclopedia
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
The Museum of the History of Science, located in Broad Street, Oxford, is home to an unrivalled collection of scientific instruments from medieval times to the 17th century. Its collection of 18th and 19th-century instruments is also substantial...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
In 1921 to 1929, Josten was educated by the Jesuits at Bad Godesberg
Bad Godesberg
Bad Godesberg is a municipal district of Bonn, southern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. From 1949 till 1990 , the majority of foreign embassies to Germany were located in Bad Godesberg...
in Germany. He studied for a year at the Staatliches Gymnasium in Neuss, followed by studies at the University of Geneva
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...
, University of Freiburg
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...
, and University of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
. In 1934 Josten worked in the office of the then Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen
Franz von Papen
Lieutenant-Colonel Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen zu Köningen was a German nobleman, Roman Catholic monarchist politician, General Staff officer, and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler in 1933–1934...
, where he was involved in conservative plots to use the extensive powers of the aging President von Hindenburg - in particular his supreme command over the army - in order to stymie a complete grab of power by the Nazi members of the Government. When those aspirations came to a bloody end during the occupation of the Papen-Offices by the SS during the Night of the Long Knives
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
on June 30th 1934, Josten scarcely managed to escape while his immetidate superior Herbert von Bose
Herbert von Bose
Herbert von Bose was head of the press division of the Vice Chancellery in Germany under Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen.- Imperial Germany and Weimar Republic :...
was shot and other members of the Papen staff were arrested and taken to Lichtenburg Concentration Camp.
In 1935 Josten achieved a doctorate in law from the, University of Erlangen. However, he gave up law due to disillusionment about the state of law in Germany under the Nazis. Also in 1935, he visited England, including Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
.
Jostem opposed Nazism from 1934 onwards and went into hiding in 1943 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and then Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
in German. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he returned to England and eventually became a naturalized British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
citizen in 1954.
In 1949, Josten achieved a major scholastic success when while working at the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
, Oxford University's main library, he discovered the code used by Elias Ashmole
Elias Ashmole
Elias Ashmole was a celebrated English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer and student of alchemy. Ashmole supported the royalist side during the English Civil War, and at the restoration of Charles II he was rewarded with several lucrative offices.Ashmole was an antiquary with a...
(the founder of the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
at Oxford), used to encrypt his diaries. The decoded material was eventually published in 1966.
Josten became Curator of the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford in 1950. He was an expert on the early history of chemistry
History of chemistry
By 1000 BC, ancient civilizations used technologies that would eventually form the basis of the various branches of chemistry. Examples include extracting metals from ores, making pottery and glazes, fermenting beer and wine, making pigments for cosmetics and painting, extracting chemicals from...
(alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
), astronomy
History of astronomy
Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, and astrological practices of pre-history: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with public and governmental astronomy, and not...
, and early astronomical instruments. He expanded the museum's collection through purchases and the major gift of the private collection of the shipping owner, Jack Billmeir. This consisted of astronomical and mathematical instruments. It was built up with the help of Josten.
On his early retirement in 1964 at the age of 52, he took an emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
curatorial position at the museum. He encouraged his successor, Francis Maddison
Francis Maddison
Francis Romeril Maddison was an English historian and Arabist. He was Curator of the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, England.Francis Maddison was born in Hounslow, London, England...
, who was previously an assistant curator at the museum.
Kurt Josen was a member of Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...
(also the college of Elias Ashmole) and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
.
He lived in rooms in St John Street
St John Street, Oxford
St John Street is a street in central Oxford, England. The street mainly consists of stone-faced Georgian-style terraced houses. It was built as a speculative development by St John's College starting in the 1820s and finishing in the 1840s at the start of the Victorian era.At the northern end is...
in central Oxford. Josten married Constanze Josten in 1962. She died in 1968.