Lambert Williams is a doctoral candidate in the History of Science Department at Harvard University. He was a predoctoral research fellow for two years (2004 - 2006) at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, working in the 'Generating Experimental Knowledge' group.

You work on Complex Systems. What are they?

They are almost impossible to define, and that is why I am interested in them! Ok, that's a joke, but only just. Crudely, a complex system would be anything composed of diverse components that interact in some interesting way: examples would or could include elections, termite mound building, neural assemblies, meteorological systems, and so on. Technically the interest of this pretty much speaks for itself. Historically most interesting for me is the question of what drove the emergence of this 'new science'. Here one gets all manner of nice conundrums: was complexity born with 19th century thermodynamics or with the founding of the santa fe institute in 1984? What role does the computer play in this development? Is it important that many of the figures playing a role in the emergence of complexity science have a strong link to counterculture? And so on.

How did you choose the part of town you wanted to live in?

I spent the summer of 2002 in Berlin: not all that long, but long enough to realise that it is a city easily viewed as a network of villages each with a fairly specific character. So, if you wanted something chic then Charlottenburg was the best bet. If you wanted something dull, then Wilmersdorf. In my own case I was after a corner of town with a bit of grit and edge to it, and also a good music scene, which in 2002 meant either Kreuzberg 36 or Friedrichshain. Throw a dollop of personal 'ostalgia' into this mix and Friedrichshain won out. But a warning: the place moves fast. In the early 90s Mitte and then Prenzlauerberg were cutting edge countercultural hotspots, but these days not so much. In Prenzlauerberg the same generation that in the early 90s would have turned a kindergarten into some club or weird artistic space now wants the kindergarten back. So probably by the time you read this the action will have moved, maybe further east if the trend continues. Or maybe Wilmersdorf is about to have a revolution...? It will be interesting to see...

Berlin has a culture of private bars, places that don't advertise but that are super cool. How do you get into that scene?

If you're just arriving, start with the obvious: Tip and/or Zitty for comprehensive goings-on, Siegesaeule if you're gay, whatever publication that berliners are reading which caters to your tastes. That should get you started, and then after that it's word of mouth.

What are the top three things to do if you're a grad student, done with work for the evening and needed to be around people?

This is highly seasonal! In the summer months, grab some friends and get outside: to one of the many lakes dotted around berlin, to Treptower Park, or to some of the faux beach bars in the vicinity of Ostbahnhof. This should hopefully give you enough sunny memories to survive the winter, which in Berlin basically means four to five months of terminally grey and decidedly cold misery. Once this comes around I would personally recommend placing yourself in the middle of a crowd of sweaty bodies to warm up: Berghain is one good place for this, or the 103, or...this could be a very long sentence. Then for the non-clubbers, the buzzword will be Gemütlichkeit, and any bar or cafe that can provide it. In case of direst emergency, get the fine folk of air berlin to whisk you away to Morocco: in general this is a good source of budget flights to quite a few fun places.

What's it been like to return from Berlin and reacclimatize to the Cambridge world?

In some ways odd: Boston shuts down when Berlin might think about getting started, and that takes some getting used to. But in some ways good: I do, after all, have a dissertation to finish, and there's nothing like a dollop of Massachusetts Puritanism to help that along. And I'm teaching quite a lot and catching up with old friends who are still here, without whom it would have been a harder transition by miles. So no complaints from me!