Upcoming seminar in the "Science and Society" cycle on November 16

We hope that lots of you will be able to come along to the upcoming "Science and Society" seminar on Thursday November 16 at 6pm in room 28-01-01A of the François Jacob building. The event will be led by Étienne Klein, who will speak on "Science, innovation and progress".

The word "progress" is used less and less in the public arena these days; it seems to have been replaced by the concept of innovation, which is now firmly established on the agenda of all research policies.
Since innovation and progress are not exactly the same thing, the question we will be examining is whether our theoretical approach to innovation still does justice to the idea of progress. Is it a continuation of progress, or does it actually contradict this notion?

Étienne Klein is a graduate of the École Centrale Paris; he is a physicist, a Research Director at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and holder of a PhD in Philosophy of Science. He directs the CEA's Research Laboratory on the Science of Matter (LARSIM) and teaches philosophy of science at the École Centrale Paris. He is a member of the National Academy of Technologies of France. Every Saturday he presents the radio program "La conversation scientifique" on France Culture. He recently published Le pays où habitait Albert Einstein (Actes Sud), Sauvons le progrès (Éditions de l'Aube) and Matière à contredire, a philo-physical essay (Éditions de l'Observatoire).
 
For logistical reasons, please sign up by emailing François Bontems if you wish to attend: francois.bontems@pasteur.fr