The History Philosophy Culture
Working Group of the
Next Generation
Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
Social science and humanities perspectives on responsible telescope siting, outreach, education, foundations, algorithms, inferences, visualizations, governance structures and knowledge formation in scientific collaborations.
Participants at the ngEHT meeting in Granada, june 2022.
Credit: Marianna Foschi
"In the development of major technical collaborations, it is rare indeed for scientists, philosophers, historians, ethnographers, art historians, and sociologists to have the chance to think together about scientific knowledge as it unfolds. Here we have that possibility, not after the fact, but now, in the course of building instruments, observations, theories, and interpretations of black holes. We are shaping the start of this joint venture; its future to be built and written."
- Peter Galison, coordinator of the HPC working group
News
What is a ‘direct’ image of a shadow?:
A history and epistemology of ‘directness’ in black hole research
Emilie Skulberg & Jamee Elder (forthcoming)
University of Strasbourg Observatory Colloquium, "Philosophy for and with astronomy", Niels Martens, 17 Oct 2024
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International Congress of History of Science and Technology, "Putting Space in Place: Earthly Impacts of Astronomy and Space Science", Shannon Sylvie Abelson, July 2025, Dunedin New Zealand
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4th HP&C Workshop, 20 May 2025, Harvard
ngEHT Governance Agenda-Setting Report (internal)
Saakshi Dulani, Richelle N. Boone,
Vitaly Pronskikh, Martin Reinhart, Cornelia Schendzielorz, Helene Sorgner
Podcast hosted by Jonas Enander
The colonial side of astronomy and what to do about it, with Ann Thresher
HPC plenaries
Coordinator: Peter Galison
Every first Wednesday of the month, 11:00 Eastern Time
All upcoming plenaries & focus group meetings can be found in the Google calendar.
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If you are interested in joining any of the HPC focus groups below,
please send a very brief description of background & interests to n.c.m.martens@uu.nl.
3rd HPC Workshop, Boston, May 2024
Focus Groups
Foundations
The Foundations focus group complements the Fundamental Physics working group, providing a different, critical lens for thinking about what the ngEHT observations can tell us about fundamental physics. It does so by facilitating ongoing interdisciplinary discussions of foundational issues, primarily through the weekly BHI Foundations Seminar.
Meetings: Every Monday during Harvard term time, 9:30 Eastern Time
Group leader: Helen Meskhidze (philosophy of physics, philosophy of science)
Group leader: Prashant Kocherlakota (astronomy & theoretical physics)
Erik Curiel (foundations of physics)
Jeroen van Dongen (history and philosophy of science)
Connemara Doran (history and philosophy of physics, history of astronomy and cosmology, history of mathematics)
Saakshi Dulani (philosophy of physics, philosophy of science, metaphysics of science)
Jamee Elder (philosophy of astrophysics, philosophy of science; former focus group leader)
Jonas Enander (science communication)
Klaas Landsman (mathematical physics)
Paula Muhr (image operativity, media studies, STS)
Sebastian Murgueitio Ramirez (philosophy of physics, philosophy of science)
Priya Natarajan (astrophysics)
Lydia Patton (philosophy of science, history and philosophy of science)
Mike Schneider (history and philosophy of cosmology and quantum gravity)
Matt Stanley (history of science)
James Owen Weatherall (philosophy of physics, philosophy of science)
Galina Weinstein (history and philosophy of science, history and philosophy of relativity)
Algorithms, Inference & Visualization
Focus group using tools from philosophy of science and art history to better understand sources of bias and long term reliability in computer supported inferences, develop guidelines for new inferential methods, and helping with intentional image presentation.
Meetings: Every second Wednesday of the month, 11:00 Eastern Time
Contact: jdoboszewski@gmail.com & jamee.elder@tufts.edu
Group leader: Juliusz Doboszewski (philosophy of physics, philosophy of science)
Group leader: Jamee Elder (philosophy of astrophysics, philosophy of science)
Erik Curiel (foundations and epistemology of physics)
Jeroen van Dongen (history and philosophy of science)
Jonas Enander (science communication)
Pippa Goldschmidt (astrophysics, sci-art, literature)
Marie Gueguen (epistemology/philosophy of astrophysics)
Elizabeth A. Kessler (visual culture, history of science and technology)
Trine Krigsvoll Haagensen (media ecology, image theory, visual studies, history of science and technology)
Helen Meskhidze (philosophy of physics, philosophy of science)
Paula Muhr (image operativity, media studies, STS)
Rodrigo Ochigame (anthropology of science)
Dom Pesce (astrophysics)
Emilie Skulberg (history of black hole visual representations)
Daniel Tapia (astrophysics)
Matt Stanley (history of science)
Galina Weinstein (history and philosophy of science, history and philosophy of relativity)
Responsible Siting
Focus group on general best practices and specific historical, cultural, environmental, and ethical studies in the consideration of new sites joining the ngEHT.
Contact: thresher@stanford.edu & sabelson@stanford.edu
Meetings: Every third Wednesday of the month, 10:00-12:00 Eastern Time
Group leader: Ann C. Thresher (philosophy of science, science ethics, environmental ethics)
Group leader: Shannon Sylvie Abelson (philosophy of science, environmental philosophy)
Former Group leader: Daniel Palumbo (astrophysics)
Former Group leader: Luis Reyes-Galindo (STS, responsible research and innovation)
Jamee Elder (philosophy of astrophysics, philosophy of science)
Jonas Enander (science communication)
Pippa Goldschmidt (astrophysics, sci-art, literature)
Arturo Gómez-Ruiz (astrophysics, history of science, cultural astronomy)
Marie Gueguen (philosophy of astrophysics)
Joyce C. Havstad (philosophy of science and values, research ethics, STS)
Tony Milligan (ethics of space exploration, science and ethics)
Priya Natarajan (astrophysics)
Hilding Neilson (Indigenous astronomies, Indigenous rights, and research ethics)
Dom Pesce (astrophysics)
Elliot Richards (electrical engineering, peace engineering)
Sophie Ritson (history and philosophy of science, research governance)
Jaco de Swart (history of science, STS, physics)
Matt Stanley (history of science)
Daniel Tapia (astrophysics)
Samantha M. Thompson (history of astronomy, technology, the environment)
Bill Vanderburgh (history and philosophy of science)
Collaborations
Focus group on governance structure & social epistemology–discussion of key questions regarding the relationship between the individual member and the collaboration as a whole, including authorship, consensus & diversity of opinion.
Meetings: Every last Wednesday of the month, 11:00 Eastern Time
Group leader: Niels C.M. Martens (philosophy of astronomy)
Group leader: Alexandru Marcoci (applied decision-making)
Group leader: Sophie Ritson (history and philosophy of science, research governance)
Siska De Baerdemaeker (history and philosophy of cosmology and astrophysics)
Richelle Boone (sociology and philosophy of science, social epistemology)
Ruth Castillo (philosophy of physics and cosmology, theoretical physics)
Haixin Dang (social epistemology of science)
Jeroen van Dongen (history and philosophy of science)
Saakshi Dulani (philosophy of physics, philosophy of science, metaphysics of science, science and international affairs)
Jamee Elder (philosophy of astrophysics, philosophy of science)
Luca Guzzardi (history and philosophy of science, social epistemology, epistemology of collaboration)
Joshua Habgood-Coote (social epistemology)
Roberto Lalli (history of physics, digital humanities)
Paula Muhr (image operativity, media studies, STS)
Priya Natarajan (astrophysics)
Hilding Neilson (Indigenous astronomies, Indigenous rights, and research ethics)
James Nguyen (philosophy of science)
Rodrigo Ochigame (anthropology of science)
Vitaly Pronskikh (history & philosophy of science, social epistemology, ethics of science)
Martin Reinhart (Science Studies)
Luis Reyes-Galindo (STS, sociology of trust, science communication)
Cornelia Schendzielorz (Sociology of Science, Governance of Science, STS)
Mike Schneider (social dynamics of science)
Emilie Skulberg (history of black hole visual representations)
Arno Simons (history and philosophy of modern physics, digital humanities)
Helene Sorgner (STS, sociology of science)
Daniel Tapia (astrophysics)
Bill Vanderburgh (history and philosophy of science)
James Owen Weatherall (philosophy of physics, philosophy of science)
Adrian Wüthrich (history and philosophy of modern physics, digital humanities)
Task Forces
Authorship
Developing a protocol for ngEHT authorship, tailored to the specific needs of the various types of members of the ngEHT.
Falls under Collaborations Focus Group
Contact persons: Niels Martens & Haixin Dang
Oral History
Coordinating interviews with ngEHT members, by collecting questions from various HPC projects.
HPC-wide task force
Contact persons: Emilie Skulberg & Jonas Enander
Code of Conduct, Climate & Conflict Resolution (C3)
Developing a Code of Conduct that the whole collaboration stands behind, followed by conflict resolution procedures.
ngEHT-wide task force; includes 4 HPC members
Contact person: Jonathan Weintroub
Expert Forecasting
Investigating the benefits of systematically eliciting expert judgments about the outcome of ngEHT research to the collaboration's decision-making process.
Falls under Collaborations Focus Group
Contact person: Alexandru Marcoci
Governance
Advising the ngEHT regarding governance structures, based on a systematic analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of organisational structures of similar collaborations and institutes.
Falls under Collaborations Focus Group
Contact persons: Helene Sorgner & Saakshi Dulani
Dissensus
Systematic analysis of various forms of dissensus, and developing mechanisms for harnessing positive dissensus and disincentivizing negative forms of dissensus.
Falls under Collaborations Focus Group
Contact person: Haixin Dang & Alexandru Marcoci
Publications
Robustness and the Event Horizon Telescope: the case of the first image of M87*
Juliusz Doboszewski &
Jamee Elder (2024)
Paula Muhr (2023)
The HPC White Paper has been published in Galaxies. The paper delineates the activities and future goals of the HPC Working Group.
We have published a summary of the HPC white paper in The Conversation.
The ngEHT's Key Science Goals paper has been published in the journal Galaxies. This is the first time that the KSG of an (astro)physics collaboration explicitly includes goals related to the humanities and social sciences (§2.8).
What is a ‘direct’ image of a shadow?: A history and epistemology of ‘directness’ in black hole research, Emilie Skulberg & Jamee Elder (forthcoming)
Paula Muhr (2024)
Paula Muhr (2024)
ngEHT Governance Agenda-Setting Report (internal)
Saakshi Dulani, Richelle N. Boone,
Vitaly Pronskikh, Martin Reinhart, Cornelia Schendzielorz, Helene Sorgner
Black Hole Coalescence: Observation and Model Validation
Jamee Elder (2023)
HPC Events
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3rd HPC Workshop @ Boston (hybrid), May 2024
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2nd HPC Workshop @ Boston, May 2023
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Responsible Siting Workshop @ online, November 2022
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1st HPC Workshop @ Boston, February-March 2022
ngEHT director Shep Doeleman
Ann C. Thresher & Peter Galison
Haixin Dang
ngEHT director Shep Doeleman
Images from the 1st & 2nd HPC Workshops in Boston. Credit: Jamee Elder & Niels Martens
HPC Presentations
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"Philosophy of Science in the Field: How Philosophers are Involved in Studying Black Holes", Philosophy of Science Association Conference, New Orleans, 14-17 November 2024
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"Democratic Governance as Risk Management for Big Science Collaborations" Science and Democracy Conference, Dublin, 9-11 September, 2024
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"Thriving in Big Collaborations", Utrecht Open science Podcast, Sept 2024
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"Culturally and Environmentally Responsible Telescope Siting", IAU, South Africa, August 2024
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"Responsible Siting at the ngEHT", Astronomical Society of the Pacific, August 2024
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"10 ways in which the humanities & social sciences can contribute to black hole research", Black Hole Initiative Annual Conference, Harvard, 29-31 May 2024
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"Social science & humanities contributions to the next generation
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Event Horizon Telescope collaboration", ARCO Seminar, Israel, 15 April 2024
- Black Holes & Cosmology Conference, The Bahamas, 11-15 May 2024
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"Interdisciplinary Collaboration & Big Science", Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, 20 Feb 2024
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"Building a Telescope Collaboration", HPS Research Colloquium, Bochum, Germany, 18 Jan 2024
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"ngEHT: Responsible Siting", Equitable Astrophysics, Peru, January 2024
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"Building a Telescope Collaboration", II Jornadas de Epistemología e Historia de la Astronomía, Cordoba, Argentina, 23 Nov 2023
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Visualizations in Astronomy", UPAC Colloquium, the Netherlands, 24 October 2023
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"What You See Is Not What You Get:
Interpretational Limitations of the EHT Images of Black Holes" , Philosophy of Science Around the World, 5 Nov 2023 -
"Recording videos of a black hole together: the ngEHT as collaboration between STS researchers, engineers and scientists" & "Democratic Aspirations and Institutional Constraints: The Governance of Large Research Collaborations", 4S Honolulu, November 2023
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The ngEHT's History Philosophy Culture Working Group @ 1st COSMOS network general meeting, Sept 2023
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Limits to the Circulation of Epistemic Critique in the Recent Reanalyses of the EHT Images of the M87* Black Hole @ STS-CH Basel, Aug 2023
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Reproducibility studies of the first EHT images @ Berlin, July 2023
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Planet-sized Integrated Philosophy of Science Symposium @ BSPS Bristol, July 2023
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HPC White Paper @ Dutch Black Hole Consortium Amsterdam, June 2023
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Observing and/or intervening? Large-scale collaboration from the perspective of STS, @ Oslo, June 2023
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Network Epistemology and Collective Consent, @ Lund University, June 2023
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Responsible siting talk @ BHI, May 2023
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Collaborations talk @ Utrecht, May 2023
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Reproducibility studies of the first EHT images @ Aachen, March 2023
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Foundations & collaborations talks @ Munich, March 2023
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Governing Epistemology: Collective Reason at the Core of Science, Peter Galison @ HPC Collaborations Focus Group, March 2023
Recent videos
Introduction to the era of big science, illustrated with the ngEHT (Utrecht University Open Science Course)
Fair credit assignment, collective authorship & diversity of opinions in big science (Utrecht University Open Science Course)
"Planet-Sized Integrated Philosophy of Science" Symposium Introduction
"Planet-Sized Integrated Philosophy of Science" Symposium
How to Organise a Telescope Collaboration
Governing Epistemology: Collective Reason at the Core of Science, Peter Galison @ HPC Collaborations Focus Group,
29 March 2023.
Presenting the HPC working group at the ngEHT conference in Granada in June of 2022.
Imaging & responsible siting at the ngEHT conference in Granada in June of 2022.
More videos can be found on the ngEHT youtube channel.
Collaborators
COSMOS History & Philosophy of Cosmology Network
Utrecht Philosophy of Astronomy & Cosmology
The HPC working group aims to reduce its carbon footprint as much as possible. The HPC, its four focus groups and six task forces have almost a hundred meetings each year; only one of those is hybrid, all others are fully online. The single hybrid HPC meeting will be held the day before the annual BHI conference, such that people can combine both conferences in one trip. Field work will only occur when strictly necessary. Decisions about research presentations at conferences are left to the individual (and their research institutions).
The HPC working group has no dedicated social media account, but news is typically disseminated via accounts of some our members:
The HPC webpage is maintained by Jonas Enander and Niels Martens.