Abstract
The project aims to trace the historical origins and explore the philosophical implications of physicists’ new way of doing physics "scale by scale". The working hypothesis is twofold: (i) a fundamental shift in physics practice centered around the concept of scale took place from the 1950s to the 1970s in physicists' attempt to understand the structure of matter; (ii) this new practice underwrites a partial picture of the world structured in a complex hierarchy of largely independent levels. The research team will explore these hypotheses by taking some of the most successful scale-based theories and methods developed since the 1950s as case studies.
Project information
- Project title
- The Scale Revolution in Physics
- Funded by
- Initiative: Pioniervorhaben Exploration der VolkswagenStiftung
- Link to project
- -
- Project duration
- 2024 - 2027
- Funds awarded
- -
- Project team
- Dr. Sébastien Rivat (principal investigator)
- Associated Chair
- Chair of Philosophy of Science