Spring 2008 Info

FRESHMAN-LEVEL COURSES

1133 - Science and Popular Culture
    Section 001    TR   12:00-1:15   PHSC 212   Associate Professor Katherine Pandora

An interdisciplinary introduction to the interplay between science and popular culture from the Scientific Revolution to the present. Topics include representations of science, scientists, and nature in popular literature, television, and films; the development of zoos and science museums; childhood and science; science journalism; and science fiction.

SOPHOMORE-LEVEL COURSES: THEMES IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

2223 - Lives in Science: History of Science Through Biography
    Section 001   W   2:30-5:20   CEC 121   Associate Professor Katherine Pandora

This course concentrates on biographical accounts of selected scientific figures from various periods and cultures. In tracing the lives, endeavors and careers of a number of interesting scientists, we will examine some relationships between their scientific accomplishments and the circumstances of their lives. Also, in analyzing and interpreting biographical works (including autobiographies), we will recognize different kinds of biographical treatment, and the various aims and purposes these have served.

JUNIOR/SENIOR-LEVEL COURSES: BASIC SURVEY COURSES
 
3013 - (3 independently run sections)

History of Science to the Age of Newton: The Origins and Early Development of Science

Prerequisite: Junior standing or above or permission of instruct
    Section 001   MWF  9:30-10:20  PHSC 224   Assistant Professor Kathleen Crowther
    Section 002    TR    10:30-11:45  PHSC 212   Assistant Professor Rienk Vermij
    Section 010   MW   11:30-12:20  PHSC 224   Assistant Professor Kathleen Crowther
   Section 010 requires enrollment in one of the following discussion sections
        Section 011   R   1:30-2:20         PHSC 223    Staff
        Section 012   F   11:30-12:20    PHSC 212    Staff
        Section 013   F   11:30-12:20    PHSC 224   Assistant Professor Kathleen Crowther

A survey of understandings of the natural world from Antiquity to the Seventeenth century. This course explores how people in different times and places have explained such phenomena as the motions of the planets and the workings of the human body. Throughout we will pay particular attention to the cultural settings in which theories about the natural world were produced. We will also examine the impact of scientific ideas and discoveries upon human societies and cultures.

3023 - (3 independently run sections)

History of Science since the 17th Century: The Foundation and Growth of Modern Science

Prerequisite: Junior standing or above or permission of instructor
    Section 900    TR     4:30-5:45     PHSC 224      Assistant Professor Piers Hale
    Section 001    TR    9:00-10:15    PHSC 225      Professor Peter Barker
      Section 001 requires permission of Honors Office for enrollment
    Section 010   MW   10:30-11:20  PHSC 224     Associate Professor Hunter Heyck 
    Section 010 requires enrollment in one of the following discussion sections
       Section 011   R     9:30-10:20   COH 340      Staff
       Section 012   F   10:30-11:20   PHSC 102     Staff
       Section 013   F   10:30-11:20   PHSC 224     Associate Professor Hunter Heyck
     
A survey tracing the development of major concepts, discoveries, and methods in physical, biological, and earth sciences, as well as the interaction between science and other institutions, in the early modern and modern periods. Emphasis is given to the growth of scientific thought in modern times, to the effects of increasing respect for science among 18th- and 19th-century Europeans and Americans, and to the emergence of pure and applied science as major forces in modern civilization.

JUNIOR/SENIOR-LEVEL COURSES: INTERMEDIATE TOPICS COURSES

3433 - Science, Technology, & Politics: International Perspectives

Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of instructor
    Section 001   MWF   12:30-1:20   PHSC 212    Associate Professor Stephen Weldon

Science and technology play an increasing role in the political life of nations and in international politics, and this course offers an opportunity for students to gain perspective on this topic. While the list of questions on policy agendas is nearly limitless, examples are: genetically-modified food; AIDS; global warming; cloning; bioterrorism; nuclear proliferation; and regulation of the Internet. This course approaches questions about the politics of science and technology from within a comparative framework, encouraging students to develop an international perspective on this topic. The readings will use case studies from different national contexts in order to facilitate this comparative framework, lectures will provide important connective and background material, and discussions will allow students to build analytical perspectives by bringing together their own diverse interpretations.

3463 - Cold War Science

Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of instructor
    Section 001   TR   1:30-2:45   PHSC 224    Professor Peter Barker

Science and technology during the Cold War, including strategic weapons and SDI, nuclear power and the environment, the space race, science in popular culture, and science and foreign policy.

3473 - History of Ecology & Environmentalism

Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of instructor
    Section 001    MWF   1:30-2:20  PHSC 224   Associate Professor Hunter Heyck

This course explores changing ideas and attitudes towards nature and its exploitation from the Industrial Revolution to the present, focusing on the relationships among science, industrial development, and environmental politics. The course centers on the science of ecology, with attention paid to the political ramifications of particular ideas and how they have been incorporated into environmental discussions (e.g. conservation, the Dust Bowl era, population control, the DDT controversy, rainforest deforestation).
 

ADVANCED COURSES
 

Prerequisite: Graduate standing and instructor's permission
     Section 001   R   1:30-4:20  BL 325     Assistant Professor Rienk Vermij

This course deals with science and natural theology at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century. We will discuss the problems concerning the relation between science and religion which had risen during the second half of the seventeenth century, and which natural theology tried to answer. We shall have a general look on the development of natural theology in Britain and (as far as possible) on the continent. For a closer study, we will concentrate on the work of the famous naturalist John Ray, in particular his Three Physico-theological Discourses (1693).

5550 - Topics in the History of Science: Science, Technology, and Colonialism

Prerequisite: Graduate standing and instructor's permission
     Section 001   T   1:30-4:20   BL 325     Assistant Professor Suzanne Moon

This course explores the history and historiography of science and technology in European colonial expansion in the modern period. It investigates the political, social, and cultural character of colonial scientific and technological practices that sought to represent, exploit, and transform the colonized world. Of special interest will be mutual interactions of Western and indigenous ways of knowing and doing and the ways that these interactions shaped colonial and post-colonial society.

5970 - Seminar: Research, Criticism, and Analysis

Prerequisite: Graduate standing and instructor’s permission
     Section 001  W  1:30-4:20  BL 325   Assistant Professor Piers Hale

In this course, students will engage with feminist and other cultural critiques of science, its practice and practitioners, as well as of the practice of writing history. Students will study the historical and intellectual context of these critiques as well as being asked to think deeply about the cultural role of the historian.

5990 - Graduate Survey: Modern

Prerequisite: Graduate standing and instructor’s permission
     Section 002      TBA     BL 325   Associate Professor Hunter Heyck

Graduate introduction to selected topics in the history of modern science. Possible topics include history of biology and the environment, history of technology, history of science and popular culture, history of the social sciences, and history of the relationship between science and religion.