10:00 AM - 4:00 PM Eastern
Detailed description:
The workshop “Observation, Theory, and Progress in Seismology” will bring together researchers from seismology and from history and philosophy of science to address the relation between theory, observation/instrumentation and progress in seismology. Many accounts of progress in science tell a story that focuses largely on theoretical breakthroughs—just think of how the theoretical achievements of Newton, Einstein, or Darwin are thought to mark the progress of modern science. Yet our capacity to “observe” (broadly understood) nature has progressed in no less impressive ways, across the natural sciences, from early telescopes to the massive interferometers of the LIGO project, from magnifying glasses to electron microscopes, and from intensity scales to broadband seismometry and global seismic networks. How have improvements in observational capabilities led to progress in the physical sciences? In what ways are the development of instrumentation and theory interdependent? Seismology is a science that we might see as having largely been driven by the development of instrumentation, but developments in seismological theory have also been crucial for progress. The study of seismology from a historical and philosophical perspective is likely to uncover new insights into how science in general and seismology in particular makes progress.
Structure:
There will be 4 talks and a panel discussion.
The talks will be given by Hiroo Kanamori (Caltech), Susan Hough (USGS), Teru Mirake (NTU Singapore), and Alisa Bokulich (Boston University).
The panel discusion will be led by Miguel Ohnesorge (University of Boston), Jamee Elder (Tufts), Lucy Jones (Caltech), and Thomas Heaton (Caltech).
Anyone with an interest in the topic is welcome to attend.
| 11/17/2026 |    |