Eric B. Winsberg

About

I am British Academy Global Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Florida (on leave 2023–2027). My work focuses on how computer simulation and machine learning earn scientific credibility, on the philosophy of climate science, and on the values and institutional pressures that shape how models are built and used.

I received my Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science from Indiana University and my B.A. in History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science and Medicine from the University of Chicago. I have held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study (Durham), the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (Bielefeld), LMU Munich, Leuphana Lüneburg, and UC Berkeley, and I am a frequent collaborator with health economists and climate scientists on issues of modeling and decision-making.

News

• 2026 My fourth book, Science Without Deference: The hidden economy of expertise, will be out with the University of Chicago Press next year.
• 2023–2027 British Academy Global Professorship — I have been appointed British Academy Global Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. The position supports my project “Complex modelling and political decision making: Addressing technical and moral problems” (British Academy, 2022–2026, £890,000).
• 2024 Co-authored volume Cambridge Elements: Models in Science and Decision Making (with Stephanie Harvard), Cambridge University Press.
• 2023 Co-edited The Probability Map of the Universe: Essays on David Albert’s Time and Chance (with Barry Loewer and Brad Weslake), Harvard University Press.