Tag Archives: Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

Welcome to a new(ish) Canadian science blog

The Bubble Chamber blog was launched in August 2010 (at least that’s when the archive starts) by the University of Toronto’s Science Policy Working Group, which is part of the Institute for  the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST). From their About page,

Because bubble chambers were constructed by the mutually reinforcing intellectual collaboration of a variety of different specialists, bubble chambers serve as a nice metaphor for what we hope to achieve with this blog. The Bubble Chamber is run by a group of historians and philosophers of science whose interests and specializations vary widely, giving us all an opportunity to learn from each other and integrate our knowledge in new and fruitful ways. Our main hope for the blog, however, is that it will find readers from outside our academic disciplines. The idea is that we, as historians and philosophers of science, can create new applications for our specialized knowledge by bringing it to bear on social, political, and policy issues of general interest in ways that engage with a variety of people, from the general public to business people to working scientists. We hope to find such applications because we believe our society as a whole could do with a better, more nuanced understanding of the nature of science, and its place in our modern world.

Thanks to David Bruggeman at the Pasco Phronesis blog for mentioning this new Canadian blog, from his October 5, 2010 posting,

First, some historians and philosophers of science and technology at the University of Toronto have gathered together to form their own blog, The Bubble Chamber (perhaps betraying the influence of physics on their fields). While some of the posts suggest they have not been particularly engaged with the intersections of politics and science, it’s hard to find many historians and philosophers of science and technology looking at contemporary issues, and I think they’re off to a good start.

He also mentions in this posting a science atlas/mapping project that you may want to check out.