ELLIS Distinguished Lecture: Philipp Hennig

On September 9, 2026, Philipp Hennig (University of Tübingen) will give a lecture: Probabilistic Numerics: the rigid skeleton for AI-centric science. Hosted by Toni Karvonen (LUT University and ELLIS Institute Finland).

Date and time 

September 9, 2026, 10:00-11:00 EEST

Location

Lecture hall 2310, LUT University Lappeenranta Campus (Yliopistonkatu 34)
Online: Zoom

Abstract

The ProbNum community faces the same existential question as many of our neighbours: What is left to do as foundation models and agents create scientific results with increasing autonomy? To attempt an answer, I will first outline a contemporary view of Probabilistic Numerics as a framework for the holistic processing of computational and empirical information. I will then highlight recent work using Probabilistic Numerics to efficiently construct physics-informed priors for scientific foundation models. Aside from potentially reducing training costs, a key value of this formulation is that it splits hypothesis spaces into a direct sum of terms fulfilling given physical laws, and a complement of “unexplained residuals” in data that can be leveraged by both human and agentic science.
 

Bio

Philipp Hennig is the Professor for the Methods of Machine Learning at the University of Tübingen, and Director of the Tübingen AI Center. Since his PhD with Sir David MacKay in Cambridge, he is interested in the connections between inference and computation, which led him to establish, with international collaborators, the field of probabilistic numerics. Hennig is a Fellow of ELLIS, where he co-directs the Research Program for Theory, Algorithms and Computations for modern learning machines. His work was supported, among others, by Emmy Noether and Max Planck Fellowships, and two ERC grants.