Koffi Maglo
University of Cincinnati, USA
Fall 2007
Newtonian mechanics

29 November 2007

Koffi Maglo received his BA degree from the University of Lomé in Togo. After obtaining a Ph.D. from the University of Burgundy in France, he migrated to the US and did postdoctoral studies at Virginia Tech. He was also a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, (2003-5). In 2005, he joined the Faculty at the University of Cincinnati as an Assistant Professor. His interests include philosophy of science, history of 17 th and 18 th century science, bioethics, African philosophy, democracy and global justice. At the Center, he is conducting a research project on the concept of force in the development of science from 18 th century on.

His major English publications in the history and philosophy of science include “Force, Mathematics and Physics in Newton’s Principia: A New Approach to Enduring Issues,” in Science in Context, Cambridge University Press, 20:4, 2007; “ The Reception of Newton’s Gravitational Theory by Huygens, Varignon, and Maupertuis: How Normal Science May Be Revolutionary,” in Perspectives on Science, MIT Press, 11:2, 2003.

He published also on recent French philosophy of science as well as on French Enlightenment. Representative papers in this area are: “Bachelard et la négation positiviste de l’imagination scientifique,” in Actualité et postérité de Gaston Bachelard , Presses Universitaires de France, 1997; “Madame Du Châtelet, l’Encyclopédie et la philosophie des sciences,” Forthcoming.

In the area of bioethics, Koffi Maglo is interested in the issue of population stratification concept in science and medicine. On April 12-14, 2007, he organized an interdisciplinary symposium at the University of Cincinnati on “Race in the Age of Genomic Medicine: The Science and its Applications.” He is currently completing an essay on race in genomic science and medicine. His seminal paper presentations in this area include: “Defining Natural Kinds vs. Making up People in Genomic Studies,” Harvard University; “Genomic Medicine and Race: Making the Case for Critical Genomic Epistemic,” Program in Science, Technology, and Society (MIT); “Gene, Disease and Ancestry: The Conflict over Population Stratification Concepts in Science and Medicine,” Annual Meeting of the American College of Epidemiology (ACE) in Boston in 2004.