Physicists, historians and philosophers from the University of Wuppertal form new DFG research group
The philosophers, science historians and physicists at the University of Wuppertal work in close cooperation with six other universities after receiving a grant of around 2.5 million euros from the DFG to be used over the next three years. The University of Wuppertal has been the main driving force behind this project, with the spokesperson of the group being its very own Dr. Gregor Schiemann, professor of History and Theory of Science.
The DFG research group is a close-knit alliance made up of leading scientists who aim to pursue the most current and pressing issues within their specialist fields, creating innovative research directions in doing so. The University of Wuppertal has two strong points that can benefit the new research group: the important role played by Wuppertal philosophy of science and the pivotal position held by Wuppertal particle physics at the LHC.
Dr. Peter Mättig, Dr. Gregor Schiemann, Dr. Erhard Scholz and Dr. Christian Zeitnitz, Wuppertal professors and members of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Science and Technology Studies (IZWT), guide project groups in answering individual questions, having been awarded a grant of around 1.2 million euros from the DFG.
The research group entitled “The Epistemology of the Large Hadron Collider” is a result of a collaboration between the areas of philosophy and physics that has been ongoing for almost ten years, exploring topics around the LHC. This research alliance has attracted much interest all across the globe.
“The new DFG research group is mainly a product of the ongoing hard work put in by the scientists involved and represents another great accomplishment on the journey to achieving our goal of encouraging cutting edge research to expand across disciplines,” explains the university’s president Prof. Dr. Lambert T. Koch.
The particle physics department at the LHC conducts research into the fundamental building blocks and forces that come together to make up nature. Over the past decades, we have been able to use calculations to form a clear picture of our universe, yet despite this achievement, many questions still remain unanswered, leaving physicists to puzzle over what a more in-depth and rudimentary theory of nature could encompass. The DFG research group aims to determine the premises for developing this new theory, as well as to discover new and innovative scientific concepts that can help along the way.
10,000 physicists work with huge measuring equipment at the LHC, collecting trillions of data and generating new kinds of questions to be investigated by the research group: How can new discoveries be made in such a complex field? “The complex research environment which surrounds particle physics sets challenges on the journey to discovering more simple, yet more comprehensive, descriptions of nature. The fusion of ideas from the areas of physics and philosophy help to strengthen the concepts being pursued by the IZWT at the University of Wuppertal,” explains Prof. Gregor Schiemann, putting the idea behind the research group in a nutshell.
The research group is comprised of specialists from the fields of scientific philosophy, sociology and history, as well as from the physics sector, originating from Germany, Austria and the USA. The research group’s six projects are under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Robert Harlander (RWTH Aachen), Prof. Dr. Dr. Rafaela Hillerbrand (KIT Karlsruhe), Prof. Dr. Michael Krämer (RWTH Aachen), Prof. Dr. Dennis Lehmkuhl (Caltech, Los Angeles), Prof. Dr. Peter Mättig (University of Wuppertal), Prof. Dr. Martina Merz (AAU Klagenfurt), Prof. Dr. Gregor Schiemann (University of Wuppertal), em. Prof. Dr. Erhard Scholz (University of Wuppertal), Prof. Dr. Friedrich Steinle (TU Berlin), Prof. Dr. Michael Stöltzner (University of South Carolina), Dr. Adrian Wüthrich (TU Berlin) and finally Prof. Dr. Christian Zeitnitz (University of Wuppertal).
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Gregor Schiemann
School of Humanities
Tel. 0202/439-2358
Email schiemann[at]uni-wuppertal.de
