Rate My Professor Robert Batterman

Batterman's research focuses on the philosophy of physics and philosophy of applied mathematics, particularly in areas such as the foundations of statistical physics, materials science, dynamical systems, chaos, asymptotic reasoning, mathematical idealizations, explanation, reduction, emergence, and the role of mathematics in physical theories. He is the author of two monographs: The Devil in the Details: Asymptotic Reasoning in Explanation, Reduction, and Emergence (Oxford University Press, 2002; paperback 2007) and A Middle Way: A Non-Fundamental Approach to Many-Body Physics (Oxford University Press, 2021). He edited The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Physics (Oxford University Press, 2013). Notable publications include "Minimal Model Explanations" with Collin Rice (Philosophy of Science, 2014), "On the Explanatory Role of Mathematics in Empirical Science" (British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2010), "Universality and RG Explanations" (Perspectives on Science, 2019), "Biology Meets Physics: Reductionism and Multi-scale Modeling of Morphogenesis" with Sara Green (Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C, 2017), "Steel and Bone: Mesoscale Modeling and Middle-out Strategies in Physics and Biology" with Sara Green (Synthese, 2020), and "Philosophical Implications of Kadanoff’s Work on the Renormalization Group" (Journal of Statistical Physics, 2016). Batterman has received numerous honors, including election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2009, the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring in 2021, and research grants from the National Science Foundation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the John Templeton Foundation.