Physics Meets Biology: Perspectives from Philosophy, History, and Science

Royal Society of Edinburgh, 18-20 November 2008

Programme

Tuesday 18/11/2008

11:00-2:00 Registration

1:00-2:00 Buffet Lunch

2:00-2:30 Wilson Poon (Edinburgh): Introductory Address

2:30-3:30 Evelyn Fox-Keller (MIT): 'Towards a Science of Informed Matter'

3:30-4:00 Tea & Coffee

4:00-5:00 Greg Radick (Leeds): ‘Which Physics? Which Biology? Lessons in Specificity from the History of Mendelism’

5:00-5:30 End of Session Discussion

7:30 Buffet Dinner (St. Celia’s Hall)

Wednesday 19/11/2008

9:30-10:30 Steven French (Leeds): 'Shifting to Structures in Physics and Biology: A Prophylactic for Promiscuous Realism'

10:30-11:00 Tea & Coffee

11:00-12:00 Michel Morange (ENS): 'The Limits of Molecular Explanations: A Trigger to Interdisciplinarity'

12:00-12:30 End of Session Discussion

12:30-1:30 Buffet Lunch

1:30-2:30 Jane Calvert (Edinburgh): 'Calculating Life? A Sociological Perspective on Systems Biology'

2:30-3:30 Darrell Rowbottom (Oxford): 'Approximations, Idealizations and "Experiments" at the Physics-Biology Interface'

3:30-4:00 Tea & Coffee

4:00-5:00 Nigel Brown (Edinburgh): ‘Policy and pragmatism - why and how are UK funders promoting multidisciplinary research?’

5:00-5:30 End of Session Discussion

7:30 Reception & Main Conference Dinner (Playfair Library)

Thursday 20/11/08

9:30-10:30 Otávio Bueno (Miami): 'When Physics and Biology Meet: The Nanoscale Case'

10:30-11:00 Tea & Coffee

11:00-12:30 Panel discussion and summing up