How does beauty shape our brains, the spaces we inhabit, and the communities we build?

These questions were the focus of the second plenary session of our International Symposium on Beauty at Work that we held in Washington DC in May 2023.

The panelists in this second session of our Symposium tackle these questions

Anjan Chatterjee, University of Pennsylvania
Julio Bermudez, The Catholic University of America
Pallavi Dean, Roar, Dubai, UAE
Sheri Parks, University of Maryland

The panel was moderated by Christine Emba, Staff Writer at The Atlantic

You can watch the video of the discussion here: https://youtu.be/4VhC7mTxEoQ

This symposium was sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust, the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, Archbridge Institute, and the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America.

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This episode is the second part of our plenary session on the meaning and value of beauty in science which opened the International Symposium on Beauty at Work that we held in Washington DC in May 2023.

Please check out part 1 of the discussion here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2043099/15037678

The session was a discussion between four scientists: Dr. Robert Gilbert (Professor of Biochemistry, University of Oxford); Dr. Aaron Dominguez (Professor of Physics and Provost, Catholic University of America); and Dr. Massimo Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute) and Dr. Maria Teresa Landi (National Cancer Institute at NIH) who moderated the conversation.

There are some beautiful visuals and videos that you can watch on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG_ESu8RPeI

This symposium was sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust, the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, the Archbridge Institute, and the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America.

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What does Beauty mean to scientists? Why does it matter for the practice of science?

These questions drive the opening plenary session of the Beauty at Work international symposium held at The Catholic University of America, May 26, 2023.

We’re going to share this session with you over the next couple of episodes.

The session opened with remarks from the President of the Catholic University of America, Dr. Peter Kilpatrick. It was followed by a discussion between four scientists: Dr. Robert Gilbert (Professor of Biochemistry, University of Oxford); Dr. Aaron Dominguez (Professor of Physics and Provost, Catholic University of America); and Dr. Massimo Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute) and Dr. Maria Teresa Landi (National Cancer Institute at NIH) who moderated the conversation.

There are some beautiful visuals and videos that you can watch on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG_ESu8RPeI

This symposium was sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust, the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame, the Archbridge Institute, and the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America.

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In July 2022, we held an interdisciplinary panel at the University of Oxford on the role of beauty in science. The event was sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust and Magdalen College. The panel represented perspectives from diverse disciplines: mathematics, physics, biology, philosophy of science, and sociology.

This is the third episode in the series. In this episode, I present results from the world’s first large-scale survey of beauty in science. You can see the slides from the presentation on the YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/t6AQ9O2MLUY?si=VQpoyHYaMSWYpBoN

Following this presentation we’ll have a discussion among panelists and Q&A from the audience.

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In July 2022, we held an interdisciplinary panel at Magdalen College the University of Oxford on the role of beauty in science. The event was sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust and Magdalen College. The panel represented perspectives from diverse disciplines: mathematics, physics, biology, philosophy of science, and sociology.

You can see the slides from the panelists’ presentations on the YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/t6AQ9O2MLUY?si=VQpoyHYaMSWYpBoN

This is the second episode in the series; in our last episode we heard from Dr. Ben MacArthur and Dr. James McAllister. In this clip we’re going to hear from three panelists:

Dr. Milena Ivanova is Bye-Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge. She is the co-editor of The Aesthetics of Science: Beauty, Imagination and Understanding (Routledge, 2020), author of Duhem and Holism (Cambridge University Press, 2021), The Aesthetic Nature of Scientific Experiments (Routledge).

Dr. Robert Gilbert is Professor of Biophysics in the Nuffield Department of Medicine and Director of the University of Oxford’s Medical Sciences Graduate School. He is the author of Science and the Truthfulness of Beauty (Routledge, 2018).

Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder is the author of Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray (Basic Books, 2018) and Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions (Viking and Atlantic Books, 2022) and creative director of the YouTube channel “Science without the gobbledygook.”

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In July 2022, we held an interdisciplinary panel at Magdalen College at the University of Oxford on the role of beauty in science. The event was sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust and Magdalen College. The panel represented perspectives from diverse disciplines: mathematics, physics, biology, philosophy of science, and sociology.

We’re going to share this conversation with you over the next few episodes. You can see the slides from the panelists’ presentations on the YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/t6AQ9O2MLUY?si=VQpoyHYaMSWYpBoN

In this first clip, we’ll hear from Dr. Ben MacArthur, who is Director of AI for Science and Government and Deputy Programme Director for Health and Medical Sciences at the Alan Turing Institute. He is also Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton.

Following that we’ll hear from Dr. James McAllister, who is Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Leiden University. He is the author of Beauty and Revolution in Science (Cornell University Press, 1996). We’ll hear from our other panelists in our next episode.

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Is beauty a reliable guide to truth in science? No, says physicist, author, and science communicator Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder. In this clip, she discusses how the concept of “naturalness” is related to beauty and why it’s misleading

For the full interview see: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2043099/12833522
For the broader project, visit: https://www.beautyatwork.net
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BeautyatWorkPodcast

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Iconographer David Clayton, who was trained in materials science at Oxford, discusses why it seems that there is a gulf between art and science, and shares ideas for how to bring the two closer together.

For the full interview see: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2043099/12739891
For the broader project, visit: https://www.beautyatwork.net
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BeautyatWorkPodcast

Support the Show.