Interests of the faculty range widely from the development of scientific
ideas to the mutual interaction of science and culture. Research programs
include science and religion in 18th and 19th century Germany, scientific
networks in the 17th century, 14th-16th century European philosophy and
philosophy of science, 14th-16th century European gender and science.
Faculty
Robert Hatch
Frederick Gregory
Maria Portuondo
Betty Smocovitis
Resources
Very rich library primary sources in 17th century science and philosophy (including
early English books online, which contains all printed books in English to
1700), as well as 18th and 19th century German journals.
Courses
HIS 5461—Studies in Ancient and Medieval Science (3) Topical approach
to origins of science from second millennium B.C. to rebirth of classical thought
in fifteen century. Topics derive primarily form Hellenic and Hellenistic Greece;
focus on works of Aristotle, Galen,Ptolemy, their principal contemporaries,
and later Islamic and Latin followers.
HIS 5484—Science and the Enlightenment (3) Theoretical developments in the physical and biological sciences between the late seventeenth and late eighteenth centuries, including significance of social and cultural dimensions of natural science.
HIS 5485—Special Studies in the History of Science (3; max: 6)
HIS 5500—Life Science Since 1800 (3) Critical problems of concern to biologists. Role of mechanistic/materialistic vs. vitalistic and reductionistic vs. holistic approaches to development of biology, as well as relationship of biology to physical and social sciences.
HIS 6480—Pre-Newtonian Sciences (4) Physical and life sciences; may cut across chronological, geographical, and disciplinary boundaries.
HIS 6482—Modern Physical Science (4) Prereq: HIS 5500 or consent of instructor. Issues surrounding individual episodes from history of physics and/or chemistry in post-Newtonian era.
HIS 6486—Seminar: Modern Biological Science (4; max: 8) Prereq: HIS 5500 or permission of instructor. Themes and issues. Persistent controversies in evolutionary theory such as nature of selection, units of selection, evolutionary rates, and relationship of macroevolution to microevolution. Close reading of On the Origin of the Species and other text.
HIS 6488—Readings in the History of Science (1-4; max: 4) Inquiry into development of western scientific thought and institutions. Specific historical topics having intellectual coherence and substantial historiography.
HIS 6489—Seminar: Social and Cultural History
of Science (4) Inquiry into social and cultural contexts of western science.
Literature, cultural values, religious beliefs, and educational institutions
in western civilization. Issue of gender in science.
Current programs (lectures, conferences, and reading groups)
Ongoing interdisciplinary and informal reading group, involving faculty from
departments all around the university both inside and outside the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
