Agnes Bolinska

Agnes completed her PhD at the University of Toronto’s Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. Her dissertation examines the ways in which scientific models and other vehicles of what she calls epistemic representation act as tools for gaining information about physical systems. Agnes is particularly interested in how reasoning with different kinds of models facilitates scientific discovery. Her work on the use of model building in the discoveries of DNA and protein structure inspired her next research project, which she will begin at the Center. This project will examine how the choice of means of representation affects the pace and direction of research, with a focus on how various kinds of visual representations of molecules enabled reasoning about molecular structure in the nineteenth century. Agnes’s recent publications include “Successful visual epistemic representation” (Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 2015) and “Epistemic representation, informativeness and the aim of faithful representation” (Synthese, 2013). When she’s not philosophizing, Agnes enjoys swimming, running, and cycling, and especially cycle touring.

After finishing her post-doc at the Center, Agnes moved on to a Visiting Assistant Professorship at the University of Pittsburgh HPS department from Sept–Dec 2016.  Afterward, from Sept 2017–Aug 2020, she was a Research and Teaching Associate at the Department of HPS at University of Cambridge with a stint as Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in early 2017.