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Karl Popper and Michael Polanyi: Two 20th century philosophers of science and their present-day...

Ute Deichmann, Director of the Jacques Loeb Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, discusses two prominent 20th-century philosophers and their distinctive but equally significant approaches to science.
Portrait of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)in his laboratory.Vintage etching circa late 19th century

Preconceived ideas, ideologies, and basic biological principles in controversies in early origin of life...

According to sociologist Robert Merton (1942), the creation of universal and objective knowledge is dependent on the detachment of scientists from their work because passion and preconceived ideas are obstacles to objectivity and scientific progress.
Jacques Loeb Centre for the History & Philosophy of the Life Sciences

Jacques Loeb Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science

Research into the history and philosophy of modern experimental life sciences and the societal implications.
dna close-up 3D

Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz: Two biologists in Nazi Germany

In 1973, three biologists shared the Nobel Prize for medicine: two Austrians who had conducted most of their research in Germany, Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz, and the Dutchman Nikolaas Tinbergen.
A scientist using a pipette with a microtiter plate and a petri dish

AI and modern experimental biology: A historical perspective

Ute Deichmann, Director of the Jacques Loeb Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, discusses the adoption and limitations of Artificial Intelligence within modern experimental biology.
Scientific Truth

Scientific Truth in the Post-Truth Era

“The belief in the value of scientific truth is a product of certain civilizations and not a fact of nature” (Weber, 1922).
3D images of DNA molecules - DNA strands on black background, science nanotechnology, medical concept, on dark bg, hologram view. genetics, an empirical investigation

From the empirical to the causal molecular: Understanding biology and genetics 

From empiricist to causal molecular understanding of life and back: Historical reflections on 19th and 21st-century epistemologies in biology The German American physiologist and experimental...
The History of Science

The History of Science: A Q&A with Professor Ute Deichmann

Professor Ute Deichmann, Jacques Loeb Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, shares some of her expertise of the history of science, with a particular focus on misconceptions and threats to modern day science.
Jacques Loeb

Chromatin Research and Epigenetics: History, research, and misconceptions

Professor Ute Deichmann, Jacques Loeb Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, discusses the history, current research and misconceptions about chromatin research and epigenetics.
molecular structure digital concept

The idea of self-organisation in biology and its critics

Using the example of Alan Turing’s paper on morphogenesis, Ute Deichmann at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev explores self-organisation in biology.
Biocolloidy and epigenetics

Biocolloidy and Epigenetics – Is “scientific revolution” a useful concept in biology?

Is Thomas Kuhn's idea of "scientific revolution" useful for explaining advance in biological research? The examples of biocolloidy and epigenetics.
Abstract glowing blurry blue DNA texture. 3D Rendering

Mendel, Darwin, and Lysenko: the battle toward understanding genetics

August 1948 saw the Soviet government ban all teaching and research in genetics. Within a year, “the doctrine of agronomist Trofim Lysenko – dubbed ‘Soviet Creative Darwinism’ – replaced genetics in curricula and research plans of biological, medical, veterinary, and agricultural institutions.” (Krementsov 2010).
history of science

Exploring the history of science

We speak to Professor Ute Deichmann, Director of the Jacques Loeb Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, about the history of science.
scientific truth

Irreproducibility and scientific truth

Ute Deichmann from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel, explores the issues of irreproducibility and scientific truth
plasticity in biology

Constancy & plasticity in biology – the central role of hierarchical causal models

Ute Deichmann of the Jacques Loeb Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences at Ben-Gurion University, explores the role hierarchical causal models have on constancy and plasticity in biology.

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