astronomy

Sahotra Sarkar

Sahotra Sarkar is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sahotra Sarkar rather than just read about it. In short: Sahotra Sarkar (born 1962) is an Indian-American professor at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the philosophy of biology. Education and career Sarkar is originally from India where he lived in Darjeeling until 1975.

Key takeaways

Sahotra Sarkar belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sahotra Sarkar to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sahotra Sarkar from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sahotra Sarkar (born 1962) is an Indian-American professor at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the philosophy of biology.

Education and career Sarkar is originally from India where he lived in Darjeeling until 1975. He earned a B.A. from Columbia University, where he won a Van Amringe Mathematical Prize, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago where he worked with William C. Wimsatt. He was a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (1996–1997), the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology (1993–1994), and the Edelstein Centre for the Philosophy of Science (1992). He was a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin (1997–1998, 2002–2003) and taught at Montreal's McGill University before moving to Texas.

Philosophical and scientific work Sarkar is one of the founders of systematic conservation planning within conservation biology, promoting the use of multi-criteria decision analysis and supervising the creation of the ConsNet decision support system. In this context he has advocated participatory environmental planning and strongly criticized the imposition of authoritarian and discriminatory environmental policies on local residents. His laboratory also works on a suite of neglected tropical diseases (or diseases of poverty) including Chagas disease, dengue, leishmaniasis, and tick-borne diseases. In the philosophy of biology, Sarkar is known for his work on reductionism and criticism of hereditarian thinking in biology as well as the use of informational concepts in molecular biology. In the philosophy of physics Sarkar is known for controversially defending the conventionalism of simultaneity in special relativity (with John Stachel) and suggesting a stochastic modification of quantum dynamics. Earlier in his career he worked in mathematical population genetics where, in collaboration with Wing Ma and Guido Sandri, he was responsible for the standard recursion relation to compute the Luria–Delbrück distribution in bacterial genetics. Sarkar is also a noted critic of creationism and intelligent design and played an important role in combating attempts to introduce creationism into high school curricula in Texas.

Allegations of sexual misconduct In 2017, Sahotra Sarkar was suspended for a semester after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct with students, including allegations that Sarkar "invited complainants to go swimming with him at nude beach, propositioned complainants to pose nude for photographs, held many school-related meetings at bars, and led discussions that were sexual in nature and uncomfortable for the complainants." Although he denied some of the allegations, he admitted to discussing the possibility of one student posing for nude photographs for money. In November 2019, a group of students interrupted a class Sarkar was teaching in order to protest his continued presence at the university.

Books Sahotra Sarkar, Genetics and Reductionism (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology). Cambridge University Press (October 13, 1998) ISBN 0-521-63713-9 Sahotra Sarkar, Molecular Models of Life: Philosophical Papers on Molecular Biology (Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology). The MIT Press (March 30, 2007) ISBN 0-262-69350-X Sahotra Sarkar, Biodiversity and Environmental Philosophy: An Introduction (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology). Cambridge University Press (September 19, 2005) ISBN 0-521-85132-7 Sahotra Sarkar, Doubting Darwin: Creationist Designs on Evolution. Blackwell (April 20, 2007) ISBN 1-4051-5491-8 Sahotra Sarkar, Environmental Philosophy: From Theory to Practice. Wiley-Blackewell (2012) Chris Margules and Sahotra Sarkar, Systematic Conservation Planning (Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation). Cambridge University Press. (October 8, 2007) ISBN 0-521-70344-1 Sahotra Sarkar, Ed., Science and Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: Basic Works of Logical Empiricism. 6 Volumes. Routledge (February 1, 1996) Sahotra Sarkar, Ed., Logical Empiricism and the Special Sciences : Reichenbach, Feigl, and Nagel (Science and Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: Basic Works of Logical Empiricism) Routledge; 1 edition (February 1, 1996) ISBN 0-8153-2265-8 Sahotra Sarkar and Jessica Pfeifer, Eds., The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia Routledge.(December 9, 2005) Sahotra Sarkar and Anya Plutynksi, Eds., Companion to the Philosophy of Biology (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy). Wiley-Blackwell (March 14, 2008) ISBN 1-4051-2572-1

References

External links Sahotra Sarkar at University of Texas at Austin Sahotra Sarkar at MIT Press

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sahotra Sarkar

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sahotra Sarkar claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sahotra Sarkar before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sahotra Sarkar ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sahotra Sarkar

In research: Sahotra Sarkar appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sahotra Sarkar in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sahotra Sarkar is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1962 births, 20th-century American philosophers, 21st-century American biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sahotra Sarkar outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sahotra Sarkar in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sahotra Sarkar means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sahotra Sarkar out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sahotra Sarkar in simple terms?

Sahotra Sarkar (born 1962) is an Indian-American professor at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the philosophy of biology. Education and career Sarkar is originally from India where he lived in Darjeeling until 1975.

Why does Sahotra Sarkar matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sahotra Sarkar?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sahotra Sarkar.