Séminaire Epistémod - 02 - Annick Lesne et Elena Castellani

• Programme

15h-16h30h : Annick Lesne (CNRS, LPTMC & IGMM), ‘‘Models and modeling in the dialogue between mathematics, physics and biology’’

I will present the different meanings under which the term ‘model’ is used at the interface between biology, physics and mathematics. Clarifying their correlates and the limits of their use is an essential preliminary step in interdisciplinary research. I will details a few examples from my work on the physics of chromosomes.

16h30-18h : Elena Castellani (Université de Florence), ‘‘Models and representation: What structures are good for’’

 The talk, based on joint work with Tarja Knuuttila and Francesca Pero, focusses on the notion of structure in relation to models and representation in science. In particular, by charting the landscape of current (structuralist and/or pragmatist) positions on scientific representation, we point out some critical aspects in their use of structures in accounting for the representational relationship.

• Biographies :

Annick Lesne est directrice de recherche au Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Physicienne de formation, elle partage son temps entre le Laboratoire de  Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, à Paris, et l'Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier. Ses recherches portent sur l’organisation multi-échelles des systèmes vivants et le rôle des mécanismes physiques dans leur fonctionnement. Publications: https://www.lptmc.jussieu.fr/users/lesne/   

Research Director at CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research). Having  a background in physics and mathematics, she is now working in LPTMC, Paris (theoretical physics of condensed matter) and IGMM, Montpellier (molecular genetics). Her work focuses on the multi-scale organization of living systems and the role of physical mechanisms in their functioning. 

Elena Castellani is a philosopher of science at the University  of Florence. Her research has focused on such issues as the history and  meaning of symmetries, the ontological aspects of physical theories, reductionism and emergence, structuralism and realism, dualities and the history of string theory. She is editor of "Interpreting Bodies. Classical and Quantum Objects in Modern Physics" (Princeton, 1998), author of "Simmetria e natura" (Rome, 2000), co-author of "Feynman" (Pour la Science, 2004) and a co-editor of the books "Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reflections" (Cambridge, 2003), "The Birth of String Theory" (Cambrigde, 2012). In 2017 she has co-edited the special issue on “Physical dualities” of the Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. Site: Elena Castellani's Website