Visiting Speaker Series

The Distinguished Speaker Series invites distinguished scholars to present their work in the history and philosophy of science. The Allan Franklin New Ideas Speaker Series invites scholars to present their new and exciting work in the history and philosophy of science. It is named in honor of Allan Franklin, for his decades of unparalleled contributions to the history and philosophy of science. Dr. Franklin is best known for his work on the methods of physics.

Schedule for AY 26/27:

  • October 14, 2026 at 5:30pm, HLMS N380: CHPS Speaker (National Museum of Natural History), "Evolutionary Space: Search and Construction"

    • Abstract: Evolutionary spaces: search and construction:  Since geneticist Sewell Wright first proposed fitness landscapes in 1932 a variety of evolutionary spaces and landscapes have been invoked by evolutionary biologists, adaptive landscapes, protein spaces, morphospaces and phylomorphospaces,  among others.  In this talk I will discuss evolutionary novelty and innovation in terms of different evolutionary spaces and their topology, focusing in particular on differences between evolutionary spaces that exist a priori, such as sequence spaces of DNA, RNA and proteins, and those constructed by evolution, which often have less topological structure.  These distinctions between what Kauffman termed, respectively, pre-statable and non-prestatable spaces provide interesting insights into the dynamics of evolutionary novelty and innovation.  

  • December 1, 2026 (Tuesday) at 3:30pm: CHPS Speaker (Chicago), TBA

  • February 19, 2027 at 3:30pm: Allan Franklin New Ideas Speaker (U of Florida), TBA

  • March 26, 2027 at 3:30pm: Distinguished Speaker, (Michigan State), TBA

  • April 16, 2027 at 3:30pm: Distinguished Speaker, (Simon-Fraser), TBA