Physics 301:

A Physicists View of Nature:
The Historical Role of Observation, Argument and Discovery
and the Advancement of Science

Your Grades to Date

This course will focus on the historical development of science in the context of embedded culture. That is, we will probe the cultural conditions that must exist before scientific theory is accepted. We will concentrate on a few important historical periods to identify and assess various scientific ideas within those periods in the context of both social and technological settings. Throughout, we will attempt to trace the origin, transmission and refinement of scientific ideas from their early inception to their modern manifestation. The intent of this course is to focus on how science is done as well as how science is perceived in a cultural context. We will consider 4 main historical periods organized in a series of modules. There will be 1 homework assignment per module. These will be in the form of written essays of length 800 - 1000 words. If possible, please submit these essays in Microsoft Word format. While there is no formal textbook required for this course, the book by James Burke, entitled The Day the Universe Changed , will certainly be relevant to the bulk of the course material. The four modules will be oriented around the following historical periods: Early Greek The Renaissance The 19th Century Early 20th Century ALL HOMEWORK SHOULD BE EMAILED TO: rdrummon@uoregon.edu

Some Internet Resources for This Class

• Overview of many of the topics in this class
• All about Aristotle
• Early History of Optics
• Key Players in the History of Science
• Origins of Modernity (highly recommended site)
• Chronology of Writings about the Age of the Earth
• The Age of the Earth Debate
• The Nature of Science
• Evolving Models of the Solar System
• More about SpaceTime and Universal Expansion
• Most Important Events in Astronomical History
• All about Ptolemy
• Cardinal Nicholas de Cusa
• On the Nature of Things - Lucretius
• Scientific Misconduct
• Captives of Controversy: The Myth of the Neutral Social Researcher in Contemporary Scientific Controversies
• The Shapley-Curtis Debate