PANEL | Ethan Landes, moderator (Zürich): Michael Brown (Caltech), Celine Henne (Toronto), & Janna Müller (Cambridge)

Title

What actually happened to “planet”?

Abstract

The story of “planet” seems to show that conceptual engineering is possible: A group of motivated experts spotted a problem with “planet”, revised what it meant to be a planet, and successfully spread the change. But how much of conceptual engineer’s story of “planet” is myth and how much of it is reality? What additional lessons can conceptual engineers learn by digging into the details of the history of planethood? This panel includes Michael Brown, astronomer at Caltech, who led the team that discovered Eris and sparked the revision of planet. Michael Brown will speak about what the change was like from the ground in 2007 and 2008. Celine Henne (Toronto) and Janna Müller (Cambridge) will argue that this was merely the latest iteration of a long-standing issue of the open texture of “planet”, and they will explore what the history and philosophy of science can offer conceptual engineering.

Zoom meeting ID: 677 6135 3612 

Zoom passcode: CEN23