In his dissertation, Paul Blickle explores the global history of ship ballast during the long nineteenth century. Ballast consisted of materials carried aboard ships to improve their stability and ensure safe navigation. Although generally considered commercially worthless, ballast played an important role in global maritime trade. Its production, sale, and handling shaped port economies around the world, giving rise to specialized professions, institutions, regulations, and technologies.

The study contributes to our understanding of port economies and ecologies, shipping, and technological change, while highlighting the disruptive, slowing, and disconnecting dimensions of nineteenth-century mobility infrastructures.

The Institute warmly congratulates Paul Blickle on this important academic achievement and wishes him all the best for his future endeavours.

Paul Blickle is an Assistant for European and Global History at the Institute for European Global Studies. He completed his B.A. in History and Auxiliary Sciences before obtaining his M.A. in History from the University of Heidelberg. Following his graduation, he began working as a Research Assistant at the Chair of Modern History at Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich. His research interests include global and maritime history in the 19th century, technological transitions, and the history of commodities.