Bryan W. Roberts
Curriculum Vitae: May 3, 2015
[email protected]
personal.lse.ac.uk/robert49
Philosophy, Logic & Scientific Method
London School of Economics & Political Science
Areas of Study
AOS
AOC
foundations of physics, history and philosophy of science
logic, philosophy of economics, philosophy of mathematics, bioethics
Academic Appointments
2013
2012
to present. Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Logic & Scientific Method,
London School of Economics & Political Science
to 2013. Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Southern California
Education
Ph.D.
B.S.
B.A.
History & Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, Sep. 2012.
Mathematics, University of Washington, Dec. 2005
Philosophy, University of Washington, with College Honors, Dec. 2005
Peer-Reviewed Articles
10. Forth. “Three merry roads to T-violation.” To appear in Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2014.08.003
9. Forth. “Comment on Ashtekar: Generalization of Wigner’s Principle.” To appear in Studies in History and
Philosophy of Modern Physics. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2014.08.008
8. 2014 “A general perspective on time observables.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 47:50-54.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2014.05.001
7. 2013 “When we do (and do not) have a classical arrow of time.” Philosophy of Science 80(5):1112-1124.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/674001
6. 2013 “The simple failure of Curie’s Principle.” Philosophy of Science 80(4):579-592. http://dx.doi.org/
10.1086/673212
5. 2012 “Kramers degeneracy without eigenvectors.” Physical Review A 86(3):034103. http://dx.doi.
org/10.1103/PhysRevA.86.034103
4. 2012 (with John D. Norton) “The Scaling of Speeds and Distances in Galileo’s Two New Sciences: A reply
to Palmerino and Laird.” Centaurus 54(2):182-191. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0498.
2012.00263.x
3. 2012 (with John D. Norton) “Galileo’s refutation of the speed-distance law of fall rehabilitated.” Centaurus
54(2):148-164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0498.2012.00260.x
2. 2011 “How Galileo Dropped the Ball and Fermat Picked It Up.” Synthese 180(3):337-356. http://dx.
doi.org/10.1007/s11229-009-9705-7
1. 2011 “Group Structural Realism.” The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 62(1):47-69. http://dx.
doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axq009
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Articles In Submission
“Disregarding the Hole Argument”
“Curie’s Hazard: From electromagnetism to symmetry violation”
Selected Works in Progress
“Geometric Representations of Quantum Theory”, with Nicholas J. Teh
“Three myths about time reversal in quantum theory” (manuscript available upon request)
“Does quantum time have a preferred direction” (manuscript available upon request)
“Jauch’s theorem” (manuscript available upon request)
Book Manuscripts
The Curious Case of Reversal in Time: The physics and philosophy of time reversal
Manuscript, Sample chapters available upon request.
Philosophico-Scientific Adventures
Free public eBook, http://personal.lse.ac.uk/ROBERT49/ebooks/PhilSciAdventures/
Genes, Brains and Beyond
Free public eBook, http://personal.lse.ac.uk/ROBERT49/ebooks/GenesBrains/
Dissertation
Time, Symmetry and Structure, supervised by John Earman and John D. Norton, with committee members Robert
Batterman, Laura Ruetsche, and Giovanni Valente. Electronic Dissertation available at http://d-scholarship.
pitt.edu/12533/
Teaching Experience
Teaching at LSE
Spr 2015
Fall 2014
Spr 2014
Spr 2014
Philosophy of Science (PH 201/400)
TQARO Average Overall Performance: Lecture 1.1 (BSc), 1.1 (MSc). Seminars: 1.2, 1.0.
Philosophy of Science (PH 201/400)
Genes, Brains and Society (PH 227/427) - Course Proposer
TQARO Average Overall Performance: Lecture: 1.6 (BSc), 1.0 (Msc). Seminar: 1.0.
Reason, Knowledge and Values (PH 103)
TQARO Average Overall Performance: Lecture 1.3 (Bsc).
Other Teaching
Spr 2013
Fall 2012
Spr 2010
Fall 2009
Methodologies of the Sciences (PHIL 486), University of Southern California
Einstein’s Spacetime Revolution (ARLT 100), University of Southern California
Morality & Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
Principles of Scientific Reasoning, University of Pittsburgh
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Service
Service at LSE: School
Jan 2014-present
Dec 2013-present
Academic Consultation Group, Web Improvement Programme
IT Portfolio Board
Service at LSE: Philosophy
Sep 2014-present
Jun 2014-present
Jun 2014-present
Jan 2014-present
Nov 2013-present
Nov 2013-Jun 2014
MSc Programme Coordinator, Philosophy of Science
Web and Outreach Coordinator
PhD Placement Officer
Convener of the Sigma Club Lecture Series, CPNSS
MSc Admissions Selector
Fellow of the Forum for European Philosophy
Service to the Profession
Mar 2015-present
Mar 2013-present
Aug 2012-present
Aug 2009-Aug 2012
Governing Board Member, British Society for the Philosophy of Science
Developer and Manager of USC Logic Web, a public web application for learning logic,
http://dornsife.usc.edu/USCLogicWeb.
Executive Committee, PhilSci-Archive, Official online preprint repository of the Philosophy of Science Association, http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu.
Archive Manager, PhilSci-Archive
Journal Referee Service
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Dialectica, Ergo, Erkenntnis, Foundations of Physics, Humana.mente
Journal of Philosophical Studies, Journal of General Philosophy of Science, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophy of Science, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, Studies in History and Philosophy of
Modern Physics, Synthese, Theoria.
Programme Committee Service
British Society for the Philosophy of Science 2015 Annual Conference
European Philosophy of Science Association 2015 Biennial Conference
Conferences Organised
2015
2014
2014
2013
2012
From Physics to Metaphysics and Back Again (Trinity College, Cambridge), 6-7 Feb
2015.
Lakatos Award Conference on Philosophy of Physics (LSE), 21 Oct 2014, CoOrganised with John Worrall.
Quantum Time (Center for Philosophy of Science, Pittsburgh), 28-29 March 2014,
Co-Organized with Thomas Pashby and Giovanni Valente.
Relativity Meets Quantum Theory (CPNSS, London School of Economics), 28-29 Nov
2013, Co-Organized with Adam Caulton and Eleanor Knox.
Irreversibility in Axiomatic Thermodynamics (Trinity College, Cambridge), 30 Nov
2013, Co-Organized with Adam Caulton and Eleanor Knox.
7th Quadrennial Fellows Conference of the Center for Philosophy of Science (University of Pittsburgh / Mu˘gla, Turkey), November 2012, Co-Organized with Mehmet
Elgin, Peter Machamer, Ali Osman G¨undo˘gan, John D. Norton.
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Awards
2011
2010
2008
2007
2006
Dissertation Research Improvement Award #1058902, National Science Foundation.
Rob Clifton Memorial Book Prize in Philosophy of Physics, University of W. Ontario.
Wesley Salmon Award, University of Pittsburgh.
Arts & Science Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh.
Andrew Mellon Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh.
Talks
Invited Academic Talks
25. “Mathematical representation and the hole argument,” Applying Homotopy Type Theory to physics workshop, University of Bristol, 7-8 Apr 2015
24. “On the meaning of time reversal,” Popper Seminar, Philosophy, LSE, 10 Mar 2015
23. “Quantum field theory on K¨ahler manifolds,” Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge,
5 Jan 2015
22. “Curie’s hazard,” Lecture programme of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science, 24 Nov 2014
21. “The curious case of reversal in time,” University of Leeds, 29 Oct 2014
20. “A general perspective on time observables,” University of Bristol, 11 Jun 2014
19. “A general perspective on time observables,” London Foundations Connection, LSE, 14 May 2014
18. “Curie’s Principle,” University of Rome III, 16 Apr 2014
17. “Two Merry Roads to T -violation,” LSE Sigma Club, 3 Feb 2014
16. “Two Merry Roads to T -violation,” Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, 18 Mar
2014
15. “Classical time obsevables,” Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, 4 Jan 2014
14. “Three Merry Roads to T -violation,” Workshop on Cosmology and Time, Penn State University, 16-17
Apr 2013
13. “The Curious Case of Reversal in Time,” LSE Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, 5 Feb 2013
12. “The simple failure of Curie’s principle,” Philosophy, University of Minnesota, 14 Feb 2013
11. “The simple failure of Curie’s principle,” Southern California Philosophy of Physics Reading Group, University of California, Irvine, 8 Dec 2012
10. “When do the laws of physics distinguish past from future?” University of Southern California, 31 Aug
2012
9. “Does quantum time have a preferred direction?” University of Sydney, 6 Dec 2011
8. “Does quantum time have a preferred direction?” University of California, Irvine 13 Jan 2012
7. “Does quantum time have a preferred direction?” University of Chicago 19 Jan 2012
6. “Does quantum time have a preferred direction?” California State University, LA, 23 Jan 2012
5. “T -invariance and T -violation.” University of Bristol Quantum Field Theory Workshop, 24 May 2011
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4. “Three myths about time reversal.” University of Oxford Philosophy of Physics Research Seminar, 19
May 2011
3. “Notes on the CPT Theorem.” UCSD Philosophy of Science Reading Group, University of California,
San Diego, 3 Mar 2011
2. “How to time reverse a quantum system.” Southern California Philosophy of Physics Reading Group,
University of California, Irvine, 19 Feb 2011
1. “Group Theory and the Structure of Quantum Theory.” University of Notre Dame Workshop: Structuralism in Philosophy of Science, 18-20 Nov 2010
Professional Conferences
5. “Curie’s hazard: From electromagnetism to symmetry violation,” Symposium on Curie’s Principle with
Elena Castellani, Jenann Ismael, and John D. Norton, Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science
Association, Chicago, 7 Nov 2014
4. “When we do (and do not) have a classical arrow of time,” Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science
Association, San Diego, 16 Nov 2012
3. “How to time reverse a quantum system,” Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association,
Montreal, 4-7 Nov 2014
2. “Galileo’s refutation of the speed-distance law of fall rehabilitated,” &HPS3 Conference, Bloomington,
IN, 23-26 Sep 2010
1. “Time reversal and the symmetry of nothing,” British Society for the Philosophy of Science Annual Meeting, Dublin, 9 Jan 2010
Invited Public Lectures
4. “The arrow of time”, Barnes Philosophy Club, London, 15 Jan 2015
3. “The limits of science”, Forum for European Philosophy, LSE, 7 Oct 2014
2. “Metaphysics vs. Physics”, University of Southern California, 30 Nov 2012
1. “The science of warp drives”, Casa de Bernardo, Los Angeles, 20 Sep 2012
Languages
fluent
reading
English, French, Spanish.
German, Latin.
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