The seminar of the Research Group “Historical Epistemology of the Final Theory Program” runs once a month, usually on a Monday at 14:00 in the seminar room of the Villa (Harnackstraße 5). The talks deal primarily with the history, philosophy, and foundations of modern (post-WWII) physics or with wider epistemological questions related to the work of the group. There are no pre-circulated papers.
One of Eddington's photographs of the 1919 solar eclipse experiment, presented in his 1920 paper announcing its success. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tests_of_general_relativity.
Seminar Series
Historical Epistemology of the Final Theory Program
All welcome, no registration necessary. For further information email officeblum@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
2018
Is the Standard Theory of Semiclassical Einstein Gravity Viable? MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
- Maaneli Derakshani (University of Utrecht)
Naturalness, Wilsonian Renormalization, and “Fundamental Parameters” in Quantum Field Theory MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
MoreThe Naming of Particles: Representation and Concept Formation in Early Particle Physics MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
MoreThe Causal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
- Virgile Besson (Claude Bernard University Lyon 1)
On Virtues and Vices of Axiomatic Quantum Theory MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
MoreOn Strings and Loops: Shifting the Perspectives MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
MoreInvariance Essentialism MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
MoreEmergence and Reduction in Condensed Matter Physics MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
- Patricia Palacios (University of Salzburg)
On the Use and Misuse of Non-empirical Theory Assessment MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
- Radin Dardashti
Working outside the Mainstream during the Pre-History of Quantum Gravity MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
- Alessio Rocci (University of Padova)
“A Very Serious Difficulty”: the Role of Gauge Invariance in Quantum Electrodynamics (1929–1954) MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
MoreScience without Law MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
MoreSchwarzschild Gravitational Field and Collapsed Stars MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
More2019
Peter Bergmann on Observables in Hamiltonian General Relativity MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
- J. Brian Pitts
CANCELED: MPRG Final Theory Program Seminar MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
- Christian Röken
Eddington’s Philosophy of Science MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
- Florian Laguens (Facultés libres de philosophie et de psychologie, Paris)
Hermann Weyl's Neighbourhoods: "Spaces" in Mathematics, Physics, Subjectivity, and Historiography MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
MoreLocalizability and vacuum entanglement in (non-)relativistic QFT MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
- Maria Papageorgiou (University of Waterloo, Canada)
Lessons from the Case of the Life Sciences: Thinking toward Philosophy of Science as Interdisciplinarity MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
- Charles Pence (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
2020
The Rochester Conferences on High-Energy Nuclear Physics and Journalization in Mid-20th Century Science Publishing MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
MoreVirtual Transitions and the Narrative in Which They Were Included: Its Inception and Its Reception MPIWG Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
MoreHow "Epistemological Letters" Changed the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics
More2021
Charles S. Peirce on the "Mutual Aid" between History of Science and Philosophy
- Tullio Viola (Maastricht University)
From Two-Component Theories to Neutrino Flavor Oscillations: A Long Way in the History of Neutrino Physics
MoreYoung Yukawa and Heisenberg’s Visit to Kyoto in 1929 Online Event
- Daisuke Konagaya (Ryukoku University)
Visualization and Understanding in Modern Physics Online Event
More2022
Multi-Medial Storytelling and the Search for The "Theory of Everything" Hybrid Event
More“Science Is a Creation.” Historiography of Science and Institutional Commitment in Giorgio Diaz De Santillana Online Event
- Eleonora Loiodice