Revolutions in Science and Technology
HSS 201
Fall 2009, KAIST
Wednesday & Friday, 11:00 am -12:15 pm
N4 Building 1124
INSTRUCTOR: Prof. Buhm Soon Park (박범순)
· Email: [email protected]
· Phone: 042-350-4617
· Office: N4, 1423
· Office hour: Before or after the class or by appointment
· Course website: http://club.cyworld.com/revolutionst
TA: Youngkyu Kim (김영규: 010-9612-9075, [email protected])
COURSE DESCRIPTION
A text book in science and technology chronicles great discoveries and inventions, but not all of them are seen as
“revolutionary.” When and how do revolutions in science and technology occur? What are the consequences of
the revolutionary events? How are they related to major social and political upheavals, such as the Industrial
Revolution, the French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution, and World War I and II?
This course explores the revolutions in modern science and technology and their impact upon the social structure
and the industrial development by examining a variety of cases, including the Scientific Revolution, the Chemical
Revolution, the Darwinian revolution, the Quantum revolution, the Computer revolution, and the revolution in
biology.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING
· Class attendance: 10 %
· Participation in discussion (including voluntary presentation): 10 %
· 7 weekly worksheets: 30 %
· Team project: presentation (10 min) 15 %, and term paper (5 pages) 15 %
· Final exam: 20 %
THE ASSIGNMENTS
· Participation in discussion: You are required to complete the reading assignment before the start of the
class. To facilitate the student’s participation, I will raise a general question about the reading or
frequently ask the students to give their thought on it. You will be given an opportunity to give
presentations on selected subjects. In short, you should be prepared for discussion in class.
· 8 worksheets (1-2 pages, single-spaced): To help you not to be drowned in the sea of facts, I will pose 35 questions to think about. You are required to write a paragraph-length answer to each question. Note:
(1) The worksheet should be submitted in class on a due date (the late worksheet will get a penalty); (2)
Do not plagiarize or make an exact copy of expression from texts or internet sources.
· Team project: This is intended to improve your presentation and writing skills. Each team of two
members is required to choose and conduct research on one Nobel Prize in the past 20 years that is likely
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·
to revolutionize scientific or technological fields in the future. You should investigate the intellectual and
social context in which the Nobel laureates made path-breaking discoveries and think about the meaning
of scientific revolution in society. Note: (1) Presentation: 10 min. presentation and 2 min Q &A; (2)
Term paper: 5 pages, double spaced, TimesRoman12 font, reasonable margin, MS Word format, fully
edited for spelling and grammar
Final examination: It covers the whole semester. Weekly worksheets will be useful for your preparation.
REQUIRED READINGS
· Text
Ø Peter J. Bowler and Iwan Phys Morus, Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey (University
of Chicago Press, 2005)
Ø James McClellan III and Harold Dorn, Science and Technology in World History: An
Introduction (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999)
Ø Michel Morange, A History of Molecular Biology (Harvard University Press, 1998)
Ø Thomas J. Misa, Leonardo to the Internet: Technology and Culture from the Renaissance to the
Present (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004)
Ø Bruce Mazlish, The Fourth Discontinuity: The Co-evolution of Humans and Machines (Yale
University Press, 1993)
· Text materials assigned for reading will be available to purchase at the copy room in the library
· Additional readings may be handed out in class or uploaded on the course website.
REFERENCE WEBSITES
· Copernicus
Ø MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St. Andrews
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Copernicus.html
Ø De Revolutions
http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/year-text-Copernicus.html
·
Galileo
Ø The Galileo Project at Rice University http://galileo.rice.edu/
Ø Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/galileo/dialogue.html
Ø Dialogue Concerning Two New Sciences
http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/tns_draft/index.html
·
Newton
Ø Newton Project
http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/prism.php?id=1
Ø Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
http://rack1.ul.cs.cmu.edu/is/newton/
Ø Opticks, or A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light
http://www.archive.org/stream/opticksoratreat00newtgoog#page/n6/mode/2up
·
Priestley
Ø The Priestley Society http://www.priestleysociety.net/
Ø Lists of Priestley’s works available online
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Joseph_Priestley#External_links_to_fulltext_works_online
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·
Lavoisier
Ø Chemical Heritage Foundation
http://www.chemheritage.org/classroom/chemach/forerunners/lavoisier.html
Ø Essays Physical and Chemical
http://www.archive.org/details/essaysphysicala00lavogoog
Ø Elements of Chemistry
http://www.archive.org/details/elementschemist00lavogoog
·
Faraday
Ø The Royal Institute of Great Britain
http://www.rigb.org/
Ø Experimental research in electricity
http://www.archive.org/details/experimentalrese00faraiala
Ø On the various forces of matter, and their relations to each other
http://www.archive.org/details/onvariousforceso00farauoft
·
James Clerk Maxwell
Ø http://www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/
Ø http://www.archive.org/details/scientificpapers01maxw
·
Darwin
Ø The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online (including Darwin’s work)
http://darwin-online.org.uk/
Ø Natural History Museum: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/darwin/
·
Einstein
Ø Nobelprize.org
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-bio.html
Ø Albert Einstein Online
http://www.westegg.com/einstein/
Ø American Museum of Natural History: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/einstein/
·
Bohr
Ø Nobelprize.org
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1922/
Ø On the Constitution of Atoms and Molecules
http://web.ihep.su/dbserv/compas/src/bohr13/eng.pdf
·
Pauling
Ø Pauling Papers: http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/index.html
Ø Profiles in Science: Pauling Papers
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/MM/
·
Watson & Crick
Ø Profiles in Science: The Francis Crick Papers
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/Views/Exhibit/narrative/doublehelix.html
Ø The New York Times 50th anniversary series of articles
http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2003/02/25/health/genetics/index.html
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COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1: Introduction
2/3: Course preview: Science and technology in the modern world
2/5: Film: Light Fantastic
Week 2: The Scientific Revolution
2/10: New foundations of knowledge (Worksheet #1 due)
Ÿ Reading: Bowler and Morus, “Chapter 2: The Scientific Revolution”
Ÿ Websites: Copernicus, Galileo
2/12: The culture of Newtonianism
Ÿ Reading: Voltaire, Letters on England, Letters 14 and 15
Ÿ Website: Newton
Week 3: The Chemical Revolution
2/17: Alchemy and chemistry (Worksheet #2 due)
Ÿ Reading: Bowler and Morus, “Chapter 3: The Chemical Revolution”
Ÿ Website: Priestly and Lavoisier
2/19: Elements and atoms
Ÿ Film: Part on Lavoisier
Week 4: The Industrial Revolution
2/24: Industrialization and social change (Worksheet #3 due)
Ÿ Reading: McClellan III and Harold Dorn, “Chapter 13: The Industrial Revolution”
2/26: Film on the Industrial Revolution
Week 5: Science of Energy
3/3: The conservation of energy (Worksheet #4 due)
Ÿ Reading: Bowler and Morus, “Chapter 4: The Conservation of Energy”
Ÿ Film: Part on Faraday
Ÿ Website: Faraday
3/5: Maxwell and Helmholtz
Ÿ Film: Part on Maxwell
Ÿ Website: Maxwell
Week 6: The Darwinian Revolution (Worksheet #5 due)
3/10: The idea of evolution
Ÿ Reading: Bowler and Morus, “Chapter 6: The Darwinian Revolution,” pp. 129-149
Ÿ Website: Darwin
3/12: Film on Darwin
Week 7: After Darwin
3/17: The reception of Darwinism
Ÿ Reading: Bowler and Morus, “Chapter 6: The Darwinian Revolution,” pp. 149-162
3/19: Social Darwinism and eugenics
Week 8: Midterm Exam Period—No Class
Week 9: The Business of Science (Worksheet #6 due)
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3/31: The chemical industry and the electrical industry
Ÿ Reading: Misa, “Chapter 5: Science and Systems”
4/2: Battle of the systems
Ÿ Film: Edison’s Miracle of Light
Week 10: The Boundary of Science
4/7: The nature of humans
Ÿ Reading: Mazlish, “Chapter 6: Freud and Pavlov”
4/9: Science, Engineering, and Politics: The Soviet case
Ÿ Special lecture by TA
Week 11: The Quantum Revolution (Worksheet #7 due)
4/14: The giants of modern physics: Einstein, Bohr, and Heisenberg
Ÿ Reading: Bowler and Morus, “Chapter 11: Twentieth-Century Physics”
Ÿ Webiste: Bohr, Einstein
4/16: The new foundation of chemistry
Ÿ Webiste: Linus Pauling
Week 12: The Revolution in Biology (Worksheet #8 due)
4/21: The double helix
Ÿ Reading: Morange, “Chapter 11: The Discovery of the Double Helix”
Ÿ Website: Watson and Crick
4/23: Manipulating genes
Ÿ Reading: Morange, “Chapter 16: Genetic Engineering”
Ÿ Film on the development of recombinant DNA technology
Week 13: Team Project Presentation
4/28:
4/30:
Week 14: The Computer Revolution
5/5: National Holiday (No class)
5/7: Computers and Internet
Ÿ Reading: Misa, “Chapter 8: Toward Global Culture”
Week 15: Conclusion
5/12: Review of the course for the exam
5/14: Final Exam in class
Week 16: Final Exam Period, no class
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
I support KAIST’s zero-tolerance policy on academic dishonesty, especially on cheating and plagiarism, and will
enforce it strictly. I believe that an important part of academic life is to learn how to conceive your own ideas, not
how to copy someone else’s. You are welcome to discuss the subject materials with your friends and consult with
reference books, but when you write an essay, you should organize your thoughts by yourself and make an
argument in your own style. Ignorance is not an excuse. I will explain in class how to avoid plagiarism in writing.
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