On Thursday May 15, 2025 at 8pm at the MJC in Chambéry, the scientific culture association Science Action is organizing a meeting on the theme of "History of science: how did we arrive at our current knowledge?".
ABOUT THE MEETING
Science helps us to better understand the world we live in, and to advance the technologies that make our daily lives easier. Unlike philosophy, which is based on logical reflection based on observed phenomena, science is based on the confrontation between theories and experimental results. Even if what remains to be discovered seems to be infinite, the current knowledge provided by science is extraordinary and manifold. For example, we are now able to determine the chemical composition of certain exoplanets, whereas we had to wait until 1995 to discover them.
In the field of biology, the CRISPR technique makes it possible to manipulate DNA almost as a child would with Lego bricks. And let's not forget how quickly vaccines against COVID were developed, etc., etc. Of course, the list of all these magnificent results is too long to be given here. So much progress since prehistoric flint knapping!
But how did we arrive at this level of knowledge? Is it the result of a slow evolution over the ages, or the fruit of a few genius minds? Do countries need a certain level of wealth to be able to invest in research? And, as an unfortunate corollary, since the power of these countries often leads them to be bellicose, have wars simulated the progress of knowledge and technology? Was there science before the Renaissance? And what was it like outside Europe? And above all, can we take advantage of the history of science to imagine what science will be like in the future, and avoid some of the mistakes of the past?
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
- Bertrand Favier, teacher-researcher in the TIMC laboratory and lecturer in the history of science at UGA.
- Frédéric Caille, lecturer at the Centre de Recherche en Droit Antoine Favre, USMB
- Jean-Louis Coutaz, Professor Emeritus at the USMB Centre de Radiofréquences, Optique et Micro-nanoélectronique des Alpes (CROMA)
- Richard Taillet, professor at USMB' sLaboratoire d'Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique Théorique (LAPTh)
ABOUT CAFÉS SCIENCE
The Cafés Science are an opportunity for the general public to debate, in a convivial atmosphere, with experts and researchers on a wide range of subjects, many of them highly topical. They are organized by the Science-Actions association, in collaboration withuniversité Savoie Mont Blanc, the city of Chambéry, the Astrée cinema and Chambéry's MJC.
These evenings are organized on the principle of debate, based on questions put by the audience to the speakers. They are neither lectures nor conferences. They enable everyone to form their own opinion on often complex subjects, for which there is no single or simple solution. They also provide an opportunity to find out more about the research being carried out locally in the Chambéry region and neighbouring areas, by the researchers, engineers and doctors who take part in our evenings on a voluntary basis.
Once a quarter, Cafés Science take the form of a film session called Ciné Science. In this case, the film is shown at the Astrée cinema, at 8:30pm. It is followed by a debate with 2-3 specialists on the theme of the film.
Read more
- Contact: Café Science Chambéry
- Discover the program for the 2024-2025 season!
- Visit the Science-Actions website
- You can also watch the videoconferences on the Cafés Sciences YouTube channel.