29th Boulder Conference on the History and Philosophy of Science, Topic: Measurement Across the Sciences

Description:Measurement plays a central role in scientific inquiry. But as science has changed over time, and new scientific disciplines have sprung up, the nature of scientific measurement has become complicated. To what extent do different scientific disciplines have a common understanding of measurement as a tool of inquiry? On the other hand, to what extent has the meaning and purpose of measurement become idiosyncratic to each discipline? And is it necessary for us to have common standards of measurement across disciplines? It is crucial for historians, philosophers, and scientists alike to reflect upon the role that measurement has played, and continues to play, across the sciences.

The Committee on the History and Philosophy of Science at University of Colorado at Boulder is co-sponsored by the University of Colorado College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for the Humanities and the Arts, the Museum of Natural History, and by the following University of Colorado Departments: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Geological Sciences; History; Mathematics; Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology; Philosophy; and Physics.