Laura Gradowski

Laura Gradowski completed her Ph.D. at the City University of New York, Graduate Center in 2022. Her recent work focuses on the status and reception of fringe theories in science. Drawing on theoretical considerations as well as case studies in the history of science, she argues that the marginalization of fringe theories is generally unjustified and delays scientific advancements. She is especially interested in cases where theories transition from a marginal status to mainstream acceptance, such as the germ theory of disease, continental mobilism, and one-shot aversive conditioning, as well as cases that may be in a state of transition towards wider acceptance and respectability, such as UFO research and human magnetoreception. She defends theoretical pluralism as a solution to problems that arise as a result of theory entrenchment, including observational neglect. Gradowski also has interests in metaphysics and philosophy of mind. She has done work on consciousness, and is beginning to explore the science of placebo effects. In addition, she has extracurricular interest in the ecology of urban jungles, with an emphasis on the symbiotic coexistence of plushy fauna and exotic flora, as well as the impact of geological diversity on the well-being of both. With respect to the latter, her recent focus is on the diversely empowering reverberations of the crystalline sublime.