College of Liberal Arts
Twin Cities
Award Year
2020
University Award
McKnight Land-Grant Professorship
Research Title
The Structure of Scientific Possibility
No Monument Location
A good scientific theory tells a story not just about the way the world is but about the ways the world could be. Scientists have produced many such theories, with variegated stories. How do they all fit together? How does the structure of their stories bear upon how we have gained, and do gain, evidence for them? Samuel C. Fletcher develops new concepts and mathematical methods for answering these questions, especially for modern physics.