Why Does Beauty Matter in Science?

September 15th, 2023 | 9:30am

National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association

August 18th, 2023 | 12:00am

Join us at ASA 2023, for a variety of presentations related to our study.

The Beauty of Understanding

July 24th, 2023 | 9:30am - 2:00pm

See flyer for more information. RSVP by July 10th.

Beauty in Science

June 22nd, 2023

Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Durham NC

Beauty At Work Symposium

May 26th - 27th, 2023

May 26th & 27th For more information, check out here: https://workandwellbeingstudy.com/symposium/

A Beautiful Quest: How Aesthetics Drives Scientific Inquiry

May 2nd, 2023 | 4:00pm

A Beautiful Quest: How Aesthetics Drives Scientific Inquiry, Center for the Philosophy of Science, University of Lisbon, 4pm, May 2, 2023

Lecture at the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

March 13th, 2022

Lecture at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.

Findings from the WWB Study: Science and Aesthetics

March 9th, 2022

Lecture at the Angelicum, Rome, Italy.

Science and Aesthetics: Panel at the University of Padua

March 8th, 2022

Panel at University of Padua

The Role of Beauty in Science: A Four-country Study of Physicists and Biologists

March 2nd, 2022

Jacobi, Christopher. The Role of Beauty in Science: A Four-country Study of Physicists and Biologists. Lighting talk accepted for presentation at the AAAS Annual Meeting, 2-5 March, 2023; Washington, DC.

The Beauty of Understanding: On Scientific Understanding as Aesthetic Experience

March 2nd - 4th, 2023

Ritz, Bridget. “The Beauty of Understanding: On Scientific Understanding as Aesthetic Experience.” 2023 John Dewey Society Conference, March 2-4; Chicago, IL.

The Beauty of Understanding: Scientific Understanding as Aesthetic Experience

January 17th, 2023 | 4:00pm - 5:30pm

Bridget Ritz will present “The Beauty of Understanding: Scientific Understanding as Aesthetic Experience” for the History and Philosophy of Science Colloquium at the University of Notre Dame. Tues, January 17, 4:00- 5:30 p.m., De Bartolo 301

Spirituality, Aesthetics, and Well-being in Science: Lecture at Rice University

January 13th, 2022 | 9:00am

Lecture titled “Spirituality, Aesthetics, and Well-being in Science”, Rice University, Houston, TX. [To join online, please email hjh2@rice.edu for meeting link.]

Is there A Crisis of Well-Being Among Scientists? Special Session Workshop at the 241st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society

January 9th, 2022

Special session workshop “Is there A Crisis of Well-Being Among Scientists?" at the 241st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, 9 January 2023; Seattle, WA. Dr. Brandon Vaidyanathan will give an overview of results from the world's largest study of well-being in science. Christopher Jacobi will share "Gender and well-being among physicists and biologists in four countries." Dr. Jennifer Wiseman will give a talk titled" Astronomy in Practice: Shifting Values." And Dr. Duilia de Mello will host an interactive discussion with panelists on "The implication of creating healthy institutional cultures in science."

Aesthetics, religion and flourishing in science: An international study

November 29th, 2022

Jacobi, Christopher, and Brandon Vaidyanathan. “Aesthetics, religion and flourishing in science: An international study," Poster presented at the Global Scientific Conference on Human Flourishing, Nov. 29-30 (online).

Open to Talent? Scientists’ Views of Diversity, Bias, and Merit in the Scientific Reward System

November 16th, 2022

Johnson, David. Open to Talent? Scientists’ Views of Diversity, Bias, and Merit in the Scientific Reward System. Paper accepted for presentation at the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s 2022 General Conference, 16-19 November 2022; Las Vegas.

Annual Meeting for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

November 11th - 13th, 2022

Brandon Vaidyanathan. Stephen Cranney, and Caitlin Fitzgerald are presenting a paper titled “Religion, Spirituality, and Mental Health Among Scientists During the Pandemic: A Four-Country Study.”

Beauty in Science: An Empirical Assessment

September 23rd, 2022

This event consists of two presentations at the Indian Institute of Science: (1) Molecular and Cellular Biology Society (2) Department of Physics. The lecture will discuss the results of the world's first empirical study of the role of beauty in science.

Beauty in Science: An Empirical Assessment

September 22nd, 2022 | 4:00pm

This presentation at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) summarizes the results of the world's first empirical study of the role of beauty in science. We surveyed more than 3000 physicists and biologists in India, Italy, UK, and USA, and interviewed more than 200. Results demonstrate that beauty plays a vital role in science: the majority of scientists say that beauty drew them to become scientists, that they regularly encounter beauty in their scientific work, that it shapes vital aspects of the practice of science such as theory choice and experimental design, and that it is especially important for science communication and even persistence in scientific careers. We examine differences and similarities between physicists and biologists in what beauty means and the role it plays in the scientific process. We also discuss the potential pitfalls of beauty such as when it might lead science astray, particularly in physics.

Greenbelt Festival

August 29th, 2022

The Faraday Institute will host a panel discussion at the Greenbelt Festival, Kettering, UK on August 29th titled ‘Science, Awe and Spirituality.’ The panel will be moderated by Dr. Ruth Bancewicz and include Dr. Brandon Vaidyanathan, Dr. Tom McLeish, and Dr. Fionagh Thomson.

Rimini Meeting 2022

August 20th - 25th, 2022

Brandon Vaidyanathan will be presenting a lecture on “Beauty in Science” at the Rimini Meeting 2022, Rimini, Italy. Exact Date and Time TBD

34th Annual Group Processes Conference, Los Angeles

August 10th, 2022

Chelsea Kelly and Peter Varga are presenting a paper titled “They're Not Saying 'Yes'--It's 'Meh' and 'Hell No': Vocational Identity and Leaving Intentions in Scientific Academia. Paper accepted for presentation.”

Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Los Angeles

August 5th - 9th, 2022

Our team will be presenting the following papers: (1) Christopher Jacobi, Di Di, and Brandon Vaidyanathan, “Gender differences in scientists’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Effects of mistreatment and workplace culture”; (2) Chelsea Kelly, Peter Varga, and Micah Roos, “Had Enough? Burnout, Identity, and Leaving Intentions in Scientific Academia”; (3) Poonam Pandey, Stefano Sbalchiero, Cesare Silla, and Brandon Vaidyanathan, “Dogmatic, Pragmatic, or Indifferent: Scientists’ Understandings of “the Public” in Four Countries.”

ISQOLS 2022 Conference, Vermont

August 3rd - 6th, 2022

Christopher Jacobi will be presenting two papers at the ISQOLS 2022 Conference, Vermont: “Well-being among Scientists: Associations of Aesthetics (beauty, awe, and wonder) with Multidimensional Well-being” and “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists' well-being.

Beauty In Science

July 14th, 2022 | 4:00pm

In collaboration with the Calleva Centre at Magdalen College at Oxford University, we are hosting an interdisciplinary panel discussion on “Beauty in Science.” Panelists include: Ben MacArthur, James McAllister, Milena Ivanova, Robert Gilbert, Sabine Hossenfelder, and Brandon Vaidyanathan. Thursday July 14th: 4:00-6:00pm BST. This event will be held both in person and online.

Well-being Among Scientists and Implications for the Future of Science

July 12th, 2022 | 1:00pm - 2:00pm

Amy Unsworth and Brandon Vaidyanathan will discuss our study’s findings on the well-being of women and graduate students in science as well as the implications for creating healthy institutional cultures in science. 1:00-2:00pm BST, Chadwick Building G07, University College London. This event will be held both in person and online.

Beauty and Religiosity in Science

July 6th, 2022 | 11:30am

Part of The Faraday Institute Summer Course "Science and Faith Perspectives on the Art of Being Human” which is a series of lectures running July 3 - July 8th at Cambridge University, UK.