Philosophy of Cosmology Essay Contest Winners (2019)

Contest Closed

Our Philosophy of Cosmology essay contest is officially closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted an essay, it was a pleasure getting to read each and every one. The selection process was not easy, but in the end three essays stood out the most.

Congratulations to Sylvia Wenmackers, Galina Weinstein, and James Wills!

We will be holding another essay contest in the upcoming year. Please check back on our website for more information and for updates on the New Directions in Philosophy of Cosmology project!


Winner

Sylvia Wenmackers

Congratulations to Sylvia Wenmacker whose essay “Uniform probability and non conglomerability in cosmology” earned her the winning title!

Sylvia Wenmackers is a research professor at the Institute of Philosophy of KU Leuven (Belgium), where she is a member of the Centre of Logic and Philosophy of Science. In 2011, she obtained a Ph.D. in Philosophy (cum laude) from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands) for her dissertation “Philosophy of Probability”. Previously, she obtained a Ph.D. in Physics (2008, Hasselt University, Belgium). Currently, she is copresident of the Young Academy in Belgium.


Honorable Mentions

Galina Weinstein

Congratulations to Galina Weinstein whose essay “Observation and Simulation: The First Black Hole Image” earned her an honourable mention in the 2019 philosophy of cosmology essay competition!

Dr. Galina Weinstein specializes in the history and philosophy of the Special and General Theories of Relativity. Dr. Weinstein is a research associate in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Haifa, Israel. She has been awarded several prestigious awards over the past few years. These include a GIF (German Israeli Foundation for Research) grant to conduct extended research in the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany and in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Haifa, as well as several post-doctoral fellowships and prizes during her doctoral studies for excellence. She worked as an invited Guest Research Associate in REHSEIS – at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris, and in the Center for Einstein Studies at Boston University.

James Wills

Congratulations to James Wills whose essay “Singular Behaviour and Theory Breakdown” earned him an honourable mention in the 2019 philosophy of cosmology essay competition!

James Wills graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford with a degree in Physics and Philosophy in 2015. He worked for two years teaching mathematics and physics in school before starting his PhD at the London School of Economics in 2017. His research interests include the foundations of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics and the philosophy of cosmology.