DFG-FWF Research Unit “The Epistemology of the LHC”

Last Friday and Saturday, September 23 and 24, our Department and its FWF project “Producing novelty and securing credibility: LHC experiments from the perspective of Social Studies of Science” hosted a meeting of the interdisciplinary DFG-FWF Research Unit “The Epistemology of the LHC”. Physicists, philosophers, and historians of physics from the University of Wuppertal, University of Bonn, TU Berlin, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and RWTH Aachen joined the WIHO project team at the University of Klagenfurt to discuss work in progress and report on the recent activities of the six Research Unit projects. The meeting started with an inspiring visit to the Karl Popper Archives at the Klagenfurt University Library.

WiHo@Lange Nacht der Forschung

Am Freitag, dem 20. Mai fand die Lange Nacht der Forschung statt. Auch unser Institut war mit einem Stand in der Aula der Universität vertreten, an dem wir uns die Frage stellten: „Wie funktioniert Zusammenarbeit in der Wissenschaft“? An zwei Videostationen waren Auszüge aus Interviews mit Teilchenphysiker*innen und Historiker*innen zu sehen, in denen wir die Forscher*innen zu ihrem Arbeitsalltag und der Bedeutung von Zusammenarbeit für ihre Forschung befragt haben. An einer weiteren Station konnten die Besucher*innen eigene Fragen an Wissenschaftler*innen formulieren. Auf diese Weise bot unser Stand Einblick in die Vielfalt zeitgenössischer Forschungspraktiken.

New Publication: Constructing Doable Dissertations in Collaborative Research

In a new publication, Helene Sorgner analyses the conditions for writing individual doctoral dissertations in a research collaboration with several thousand members, the ATLAS collaboration at CERN. The publication is part of Helene’s own doctoral dissertation on early-career scientists in contemporary high-energy physics and contributes to the FWF-funded research project „Producing novelty and securing credibility: LHC experiments from the perspective of Social Studies of Science“.

Link to publication:
https://doi.org/10.23987/sts.109709

Barbara Grimpe joins the Human Technology Center (HumTec) at RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Barbara Grimpe left our department in January 2022 and has joined the Human Technology Center (HumTec) at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. She will manage the daily affairs of the Center and contribute to its further development. We are looking forward to continue the good cooperation with Barbara as a Research Associate of our department.