Kristian Camilleri
Contact Details
Room 205 Old Quad
School of Philosophy, Anthropology and Social Inquiry
University of Melbourne
Parkville VIC 3010
Australia
T: +61 3 8344 7573
E: kcam@unimelb.edu.au
Profile
Kristian Camilleri is a lecturer in the History and Philosophy of Science program in the newly formed School of Philosophy, Anthropology and Social Inquiry. After studying physics and History and Philosophy of Science at Melbourne University, he completed his PhD in History and Philosophy of Science at Melbourne University in 2005. His dissertation examined Werner Heisenberg's philosophy of quantum mechanics. Kristian has published in the history and philosophy of modern physics, and has collaborated with other scholars from around the world on the History and Foundations of Quantum Physics project. He has a book coming out with Cambridge University Press in 2009 entitled Werner Heisenberg and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: The Physicist as Philosopher.
His research interests include the history of interpretations of quantum physics, the interplay between philosophy and physics in the first half of the twentieth century, the role of thought experiments in the physical sciences, and the rise of different ideologies of science in the twentieth century.
Kristian has taught across a range of subjects in HPS ranging from the social studies of technology, to the history and philosophy of science. He has supervised postgraduate students working in a variety of areas including the philosophy of technology, social theory and the history of medieval and early modern science. He currently teaches a first year subject called From Plato to Einstein and next year will teach a new third year subject called Experiment: Seeing is Believing? He also teaches a subject at Honours/Masters level called Science and Ideology in the 20th Century.
Publications
- Heisenberg and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: The Physicist as Philosopher. Forthcoming. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
- 'Constructing the Myth of the Copenhagen Interpretation', forthcoming in Perspectives on Science.
- 'Heisenberg, Bohr and the Divergent Viewpoints of Complementarity'. Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 38 (3), 2007, pp. 514–528.
- 'Indeterminacy and the Limits of Classical Concepts: The Turning Point in Heisenberg's Thought'. Perspectives on Science, 15 (2), 2007, pp. 176–199.
- 'Heisenberg and the Wave-Particle Duality', Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 37, 2006, pp. 298–315.
- 'Heisenberg and the Transformation of Kantian Philosophy', International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 19(3), 2005, pp. 271–287.