Hubbry Logo
Harry CollinsHarry CollinsMain
Open search
Harry Collins
Community hub
Harry Collins
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Harry Collins
Harry Collins
from Wikipedia

Harry Collins, FBA FLSW (born 13 June 1943),[1] 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.[2]

Key Information

Career

[edit]

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,[3] 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".[4] 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.[5]

Selected works

[edit]

Books

[edit]
  • Collins, Harry M. (1985). Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice. London Beverly Hills: Sage Publications. ISBN 9780803997172.
  • Collins, Harry M. (1990). Artificial Experts: Social Knowledge and Intelligent Machines. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262531153.
    • Explains the nature and limits of intelligent machines, especially expert systems.
  • Collins, Harry M.; Pinch, Trevor (1998) [1993]. The Golem: What You Should Know about Science (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107604650.
  • Collins, Harry M.; Kusch, Martin (1998). The Shape of Actions What Humans and Machines Can Do. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262032575.
  • Collins, Harry M. (2004). Gravity's Shadow the Search for Gravitational Waves. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226113784.
  • Collins, Harry M.; Pinch, Trevor (2005). Dr. Golem: How to Think about Medicine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226113692.
  • Collins, Harry M.; Evans, Robert (2007). Rethinking Expertise. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226113623.
  • Collins, Harry M. (2010). Tacit and Explicit Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226113807.
  • Collins, Harry M. (2011). Gravity's Ghost: Scientific Discovery in the Twenty-First Century. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226113562.
  • Collins, Harry M. (2013). Gravity's Ghost and Big Dog: Scientific Discovery in the Twenty-First Century. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 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.
  • Collins, Harry M.; Pinch, Trevor (2014) [1998]. The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology (6th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107688285.
  • Collins, Harry M. (2014). Are We All Scientific Experts Now?. Cambridge, UK; Malden, Massachusetts: Polity. ISBN 9780745682044.
  • Collins, Harry M.; Evans, Robert; Higgins, Christopher (2016). Bad Call: Technology's Attack on Referees and Umpires and How to Fix It. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262035392.
  • Collins, Harry M. (2017). Gravity's Kiss: The Detection of Gravitational Waves. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262036184.
  • Collins, Harry M.; Evans, Robert (2017). Why Democracies Need Science. Cambridge, UK; Malden, Massachusetts: Polity. ISBN 9781509509614.
  • Collins, Harry M. (2018). Artifictional Intelligence: Against Humanity's Surrender to Computers. Cambridge, UK; Malden, Massachusetts: Polity. ISBN 9781509504121.
  • Collins, Harry M. (2019). Forms of Life: The Method and Meaning of Sociology. London: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262536646.

Chapters in books

[edit]

Journal articles

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
Harry Collins is a British sociologist known for his pioneering contributions to the sociology of scientific knowledge, his long-term ethnographic study of gravitational wave physics, and his development of theories on expertise and tacit knowledge. As Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences at Cardiff University and a Fellow of the British Academy (elected 2012), Collins has conducted one of the longest continuous sociological investigations of a single scientific field, beginning in the 1970s and spanning the eventual first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015. His research has illuminated the social processes behind scientific discovery, including controversies, evidence disputes, and the role of tacit knowledge in scientific practice. Collins introduced key concepts such as the "experimenters' regress" in scientific replication and the distinction between interactional expertise (fluency in a domain's discourse) and contributory expertise (hands-on ability to perform in that domain). With Robert Evans, he developed the "Third Wave of Science Studies" or Studies of Expertise and Experience, which argues for a normative approach to distinguishing legitimate expertise from other knowledge claims in democratic decision-making. His influential books include Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice (1992), which examined replication in scientific experiments; The Golem: What Everyone Should Know about Science (co-authored with Trevor Pinch, 1993), an accessible critique of idealized views of science; and the gravitational wave series—Gravity’s Shadow (2004), Gravity’s Ghost (2010), Gravity’s Ghost and Big Dog (2013), and Gravity’s Kiss (2017)—that chronicle the LIGO collaboration's search and success. Later works such as Rethinking Expertise (2007, with Evans), Why Democracies Need Science (2017, with Evans), and Artifictional Intelligence (2018) address the societal role of science, the threats of populism, and the limits of artificial intelligence. Collins's scholarship has shaped debates on the public understanding of science, the epistemic authority of experts, and the importance of face-to-face interaction in maintaining scientific trust and democratic values.

Early life

Birth and background

Harry Collins was born on 13 June 1943 in the United Kingdom. Information about his family origins, childhood, education, or other early life experiences remains scarce and largely undocumented in available biographical sources.

Career

Harry Collins is Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, where he previously served as Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of Knowledge, Expertise and Science (KES). He began his long-term ethnographic study of the field of gravitational wave physics in the 1970s, conducting one of the longest continuous sociological investigations of a single scientific community, which continued through the first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015. Collins earlier worked at the University of Bath, where he contributed to the development of the Bath School approach in the sociology of scientific knowledge. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2012.

Personal life

Little is publicly known about Harry Collins's personal life, including details of his family, marriage, or relationships, as such information is not documented in his academic profiles or other reliable sources.

Death

Harry Collins is alive as of 2025.

Later years and death

Harry Collins is Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences at Cardiff University and remains academically active, with publications as recent as 2025. No death has occurred, and there is no record of his passing.
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.