Christoph Benzmüller, picture taken by Christoph Benzmüller, picture taken by Foto LeistenschneiderChristoph Benzmüller, BMS postdoc and lecturer of computer science at FU Berlin, has been awarded the Freie Universität Berlin 2015 Teaching Award for his course on computational metaphysics. A teaching project that applies an interdisciplinary approach, this course aims to introduce philosophy, mathematics and computer science master's students to the current state of research in logic. The course focuses on computer-based proof-assistant systems. More specifically, it considers how paper and pencil proofs and arguments are increasingly being supplemented or even replaced by rigorously formalized, computer-verified counterparts.

Using this method in 2013, Benzmüller and his colleagues from TU Vienna succeeded in verifying the so-called ontological proof of God’s existence by the Austrian mathematician Kurt Gödel (1906–1978). In doing so, the computer program succeeded in revealing new relevant insights about Gödel’s proof. 

The FU Berlin Teaching Award recognizes outstanding teaching concepts and projects that integrate the findings of cutting-edge research in teaching at the university. Presented on 11 April 2016, the teaching award came with a prize of €10,000.

Congratulations Christoph!

 

Source and further information: http://www.fu-berlin.de/en/presse/informationen/fup/2016/fup_16_022-lehrpreis-benzmueller-logik-gottesbeweis/index.html