Purdue Liberal Arts Professor Awarded Rome Prize for Work on History of Medieval Science
History Professor John Mulhall will collaborate with artists and scholars across disciplines during an academic year fellowship in Italy
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — John Mulhall, assistant professor of history in Purdue University’s College of Liberal Arts, has been named the 2025-26 Paul Mellon Rome Prize recipient by the American Academy in Rome. Among nearly a thousand applicants, he is one of 35 scholars and artists selected by a jury of distinguished scholars and artists through a highly competitive international process that supports advanced independent work in the arts and humanities.
“The Rome Prize is one of the world’s most prestigious fellowship programs and provides the rare opportunity for scholars and artists across a range of subfields to collaborate with each other,” noted Peter N. Miller, president of the American Academy in Rome.
The Prize will enable Professor Mulhall to begin an academic year residency in Rome next September, designed to foster collaborations and support his research on the history of medieval science. During his residency, Mulhall will work on his forthcoming book, The Republic of Translators: Latin, Greek, Arabic and a New Age of Science, Philosophy, and Theology in the Twelfth Century.
Another effort supported by the Purdue Books Initiative, his project explores a transformative moment in the Middle Ages, when scholars across Western Europe began energetically to seek out cutting-edge knowledge from their Mediterranean neighbors in the Greek- and Arabic-speaking worlds. “Studying the medieval translators allows us not only to understand one of the most important moments in world intellectual history, but also to transform our understanding of how knowledge moved around the Mediterranean,” Mulhall said.
“Professor Mulhall’s work reflects the kind of engaged, rigorous scholarship that contributes meaningfully to academic conversations. His selection for the Rome Prize reflects both the depth of his work and the strong tradition of academic excellence at Purdue,” said Purdue provost Patrick Wolfe.
This and other applications are supported by the assistance from the Purdue Faculty Awards and Recognition Office.