Symposium Tackles Hot Topics in Science, Technology, Human Values

The upcoming Buchdahl Symposium on Science, Technology and Human Values covers some hot topics, including nuclear waste, the gamergate controversy and ethics in science and technology.

You can join the conversation at the free, educational event from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 10, in the Hunt Library auditorium.

The symposium marks the 100th birthday of Rolf Buchdahl, a retired industry researcher who served as a visiting scholar in NC State’s Science, Technology and Society Program in the late 1970s. After his death in 1980, his family established an annual lecture in his memory to focus on issues at the intersection of science, technology and human values.

“This year, we are expanding the lecture to involve a day-long public symposium,” says Kathleen Vogel, associate professor of political science and director of the Science, Technology and Society Program. “We want to honor Rolf Buchdahl’s life and legacy. We also want to create a broad platform through which to engage science, social science, and humanities faculty, students, and the public on issues of science, technology, and human values — and to showcase the interdisciplinary nature of these issues.”

In his keynote address (1:30 – 3:00), Peter Galison, the Joseph Pellegrino University Professor of the History of Science and of Physics at Harvard University, will discuss “Wastelands and Wilderness: Nuclear Lands.” Galison’s recent research and documentary film project examine U.S. nuclear materials management and disposal in the United States and in the context of the Fukushima nuclear accident. His film, Containment (with Robb Moss) will have its world premiere at the Full Frame Festival in Durham on the evening of April 10.

The full symposium schedule is available online.