‘Entropology’ the interdisciplinary seminar series, led by William Sacher, Senior Fellow for 2026–2027, explores the various interpretations of entropy. The first session of the series will take place on Wednesday, November 18th, 2026.
Seminar Opening Session
A complex and polysemic concept, entropy was first developed in thermodynamics and in statistical mechanics in the 19th century, and then used in Shannon’s information theory and generalized to opened and out-of-equilibrium systems by Prigogine in the 20th century.
In this opening session of the seminar, we will explore the variety of notions and processes entropy has been associated to: yields of thermal engines; order and disorder; time and irreversibility; information, uncertainty and knowledge. We will then describe the interpretations that have emerged in the last decades in social sciences, literature and land-art. We will then reflect on how this variety of developments offer analytical potentialities for entropy to study the finitude of resources.
Practical information
- Date: Wednesday, November 18th, 2026, from 10.00 am to 12.00 pm
- Venue: Iméra, 2 Place Leverrier, 13004 Marseille
Coming to Iméra
- Pedestrian access: please go to the gate at 2 Place Leverrier, 13004 Marseille.
- Access for people with reduced mobility: entrance viaAllée Jean-Louis Pons, 13004 Marseille.
Please use the pedestrian entrance at 2 Place Leverrier.
This session forms part of the ‘Entropology’ seminar series organised as part of the Senior Fellowship project led by William Sacher, Senior Fellow 2026–2027 within the Interdisciplinary Dialogues programme.
Find out about upcoming sessions
Entropology Seminar Series
The interdisciplinary seminar series ‘Entropology’ is led by William Sacher, Senior Fellow at Iméra for the 2026–2027 academic year. It explores the various interpretations of entropy. Spiral… Read more
