Broken bootstraps - the rise & fall of a research programme

0:00 Good morning everybody and welcome. I won't go on for long but I know that the whole British community in the history and philosophy of physics was very deeply saddened a year ago by the loss of Jim Cushing and it's been an honour for the Oxford gang to organise a one day conference on his memory. So welcome to a commemoration of Jim's wonderful work. If you didn't know him, let me just say that he was extraordinarily brilliant and if ever the phrase gentleman and scholar fitted a person, it fitted Jim Cushing. It was wonderful. So today, in his memory, NIMBY Cushing has kindly agreed to both come and to say a few words, and then Simon will chair the first morning session. So NIMBY, thank you very much for coming. I'll start by thanking Jeremy for allowing me to say what I have to say first before I'm further educated. Jeremy Butterfield and other organizers, distinguished speakers, fans, and colleagues at my house. Thank you is all I can say. But given the hours of planning, the distance someone can travel, and the fact that Jim has been so honored almost a year and a half after his death. Thank you seems totally inadequate, and yet I offer this much appreciation not just for myself, but for the family and friends of Jim Cushmore, my 18 years. I had the unique privilege of being married to Jim for almost 22 years, because of the complexity and keen intellect of the man that was not married long enough.

2:30 There was so much of him still to be discovered and enjoyed. He was many things to many people, but those who know him will agree that his family and friends took precedence over everything else. Jim was passionate and at times seemingly obsessed with work, but not just his own. Often he would return from a conference such as this, or after having read a publication in a given journal, a dissertation, For a book, he would be almost literally soaring. He was energized, electrified, and inspired by the accomplishments of colleagues like him gathered in this room. And so, I say thank you to Mara Bell, a close friend who spent her regrets in not being here today, and to you, Michael Redneck, Ernest McCullough, Arthur Klein, Harvey Brown, Don Howard, Anthony Valentini, and what's known in some circles as the Cushing Five, two of whom are here today. And I hope you guys don't mind if I refer to you that way, you know who you are. Thank you all for giving my husband... Not just moments of happiness at what we were doing, but an abounding wonder at the ways in which your labors deepen our understanding of the great and still mysterious universe we all share. Jim was energized most of all perhaps by the work of his graduate students, by those in whose labor he shared with such enthusiasm, and that energy, that excitement, he communicated so well. So remember these words, which to all of those who have touched the end of the video. Thank you so very much for your time. That's it. Our first speaker here is P.J. Merrick-Dutton, Professor Michael Redhead, grandfather of subjects in this country, who will speak on the SX experience, one of Jim's other major research fields, of course, along with highway theory and everything else.

5:00 Well, I'd like to begin by just asking you all to stand and take a few moments of silence if we can begin.