The Scientific Revolution:

The Origins of Modern Science in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Course description: An introduction to the formative period of modern science. We discuss major ideas and events in the physical and life sciences from Copernicus to Newton. This course also examines significant intersections between science, culture, technology, art, and religion during this period, and also addresses major controversies over proper methods and practices to obtain knowledge about the natural world. We look at the questions raised by those who sought to understand the earth and the heavens, the answers they gained, and the conflicts they generated. We shall also ask additional questions: What was the 'practice' of science five hundred years ago? How did people in times and places different from our own interpret the physical, biological, and social environment surrounding them? Approaching these issues will help us better understand science in our own time - including relationships that are still contested today, such as that between science and religion.

HSTS 412 is a baccalaureate-core course that satisfies the Synthesis requirement in Science, Technology, and Society. This course aims to incorporate elements of critical thinking; it provides a perspective on the scientific approach to understanding and manipulating the world by relating that perspective to its social context. It is suitable for students from diverse fields, and humanities students interested in understanding the role of science in the modern world ere especially welcome. A separate graduate seminar will be arranged for those enrolled in HSTS 512.

Required texts (all paperback, and available at the Memorial Union Bookstore):

Peter Dear, Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge and its Ambitions, 1500-1700.

Allen G. Debus, Man and Nature in the Renaissance.

Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Cosmos.

Course requirements:

For students enrolled in HSTS 412: A mid-term examination and a take-home final examination (to be completed during finals week) are required. The midterm exam (35% of grade) and a final examination (45%) each will consist of short-answer and essay questions that will address the major themes raised in readings, lecture, and discussions. Several short research and writing assignments (3 to 5 pp. in length) are also undertaken during the term. The remainder of course grade consists of class participation, demonstrated by regular attendance, familiarity with course readings, and contributions to in-class discussions and Blackboard discussion forums.

For students enrolled in HSTS 512: In place of the mid-term and final examination, graduate students will prepare a 20-25 page research paper on a topic of your choice, chosen in consultation with the instructor. A five to seven page research paper proposal, articulating your guiding research questions and sources, will be due before the start of class on Thursday, April 28th.

Students are expected to be honest and ethical in their academic work. Academic dishonesty is defined as an intentional act of deception in one of the following areas: cheating-- use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information or study aids; fabrication-- falsification or invention of any information; assisting-- helping another commit an act of academic dishonesty; tampering-- altering or interfering with evaluation instruments and documents; and plagiarism--representing the words or ideas of another person as one's own.

Students with documented disabilities who may need accommodations, who have any emergency medical information the instructor should be aware of, or who need special arrangements in the event of evacuation, should make an appointment with the instructor as early as possible, and no later than the first week of the term. All class materials will be made available in accessible format upon request.

All seminar members are to sign up for the web-based links to this class (which also allow for on-line discussion and debate among students, access to course documents, and participation in group projects). Log on via http://my.oregonstate.edu ; please see handout for further help on setting up your free account. Students are expected to have an active email account as well (any account is fine, though be certain that mail to your ONID account is forwarded correctly). Email is often the best way to reach me.

Students are encouraged to take advantage of the university's Writing Center in preparing research papers for this course. The Writing Center phone is 737-5640; you can also stop by the Writing Desk at The Valley Library, second floor, phone: 737-8385.

Course Outline

1. Week of 28 March: What Was Worth Knowing in 1500?

Meeting 1 (3/29): Introduction to the History of Science

Meeting 2 (3/31): What is a Scientific Revolution?

Reading: [please complete by Thursday, March 31]:

Dear, Introduction and Chap. 1 (pp. 1-29)

Debus, 1-15

2. Week of April 4: What A Renaissance Student Knew: Natural Philosophy and the Transmission of Knowledge

Meeting 3: (4/5) What A Renaissance Scholar Would Know

Meeting 4 (4/7): How to Learn Things in the Sixteenth Century. [Special session with library specialist Dr Jane Nichols]

Reading:

Dear, Chapters 2 and 3 (pp. 30-64)

Debus, Chap. 2 (pp. 16-32)

Koestler, pp. 9-12, 15-16, 19-52

3. Week of April 11: The World on its Head

Meeting 5 (4/12): Copernicus and De revolutionibus

Meeting 6 (4/14): A New World System

--assignment sheet for class meeting on April 14 to follow--

Reading:

Debus, Chap. 4 (pp. 74-100) Koestler, pp. 121-224

4. Week of April 18: Mathematics Challenges Philosophy

Meeting 7 (4/19): The Lure and Power of Observation

Meeting 8 (4/21): Kepler, Galileo, and the New Astronomy

Reading:

Dear, Chap. 4 (pp. 65-79)

Koestler, pp. 227-368

Galileo, Sidereus Nuncius [Starry Messenger, 1610] (please read the Introduction and then the Conclusion)

5. Week of April 25: The Study of Man and Nature

Meeting 9 (4/26): Medicine from Galen to Vesalius

Meeting 10 (4/28): Nature in a Changing World

Reading:

Debus, Chapters 3 and 4 (Pp. 34-73)

J.D. deC. Saunders and C.D. O'Malley, The Illustrations from the Works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels (on reserve at Valley Library, QM25.V4 - spend some time looking at Vesalius' illustrations)

HSTS 512: Research paper proposal due April 28th.

6. Week of May 2: Constructing a Mechanical World

Meeting 11 (5/3): Descartes Builds a Mechanical Universe

Meeting 12 (5/5): Available time to pursue mid-term exam. Midterm Examination Version 2, Midterm Examination Version 2, due 13 May (Tues.) (Shorter Exam, for Thursday 8 May only, may be found by clicking here. Posted 7:40 AM. Deadline: 6 PM.

Reading:

Dear, Chap. 5 (pp. 80-100)

7. Week of May 9: The Organization of Science

Meeting 13 (5/10): Experimental Natural Philosophy in the Royal Society

Meeting 14 (5/12): The Rise of Scientific Institutions

Reading:

Dear, Chap. 6 (pp. 101-130)

Debus, Chap. 7 (pp. 116-130)

8. Week of May 16: Experiment: How to Learn Things About Nature in the Seventeenth Century

Meeting 15 (5/17): The Physics of Galileo [including film presentation]

Meeting 16 (5/19): Harvey and the Circulation of Blood [Extra-credit assignment to be announced. Submit to Blackboard]

Reading:

Dear, Chap. 7 (pp. 131-148)

Debus, Chap. 6 (pp. 101-116)

Galileo, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems [1632] (excerpts; read 'To the Discerning Reader' and the first third of 'The First Day') [5/18: link updated]

9. Week of May 23: Cartesians and Newtonians

Meeting 17 (5/24): Isaac Newton and the Principia [including film presentation]

Meeting 18 (5/26): Newton's Alchemy

Reading:

Dear, Chap. 8 (pp. 149-167)

A Biography of Newton [On-line. Short--read in its entirety.]

10. Week of May 30: Newton's World View and its Legacies

Meeting 19 (5/31): What was Worth Knowing by the Eighteenth Century?

Meeting 20 (6/2): Conclusions

Reading:

Dear, Conclusion (pp. 168-170)

Debus, Chap. 8, pp. 131-141

Koestler, 504-517

UPDATE:

Extra-credit assignment: due Wednesday June 8th [submit to Blackboard]

Final examination will be distributed on or before last week of our course.

Items at Circulation / Reserves at Valley Library:

In addition to copies of the course texts (available for two-day loan), the following items are reserved for this course:

Ronald Brashear and Daniel Lewis. One Thousand Years of the Art and Science of Astronomy San Marino [Calif.] : Huntington Library ; Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2001. QB15.B67.2001

I. Bernard Cohen, ed., An Essay on Newton's Principia. With an Introduction to the Reprint Edition by Ball, W. W. Rouse (Walter William Rouse), 1850-1925. New York, Johnson Reprint Corp., 1972. [QA803.B34.1972]

Robert Hooke, Micrographia: or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. With observations and inquiries thereupon. London, Printed by J. Martyn and J. Allestry, 1665. QH271.H62.1665a

J. B. de C. M. Saunders and Charles D. O'Malley, The Illustrations from the Works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels; With Annotations and Translations, A Discussion of the Plates and their Background, Authorship and Influence, and a Biographical Sketch of Vesalius. Cleveland: World Publishing Co., 1950. [QM25.V4]

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