Research
History and philosophy of science, social and political philosophy.My research focuses on the theoretical foundations, methodology, and socio-political dimensions of genetics and evolutionary biology.
My current research projects concern more specifically: 1) the distinction between "history" and "science," and the respects in which evolutionary biology is as much like the former as it is like the latter, 2) changing views of contingency and necessity in the Darwinian Revolution, 3) the relationships between biology and "the state," from the Manhattan Project to the Human Genome Project, and 4) issues concerning the nature of scientific "authority."
I am the coauthor of The Empire of Chance: How Probability Changed Science and Everyday Life (Cambridge University Press). I co-direct the annual MBL Seminar in the History of Biology.
Additional Department Role
Philosophy and Political Science Combined Major Advisor