Ignorance and Curiosity Saturday, April 27th 2:30 - 4:30PM Past Event Watch the video » Physics Nobel laureate David Gross claims that the most important product of science is ignorance. Science is the quest not just for knowledge, but for better questions, and we’re generally more engaged by questions than by answers. Thus, ignorance drives science and curiosity is its engine. How do we know what we don’t know? Why are we driven to ask questions? How do we select questions? Is curiosity an integral mental process, or an emergent psychological phenomenon? How should curiosity and ignorance be applied to education, research, and policy? Free and open to the public. Participants: Heather Berlin Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Heather Berlin is a cognitive neuroscientist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She explores the complex interactions of the human brain and mind with the goal of contributing to improved treatment and prevention of impulsive and compulsive psychiatric disorders. She is also interested in the neural basis of… read more » Susan Engel Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Director of the Program in Teaching, Williams College Susan Engel is Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Founding Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College. Her research interests include children’s narratives, play, the development of curiosity, and more generally, teaching and learning. Her work has appeared in journals such asCognitive Development and the American Education Research Journal. She is the author of four books: The Stories… read more » Stuart Firestein Former Chair of Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University Stuart Firestein is the former Chair of Columbia University’s Department of Biological Sciences, where he studies the vertebrate olfactory system. Aside from its molecular detection capabilities, the olfactory system serves as a model for investigating general principles and mechanisms of signaling and perception in the brain. Dr. Firestein’s laboratory seeks to answer that fundamental human… read more » Paul Harris Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education, Harvard Paul Harris is a developmental psychologist with interests in the development of cognition, emotion and imagination. After studying psychology at Sussex and Oxford, he taught at the University of Lancaster, the Free University of Amsterdam and the London School of Economics. In 1980, he moved to Oxford where he became Professor of Developmental Psychology and… read more » Alan Hirshfeld Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Alan Hirshfeld is Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an Associate of the Harvard College Observatory. He is the author of Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos, The Electric Life of Michael Faraday, Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes,and the forthcoming book Seeing the Light: How Astronomers Discovered the Modern… read more »
Heather Berlin Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Heather Berlin is a cognitive neuroscientist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She explores the complex interactions of the human brain and mind with the goal of contributing to improved treatment and prevention of impulsive and compulsive psychiatric disorders. She is also interested in the neural basis of… read more »
Susan Engel Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Director of the Program in Teaching, Williams College Susan Engel is Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Founding Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College. Her research interests include children’s narratives, play, the development of curiosity, and more generally, teaching and learning. Her work has appeared in journals such asCognitive Development and the American Education Research Journal. She is the author of four books: The Stories… read more »
Stuart Firestein Former Chair of Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University Stuart Firestein is the former Chair of Columbia University’s Department of Biological Sciences, where he studies the vertebrate olfactory system. Aside from its molecular detection capabilities, the olfactory system serves as a model for investigating general principles and mechanisms of signaling and perception in the brain. Dr. Firestein’s laboratory seeks to answer that fundamental human… read more »
Paul Harris Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education, Harvard Paul Harris is a developmental psychologist with interests in the development of cognition, emotion and imagination. After studying psychology at Sussex and Oxford, he taught at the University of Lancaster, the Free University of Amsterdam and the London School of Economics. In 1980, he moved to Oxford where he became Professor of Developmental Psychology and… read more »
Alan Hirshfeld Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Alan Hirshfeld is Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an Associate of the Harvard College Observatory. He is the author of Parallax: The Race to Measure the Cosmos, The Electric Life of Michael Faraday, Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes,and the forthcoming book Seeing the Light: How Astronomers Discovered the Modern… read more »