Harry Collins
{{Short description|British sociologist of science (born 1943)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Harry Collins
| image = Harry Collins.20101118.jpg
| caption = Collins at a STS workshop in 2010
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1943|06|13}}
| birth_place = United Kingdom
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| known_for = Bath School, Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK)
| education =
| occupation = Sociologist
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Harry Collins, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|commas=on|FBA|size=100%}} FLSW (born 13 June 1943),{{cite web |title= Collins, H. M. (Harry M.), 1943- |url= http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n81099696.html |publisher= Library of Congress |access-date= 15 February 2015 |quote= data sheet (b. 6/13/43) }} is a British sociologist of science at the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Wales. In 2012 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. In 2013, he was elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.{{Cite web |last=Wales |first=The Learned Society of |title=Harry Collins |url=https://www.learnedsociety.wales/fellow/harry-collins/ |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=The Learned Society of Wales |language=en-US}}
Career
While at the University of Bath Professor Collins developed the Bath School approach to the sociology of scientific knowledge.
In Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice,{{cite book | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = Changing order: replication and induction in scientific practice | url = https://archive.org/details/changingorderrep0000coll | url-access = registration | publisher = Sage Publications | location = London Beverly Hills | year = 1985 | isbn = 9780803997172 }} Collins outlines a general theory of sociology of science. Drawing from the concepts of "Language Game" and "Forms of Life", derived from the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, he seeks an explanation for how scientists follow rules and patterns when performing experiments and scientific practice. Collins' perspective is usually called a relativist position, although this is a strong oversimplification.
Collins has written for over 30 years on the sociology of gravitational wave physics. His publications in this area include: "The Seven Sexes: Study in Sociology of a Phenomenon, or Replication of Experiments in Physics" "Son of Seven Sexes: The Social Destruction of a Physical Phenomenon".{{Cite journal | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = The seven sexes: a study in the sociology of a phenomenon, or the replication of experiments in physics | journal = Sociology | volume = 9 | issue = 2 | pages = 205–224 | doi = 10.1177/003803857500900202 | date = May 1975 | s2cid = 121517709 }} He has traced the search for gravitational waves, and has shown how scientific data can be subject to interpretative flexibility, and how social or 'non-scientific' means can be sometimes used to close scientific controversies.
At the beginning of the 2000s, Collins along with Dr Robert Evans, also of Cardiff University, has published works on what they term the "Third Wave of Science Studies" and, in particular, the idea of interactional expertise. This aims to address questions of legitimacy and extension and public involvement in scientific decision-making. They continue to research and publish on this topic.{{Cite journal | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | last2 = Evans | first2 = Robert | title = The third wave of science studies: studies of expertise and experience | journal = Social Studies of Science | volume = 32 | issue = 2 | pages = 235–296 | doi = 10.1177/0306312702032002003 | date = April 2002 | s2cid = 145135881 }}
Selected works
= Books =
- {{cite book | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice | url = https://archive.org/details/changingorderrep0000coll | url-access = registration | publisher = Sage Publications | location = London Beverly Hills | year = 1985 | isbn = 9780803997172 }}
- {{cite book | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = Artificial Experts: Social Knowledge and Intelligent Machines | publisher = MIT Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | year = 1990 | isbn = 9780262531153 }}
- Explains the nature and limits of intelligent machines, especially expert systems.
- {{cite book | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | last2 = Pinch | first2 = Trevor | author-link2 = Trevor Pinch | title = The Golem: What You Should Know about Science | url = https://archive.org/details/golemwhatyoushou00coll | url-access = registration | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge, UK; New York, NY | year = 1998 | orig-year = 1993 | edition = 2nd | isbn = 9781107604650 }}
- {{cite book | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | last2 = Kusch | first2 = Martin | author-link2 = Martin Kusch | title = The Shape of Actions What Humans and Machines Can Do | publisher = MIT Press | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | year = 1998 | isbn = 9780262032575 }}
- {{cite book | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = Gravity's Shadow the Search for Gravitational Waves | url = https://archive.org/details/gravitysshadowse0000coll | url-access = registration | publisher = University of Chicago Press | location = Chicago | year = 2004 | isbn = 9780226113784 }}
- {{cite book | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | last2 = Pinch | first2 = Trevor | author-link2 = Trevor Pinch | title = Dr. Golem: How to Think about Medicine | publisher = University of Chicago Press | location = Chicago | year = 2005 | isbn = 9780226113692 }}
- {{cite book | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | last2 = Evans | first2 = Robert | title = Rethinking Expertise | publisher = University of Chicago Press | location = Chicago | year = 2007 | isbn = 9780226113623 }}
- {{cite book | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = Tacit and Explicit Knowledge | publisher = University of Chicago Press | location = Chicago | year = 2010 | isbn = 9780226113807 }}
- {{cite book | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = Gravity's Ghost: Scientific Discovery in the Twenty-First Century | publisher = The University of Chicago Press | location = Chicago | year = 2011 | isbn = 9780226113562 }}
- {{cite book | last = Collins | first= Harry M. | title = Gravity's Ghost and Big Dog: Scientific Discovery in the Twenty-First Century | publisher = The University of Chicago Press | location = Chicago | year = 2013 | isbn = 9780226052298 }}
- Big Dog, Collins' next book on LIGO, was published as part of the paperback edition of Gravity's Ghost (2011), with a combined title.
- {{cite book | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | last2 = Pinch | first2 = Trevor | author-link2 = Trevor Pinch | title = The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | year = 2014 | orig-year = 1998 | edition = 6th | isbn = 9781107688285 }}
- {{cite book | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = Are We All Scientific Experts Now? | publisher = Polity | location = Cambridge, UK; Malden, Massachusetts | year = 2014 | isbn = 9780745682044 }}
- {{cite book | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | last2 = Evans | first2 = Robert | last3 = Higgins | first3= Christopher | title = Bad Call: Technology's Attack on Referees and Umpires and How to Fix It | publisher = MIT Press | location = Cambridge, MA | year = 2016 | isbn = 9780262035392}}
- {{cite book | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = Gravity's Kiss: The Detection of Gravitational Waves | publisher = MIT Press | location = Cambridge, MA | year = 2017 | isbn = 9780262036184}}
- {{cite book | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | last2 = Evans | first2 = Robert | title = Why Democracies Need Science | publisher = Polity | location = Cambridge, UK; Malden, Massachusetts | year = 2017 | isbn = 9781509509614 }}
- {{cite book | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | title = Artifictional Intelligence: Against Humanity's Surrender to Computers | publisher = Polity | location = Cambridge, UK; Malden, Massachusetts | year = 2018 | isbn = 9781509504121}}
- {{cite book | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = Forms of Life: The Method and Meaning of Sociology | url = https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/forms-life | url-access = registration | publisher = MIT Press | location = London | year = 2019 | isbn = 9780262536646 }}
= Chapters in books =
- {{citation | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | last2 = Yearley | first2 = Steven | author-link2 = Steven Yearley | contribution = Epistemological chicken | editor-last = Pickering | editor-first = Andrew | editor-link = Andrew Pickering | title = Science as practice and culture | pages = 301–326 | publisher = University of Chicago Press | location = Chicago | year = 1992 | isbn = 9780226668017 | postscript = .}}
= Journal articles =
- {{Cite journal | last = Collins | first = Harry M. | title = The seven sexes: a study in the sociology of a phenomenon, or the replication of experiments in physics | journal = Sociology | volume = 9 | issue = 2 | pages = 205–224 | doi = 10.1177/003803857500900202 | date = May 1975 | s2cid = 121517709 }}
- {{Cite journal | last1 = Collins | first1 = Harry M. | last2 = Evans | first2 = Robert | title = The third wave of science studies: studies of expertise and experience | journal = Social Studies of Science | volume = 32 | issue = 2 | pages = 235–296 | doi = 10.1177/0306312702032002003 | date = April 2002 | s2cid = 145135881 }}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/people/view/38108-collins-harry Web page at University of Cardiff]
- [http://www.cf.ac.uk/socsi/expertise The Expertise Network]
- [http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/harrycollins/harry-collinss-gravitational-wave-project/ Harry Collins's Gravitational Wave Project]
- [http://lccn.loc.gov/n81099696 H. M. Collins] at Library of Congress Authorities — with 16 catalogue records
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Harry}}
Category:Academics of Cardiff University
Category:Academics of the University of Bath
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:Sociologists of science