Transdisciplinary Research

Speaker: Andrew Briggs, The University of Oxford and QuantrolOx
Series: Physics and Chemistry of Solids Group

Physics and Chemistry of Solids is proudly interdisciplinary. “Bowden’s lab was the first University group that was interdisciplinary in its research (long before that word was invented).”[1] It is now hard to think of many problems of global importance that do not require interdisciplinary—or better still transdisciplinary—research.

Thermodynamics provides an example in nanocosm. The pioneers of thermodynamics developed a theoretical framework for the constraints on certain kinds of state transformations, where the states were characterised by parameters such as pressure, volume, and temperature. Subsequently entropy came to be defined in informational terms, in a mathematical way that is independent of any underlying physics.[2]

The process of erasure can connect these two concepts experimentally. The erasure of one bit of information (which is unitless) generates a minimum amount of heat (which has units), thereby connecting entropy of information to entropy of work. As in other aspects of thermodynamics, the theoretical limit is approached only in ideal conditions, and the practical departure has been measured. Such experiments have been extended to the quantum realm, where erasure takes place by a partitioning between a system and its environment. Entropy then arises from the information that we choose—or are able—to track, and again this has been measured.

The interdisciplinarity of nanoscale experimental science becomes enlarged to a grander scale for the ‘wicked’ problems facing humanity. There is widespread concern about the electricity consumption of AI. Science can show how much thermodynamic headroom there is for greater efficiency, but full societal engagement is needed for practical solutions. When it comes to guardrails for the development and uses of AI, a greater transdisciplinary approach is necessary, embracing systems of knowledge which include Physics and Chemistry of Solids and reach far beyond.[3]

[1] https://www.pcs.phy.cam.ac.uk/history/

[2] G. A. D. Briggs and J. Schmiedmayer. Experimental Nanoscale Thermodynamics, Contemporary Physics (2026, in press) https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.16861

[3] Andrew Briggs and Michael J. Reiss. Human Flourishing, Oxford University Press (2021)