Omri Polatsek

Omri Polatesk is a doctoral student at the International Max Planck Research School “Knowledge and its Resources” at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. He is also an associated researcher at the History of Technology Department at the Technische Universität Berlin. Omri holds an MA in Global History from Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and a BA in Middle Eastern Studies and Political Science from Tel Aviv University. In 2023-2025, he was a research associate at the Zentrum Modern Orient, and since 2025, he has been a doctoral fellow at the EUME (Forum Transregionale Studien). 

Omri’s dissertation project explores the history of agrochemicals and food systems in Egypt from the 1880s to the 1960s. It examines the structural transformations, expertise, and infrastructures that enabled, promoted, and contested the production, circulation, and consumption of chemical fertilizer. The project seeks to uncover how and why this agricultural technology became a crucial component in modern-day food systems.

Photo by Verena Braun

Contact: 
Omri Polatesk
History 
[email protected]