"Physics Controversies Past and Present" HAPP Centre - Dr Jim Baggott

Over the centuries the progress of physics has been marked by theoretical hypothesis investigated by experimental verification or falsification, or by experimental discovery seeking a theoretical explanation. In both circumstances, controversies have often raged before a generally accepted view is adopted.

This conference will look at some famous examples starting with the observations and theory of Copernicus challenging the centuries-old theological explanation of the heavens based on Aristotle's geocentric model right up to one of the most recent, the claim by a major experimental group to have observed neutrinos travelling faster than the speed of light in apparently direct contradiction of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity.

The St Cross Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics (HAPP) has been established in the first instance to bring together the community of scholars in the history and philosophy of physics in Oxford, the United Kingdom and beyond.