Michael R. Lynn, Ph.D.

Interim Department Chair of English and World Languages & Interim Department Chair of History, Philosophy, Politics and Economics

Professor of History

Introduction

Michael Lynn is a professor of History in the Department of History. His research and teaching focus on the social and cultural history of Europe, especially between 1400 and 1800.

Research Overview

Lynn’s research analyzes the relationship between science and magic in seventeenth and eighteenth-century France. He has published articles on chiromancy (palm reading) and spontaneous human combustion and is working on the history of tarot cards, vampirism and ventriloquism.

Select Publications

• Popular Science and Public Opinion in Eighteenth-Century France (2006)
• The Sublime Invention: Ballooning in Europe, 1783-1820 (2010)
• Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Enlightenment, editor (2022)

Teaching Focus

Lynn’s research analyzes the relationship between science and magic in seventeenth and eighteenth-century France. He has published articles on chiromancy (palm reading) and spontaneous human combustion and is working on the history of divination, tarot cards, werewolves and vampirism.