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Tom Diekwisch completed his Ph.D. studies in philosophy with one of Germany’s pre-eminent science philosophers, Professor Peter Janich from the University of Marburg. Janich is one of the fathers of methodical culturalism, a development of the constructivist philosophy of the Erlangen school of philosophy.

As a student of Janich, Diekwisch focused on the impact of science culture in modern molecular biology and how science cultural approaches affect our understanding of the mind-body problem. The approach of methodical culturalism was carried over into two history of science publications related to the model system of the un-opposed molar (Holliday et al. 2005, Luan et al. 2007).

Diekwisch also contributed to a commemorative article in honor of Wolf-Ernst Reif (Smith et al. 2013). His manuscript entitled “Oral Biology and Chicago” is a review about the Chicago Oral Biology Centennial and honors the contributions of the Vienna School of Illinois to the biological orientation of dentistry in America.


Contributions to Journals

  • Diekwisch, T.G.H. (2019). Periodontal Homeostasis: From Vienna to Texas- A Century of Periodontal Research in the Spirit of Bernhard Gottlieb.
  • Diekwisch, T.G.H. (2016).  Oral Biology and Chicago.  Evolution and Development 18, 3-6.  Journal Cover.
  • Smith, M.M., Johanson, Z, Underwood, C., and Diekwisch, T.G.H. (2013). Pattern formation in development of chondrichthyan dentitions: a review of an evolutionary model. Historical Biology 25, 127-142.
  • Luan X, Diekwisch T.G.H. (2007). Vienna-Chicago: the cultural transformation of the model system of the un-opposed molar. Bioessays 29, 819-830.
  • Holliday, S., Schneider, B., Galang, M.T., Fukui, T., Yamane, A., Luan, X., and Diekwisch, T.G.H. (2005). Bones, Teeth, and Genes: A Genomic Homage to Harry Sicher’s “Axial Movement of Teeth“. World J. Orthodontics 6, 61-70.