Siska De Baerdemaeker Researcher
Contact
Name and title: Siska De BaerdemaekerResearcher
Workplace: Department of Philosophy Länk till annan webbplats.
Visiting address Universitetsvägen 10 D, plan 7
Postal address Filosofiska institutionen106 91 Stockholm
About me
My primary research interests lie in history and philosophy of cosmology and astrophysics and general philosophy of science. I received my PhD in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Pittsburgh (USA) in 2020. I completed a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy and a B.Sc. in physics at KU Leuven (Belgium).
I have been the primary instructor for courses on history and philosophy of science, history and philosophy of physics, and bioethics. At Stockholm University, I primarily teach philosophy of science courses, at both the bachelor and the mastre level.
Currently, I am the PI on a national research grant on philosophy of experiment in context of dark matter research, funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. Its starting point is the fact that the existence of dark matter is empirically well-supported, but any evidence for the fundamental nature of dark matter remains wanting. Nonetheless, many experiments and observations are underway. This project will explicate the success conditions for these cutting-edge scientific experiments: under what conditions can different experiments claim that they have detected dark matter?
I also have an ongoing research project on the early history of relativistic cosmology, in collaboration with Mike D. Schneider. The project centres around two public debates in relativistic cosmology that took place in 1931 and 1933. We argue that it is at the 1931 debate that relativistic cosmology found its proper start as a scientific discipline. Moreover, paying attention to what scientists at the time wanted to communicate to the public about their discipline, reveals the foundational debates that were still taking place under the surface. Our project explores several of these foundational debates.
Starting in 2026, I will lead a research project on collective decision making about Big Science experiments in context of cosmology and astrophysics (ERC Starting Grant).

