Rudolph Carnap Foundation in Philosophy of Science

The Rudolf Carnap Lecture takes place at the University of Haifa once every year. The event will include a keynote public lecture by a Nobel Laureate or other equivalent luminary and a day of workshops. The topic of the Carnap Lecture may be in any scientific field in physics, such as quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, relativity theory, as well as logic and mathematics, focusing on philosophy and foundations of these sciences and on anchor open questions in contemporary science. 

The Yuval Mendellevich Doctoral scholarship and the Rudolf Carnap Post-Doctoral scholarship are awarded to students enrolled in the University of Haifa who are working on open questions in philosophy of science and related fields in recognition of their academic and research achievements. The two scholarships are awarded at the same event preceding the Carnap Lecture.

Yuval Mendellevich was born on September 10, 1989 in Haifa. Yuval loved to travel, to listen to Israeli music and was interested in mathematics, architecture and handicrafts. Yuval was a handsome, smart and sensitive boy who looked forward to each school day because he loved his teachers and friends. Wednesday morning, March 5, 2003 gave no hint of the horrific horror that was to follow. While he was eating breakfast, his mother, Hagit, said goodbye. Yuval said goodbye to his father, Yossi with a hug and a kiss, and at the door said, "see you in the afternoon."
We join Yuval's parents, sister and brother, his friends and teachers in honoring his unique qualities. Yuval left a big void in their hearts.

"Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970) was one of the best-known philosophers of the twentieth century. Notorious as one of the founders, and perhaps the leading philosophical representative, of the movement known as logical positivism or logical empiricism, he was one of the originators of the new field of philosophy of science and later a leading contributor to semantics and inductive logic. Though his views underwent significant changes at various points, he continued to reaffirm the basic tenets of logical empiricism, and is still identified with it. His influence declined, therefore, when logical empiricism lost its dominance in the 1950s and 60s, even though many of the efforts of the next philosophical generation (such as Quine’s) may be understood as responses to Carnap. Beginning in the 1980s, a reassessment set in that has resulted in a much more nuanced and complex picture of his philosophy and its development. The literature on him is now enormous and still growing rapidly, and his ideas are presently enjoying a major revival in various areas of philosophy." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

The Rudolf Carnap Lecture series and the Yuval Mendellevich scholarships are generously underwritten by Josh Shachar.