Error is often framed as a limitation in physics, yet it plays a central role in how physical knowledge is produced, validated and refined. This conference will explore the dual nature of error: as both a practical challenge in measurement and experimentation, and as a productive force in the development of theory. It will discuss the establishment of the theory of error and consider examples of famous errors in physics across the centuries. The conference will conclude with a philosophical perspective on the role of error.
The programme for the day is below:
MORNING CHAIR:
10.30am: WELCOME
10.40am: Dr Barbara Zipser (Royal Holloway, University of London) - Error of Judgement in Ancient Theories of the Cosmos and Atmosphere
11.30am: Louise Wright (National Physical Laboratory) - Errors in Measurement: From Rubens to Mars
12.20pm: Professor Thomas Körner (University of Cambridge) - New Ways of Looking at Error: Gauss, Least Squares and the Error Function
1.15pm: LUNCH BREAK
AFTERNOON CHAIR:
2.15pm: Professor Stephen Blundell (University of Oxford) - Instructive Mistakes: How Errors have Shaped and Mis-shaped Modern Physics
3.05pm: Professor Jason McKenzie Alexander (LSE) - Better Wrong than Vague: The Role of Error in Science
4pm: TEA/COFFEE BREAK
4.30pm: SUMMARY OF THE DAY'S PROCEEDINGS - Professor Myungshik Kim (Imperial College London)
There will be a conference dinner at St Cross College at 6.30pm following the end of the conference with an after-dinner talk by Nick Hutchison (director at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre) on how Shakespeare drives the plot through errors in The Comedy of Errors. Booking to attend the conference dinner can be made by clicking here.
Kindly sponsored by three Physics alumni of the University of Oxford, Dr Ian Dunbar, the Gerrards Cross Philosophy Group, Dr Ken Hartley, the Department of Physics - University of Oxford and many other HAPP supporters.
