Mark your Calendars for Scientific Prediction in the 20th Century and From Water to Nuclear to Catastrophe

Scientific Prediction in the 20th Century: Mapping Ideas, Institutions and Practices Across the Cold War Divide

Eglė Rindzevičiūtė is an Associate Professor of Criminology and Sociology, Kingston University London, with an interest in governance, knowledge production and culture. Her Friday talk with us is based on the forthcoming book, The Will to Predict: Orchestrating the Future through Science (Cornell 2023).

The book questions the established view that in the Cold War era scientific prediction was an expression of a positivist mindset and that scientific predictions were mainly used to enhance top-down control by collecting data, monitoring and influencing people’s behaviour. In contrast, this book shows that the role of scientific prediction is far more diverse than that of a mechanistic, top-down control. The book argues that scientific predictions are human attempts to find an adaptive way to cope with uncertainty, to address the limitation of knowledge and to act collectively through the continuous orchestration of human and non-human actors.

Welcome to join:

Friday March 17 @ 14.15 to 16.00
in the Big Seminar Room at the Division, Teknikringen 74D level 5, Stockholm.

From Water to Nuclear to Catastrophe: How Soviet Hydro-nuclear Entanglements Shaped Dangerous Technocratci Safety Culture.

Achim Klüppelberg started as a doctoral student at the Division in the fall of 2018. He is active in the Nuclearwaters-Project (ERC Consolidator Grant, PI Per Högselius) where he focus on the nuclear history of Eastern Europe, especially on the territory of the former Soviet Union and its successor states. Achim investigates expert cultures in nuclear discourses, with a special interest in water-related issues in nuclear power plant decision-making.

Other than focusing on his doctoral studies, Achim has been active in several of the courses at the Division – as assistant and teacher. He also contributes to educate us in metal (music, that is) and has been one of the editors of the Division blog the past years.

Main supervisor: Per Högselius
Supervisors: Kati Lindström, KTH and Anna Storm, Linköping University

Welcome to join:

Monday March 20 @ 13.15 to 15.00 CET
in the Big Seminar Room at the Division, Teknikringen 74D level 5, Stockholm.