Syllabus
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Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1 hour / session
Recitations: 1 session / week, 1 hour / session
Description
This course will study the development of modern science from the seventeenth century to the present, focusing on Europe and the United States. Key questions include: What is science, and how is it done? How are discoveries made and accepted? What is the nature of scientific progress? What is the impact of science on society? What is the impact of society on science? Topics will be drawn from the histories of physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and medicine.
Requirements
This class requires 1) active participation in both lectures and weekly recitation sections, 2) a series of written assignments, and 3) a midterm and final exam.
Recitation Sections
Each week's readings must be read prior to recitation section. Active participation in the discussions is required.
Weekly Writing Exercises
A short (roughly 300 words) reading response assignment must be submitted prior to each recitation.
Papers
Two papers are required, each roughly 2000 words (7-8 pages). The papers must be submitted prior to Ses #12 and #24, respectively.
For research consultations, you can meet with MIT's reference librarian for History of Science and Technology.
Exams
There will be closed-book midterm and final exams, based on material from both lectures and readings.
Grading
Final grades will be based on:
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Participation | 15% |
| Weekly writing | 20% |
| Paper 1 | 10% |
| Midterm | 15% |
| Paper 2 | 20% |
| Final exam | 20% |
Required Books
Two books are required.
Bowler, Peter J., and Iwan Rhys Morus. Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780226068619.
Frayn, Michael. Copenhagen. New York, NY: Anchor, 2000. ISBN: 9780385720793.
Class Schedule
| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1. The legacy of the scientific revolution | ||
| 1 | Introduction: the rise of modern science | |
| 2 | The legacy of the scientific revolution | |
| Weeks 2-3. Enlightenment science | ||
| 3 | Science in the enlightenment | |
| 4 | Natural history and colonialism | Week 2 response due |
| 5 | Enlightenment chemistry | Week 3 response due |
| Weeks 4-5. The nineteenth century: organism and mechanism | ||
| 6 | Romantic science | |
| 7 | The science of life | Week 4 response due |
| 8 | Thermodynamics and the industrial revolution | |
| 9 | Physics and the telegraph | Week 5 response due |
| Weeks 6-7. Evolution | ||
| 10 | Darwin and natural selection | |
| 11 | Evolution and society | Week 6 response due |
| 12 | Scientific medicine | Paper 1 due |
| Midterm exam | ||
| Weeks 8-9. Fin-de-siècle and the crisis of objectivity | ||
| 13 | The image of objectivity | |
| 14 | Freud and the science of the mind | Week 8 response due |
| 15 | Relativity theory and Swiss clocks | |
| 16 | Quantum mechanics and postwar culture | Week 9 response due |
| Weeks 10-11. Science and war | ||
| 17 | Science and World War II | |
| 18 | Sputnik and the origins of the space race | Week 10 response due |
| 19 | Physics and the cold war | Week 11 response due |
| Weeks 12-13. Genetics and society | ||
| 20 | Eugenics | |
| 21 | Molecular biology | Week 12 response due |
| 22 | The race for the human genome | |
| 23 | Genetic engineering | Week 13 response due |
| Week 14. Science in the 21st century | ||
| 24 | Science in the 21st century | Paper 2 due |
| 25 | Course overview | |
