Robin Findlay Hendry, Department of Philosophy, Durham University, Durham, England UK
Co-Director in the Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society (CHESS)
Publications: Structure, essence and existence in chemistry, Robin Findlay Hendry, first published: 25.August 2023 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/rati.12387
Mechanisms in Chemistry, In: Cordovil, J.L., Santos, G., Vecchi, D. (eds) New Mechanism. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, v.35. Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46917-6_7 Also: See Durham Research Online.
Structure, scale and emergence (DOI), 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2020.08.006
Homepage(s): CV (PDF), Durham Emergence Group, Routledge Handbook of Emergence, Publications
Third email: 18 April 2024
Dear Prof. Dr. Robin Findlay Hendry:
I thought you might find this week’s homepage of some interest because of your interests in Aristotle and basic geometries. I have also updated our page about your work with a few more links to your recent work.
Best wishes,
Bruce
Second email: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Dear Prof. Dr. Robin Findlay Hendry:
John Findlay was one of my favorite professors at Boston University. By chance was he related to you?
Three years to the day, I write my second email to you, but now recognize your gifts in chemistry. In light of basic structure, in the summer of 2001 I had a discussion with world-class, Princeton geometer, John Horton Conway. He asked me why I was so hung up on the octahedron, and I said, “Nobody knows what is perfectly enclosed within it.” He said, “Well, let’s figure it out.” I replied, “No, we need to know it as well as we do 2-times-2.” I had created perfect octahedrons and tetrahedrons to demonstrate my point. He couldn’t believe it. Here the inventor of surreal geometries was not aware of the four hexagonal plates that crisscross through the center point of every octahedron. I gifted him with my simple models and introduced him to our high school’s octahedral game.
Do you think those four plates are important? Given they come out within chemistry, I think there is a lot to learn about how those plates systemically manifest at most every one of the 202 notations. Chemistry can teach us about systems. Or, is that just a crazy idea? Thank you.
Most sincerely,
Bruce
PS. Isn’t it a bit peculiar that Wikipedia’s entry on emergence has no reference to your work with Gibbs and Lancaster or the IPPP? I would be glad to add a few references unless there is a reason not to do so. -BEC
NOTE on 18 April 2024: Structure, essence and existence in chemistry, Robin Findlay Hendry, first published: 25 August 2023 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/rati.12387
First email: Mon, 22 February 2021 at 12:48 PM
Dear Prof. Dr. Robin Hendry:
Your work with the emergence group just came to my attention. I think it is a most important project. Congratulations.
Back in 1971 I began work on the EPR and Bell’s inequality work through the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science with Cohen, Shimony, Capek, etc. By 1980 studying in Paris with Vigier and Costa de Beauregard, my whirling dervish days would come to an end. I started companies and had some fun. By 2011, in cruise control, my nephew asked me to introduce his high school geometers to the Platonic solids. “Bring your models.” We followed Zeno back inside the tetrahedron, dividing the edges by 2, and connecting those vertices, we were down within particle physics in 45 steps and into Planck’s base units in another 67 steps. Going out, multiplying by 2, in 90 steps we were on the edges of the universe and the current time.
For us it was our fabulous new STEM tool: 202 notations to encapsulate the universe from the beginnings of time. Yet, such simplicity we discovered was entirely idiosyncratic. Is it? Or, is it the rough outline of a simple paradigm that needs further examination?
Your expert advice would be highly regarded. Thank you.
Most sincerely,
Bruce
PS. Atomism is redefined in light of pi and an infinitesimal sphere and the Planck base units. Might you see ways to fix up this next posting, http://81018.com/instance/, as a homepage? -BEC
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Bruce E. Camber
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