Peter Weingart is professor emeritus of sociology (sociology of science and science policy) at Bielefeld University, Germany. He is Visiting Professor at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa (since 1994), and a fellow of STIAS. He was director of the Institute for Science and Technology Studies (IWT 1993-2009) and former director of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF 1988 - 1994). He is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering Sciences (acatech) in Germany, managing editor of the Yearbook Sociology of the Sciences and since 2008 he is editor-in-chief of Minerva. He has published numerous articles and books in the sociology of science and science studies, among them "Metaphors and the Dynamics of Knowledge" (with S. Maasen, 2000), "Die Stunde der Wahrheit?" (2001), "Die Wissenschaft der Öffentlichkeit" (2005).