Brief Bio
John Beggs went to high school in the Chicago area and received his B.S. and M.Eng. in Engineering Physics from Cornell University. He then taught math and science at Samoa College while in the U.S. Peace Corps. He later obtained a PhD from Yale University and did postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health. Beggs is currently a professor of physics at Indiana University, where his lab uses ideas from statistical physics to describe information processing in networks of neurons. Beggs and his wife Sara have two teen daughters and live in the Indianapolis area.
His views on science and religion: “As a Christian, I accept and live a life of faith, and as a scientist I embrace rationality. I don’t think there should be a huge conflict between science and religion. Much of this probably could be resolved if scientists were more willing to accept that the most cherished things in life ultimately cannot be reduced to equations or experiments, and if religious people were more willing to accept that science has true and useful contributions to make to our lives. Christians should not be afraid to scrutinize and adjust their beliefs by digging into the evidence. Likewise, skeptics should be willing to ask themselves deep questions about meaning and where it comes from. The more I have looked at textual evidence, history and archaeology, the more I have been encouraged in my Christian walk. And the more I have pondered the purpose of my life, the more peace I have found in the character of Jesus Christ. Some of my favorite books in this area include Making Sense of God by Tim Keller and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.”
Some science talks I have given:
Grand rounds, University of Wisconsin at Madison Medical School, April 2019, on the connection between neuronal avalanches and epilepsy ~40 mins: https://videos.med.wisc.edu/videos/90779
NetSci17 Network Neuroscience talk: https://www.facebook.com/netsci2017.net/ A ~20 min talk on neural network connectivity
Banff 2015 http://videos.birs.ca/2015/15w5158/201512091910-Beggs.mp4 ; http://www.birs.ca/events/2015/5-day-workshops/15w5158
A ~30 min talk on neural network computations
Natal, Brazil, 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE9IKMAr-wg A ~60 min talk on criticality and emergent properties in networks of neurons
Institute for Systems Biology, 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quwJKgzyNaI A ~20 min talk on criticality in neural networks
Science and Faith talks:
18 October, 2017 Science and Faith at Woodburn Hall, Indiana University (audio only): https://tfiu.org/past-lectures/ ; https://srp.alldigital.net/B5B1FC01/26378455/audio/21033129_64kbs__tfiuscienceANDfaith.mp3
Veritas Forum at Indiana Memorial Union with Tim O’Connor, Colin Allen, Tom Schoenemann, February 2016 (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYjBtjGdij0
Forum with Tim Londergan, Dave Bender and Doug Hofstadter on science and faith at Indiana University, March 26, 2014 (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leHn_qVdbbQ
Contact info:
John M. Beggs
Professor, Indiana University Physics
727 East 3rd Street
Bloomington, IN 47405-7105
[email protected]
Lab website: http://www.beggslab.com/
Faculty webpage: http://www.indiana.edu/~iubphys/faculty/jmbeggs.shtml
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=y9X4_AkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
John Beggs went to high school in the Chicago area and received his B.S. and M.Eng. in Engineering Physics from Cornell University. He then taught math and science at Samoa College while in the U.S. Peace Corps. He later obtained a PhD from Yale University and did postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health. Beggs is currently a professor of physics at Indiana University, where his lab uses ideas from statistical physics to describe information processing in networks of neurons. Beggs and his wife Sara have two teen daughters and live in the Indianapolis area.
His views on science and religion: “As a Christian, I accept and live a life of faith, and as a scientist I embrace rationality. I don’t think there should be a huge conflict between science and religion. Much of this probably could be resolved if scientists were more willing to accept that the most cherished things in life ultimately cannot be reduced to equations or experiments, and if religious people were more willing to accept that science has true and useful contributions to make to our lives. Christians should not be afraid to scrutinize and adjust their beliefs by digging into the evidence. Likewise, skeptics should be willing to ask themselves deep questions about meaning and where it comes from. The more I have looked at textual evidence, history and archaeology, the more I have been encouraged in my Christian walk. And the more I have pondered the purpose of my life, the more peace I have found in the character of Jesus Christ. Some of my favorite books in this area include Making Sense of God by Tim Keller and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.”
Some science talks I have given:
Grand rounds, University of Wisconsin at Madison Medical School, April 2019, on the connection between neuronal avalanches and epilepsy ~40 mins: https://videos.med.wisc.edu/videos/90779
NetSci17 Network Neuroscience talk: https://www.facebook.com/netsci2017.net/ A ~20 min talk on neural network connectivity
Banff 2015 http://videos.birs.ca/2015/15w5158/201512091910-Beggs.mp4 ; http://www.birs.ca/events/2015/5-day-workshops/15w5158
A ~30 min talk on neural network computations
Natal, Brazil, 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE9IKMAr-wg A ~60 min talk on criticality and emergent properties in networks of neurons
Institute for Systems Biology, 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quwJKgzyNaI A ~20 min talk on criticality in neural networks
Science and Faith talks:
18 October, 2017 Science and Faith at Woodburn Hall, Indiana University (audio only): https://tfiu.org/past-lectures/ ; https://srp.alldigital.net/B5B1FC01/26378455/audio/21033129_64kbs__tfiuscienceANDfaith.mp3
Veritas Forum at Indiana Memorial Union with Tim O’Connor, Colin Allen, Tom Schoenemann, February 2016 (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYjBtjGdij0
Forum with Tim Londergan, Dave Bender and Doug Hofstadter on science and faith at Indiana University, March 26, 2014 (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leHn_qVdbbQ
Contact info:
John M. Beggs
Professor, Indiana University Physics
727 East 3rd Street
Bloomington, IN 47405-7105
[email protected]
Lab website: http://www.beggslab.com/
Faculty webpage: http://www.indiana.edu/~iubphys/faculty/jmbeggs.shtml
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=y9X4_AkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao