Courses: Spring 2007
History of Science 100: Great Scientists
3 cr.; Z (Humanities or Social Science), E (Elementary); 6:30-7:45 PM TR, 4308 Social Science; Prerequisites: Open to freshmen and honors students.
Instructor: Matthew Lavine
This course is an introduction not only to the lives and works of influential scientists, but to the study of the history of science in general. In this broad biographical survey covering figures from Plato to Rachel Carson, we will discuss both the content of their ideas and the cultures that gave rise to them. In the process, we will come to a better understanding of what "science" meant in different contexts over the course of three millennia.
This class, which meets in the early evening for the convenience of all members of the UW-Madison community, is appropriate for any student who is new to the history of science. Reading assignments include primary sources--the original words of the scientists we are studying--but no particular scientific expertise is needed. Evaluation will be based on a combination of class participation, written work, and a final exam or essay.
History of Science 201: The Origins of Scientific Thought
(meets with ILS 201)
3 cr.; H (Humanities), E (Elementary); 11:00-12:15 TR, 19 Ingraham, 2 lectures and 1 discussion section per week. See also the parallel course, Integrated Liberal Studies 201, which meets with History of Science 201 and bestows natural science credit at the introductory level. Prerequisites: None; open to freshmen.
Instructor: Michael Shank
This course is the first of a three-term sequence that examines the development of science in cultural and intellectual context from antiquity to the twentieth century. This first course begins with ancient Greek philosophy, about 600 B.C., and concludes with Isaac Newton, who died in 1727. Lectures and readings will trace the unfolding of Greek philosophies, particularly those of the atomists, Plato, and Aristotle, into the natural philosophy of the Middle Ages and the mathematical and experimental science of the 17th century.
The central threads will be astronomy and cosmology, but we will also make frequent excursions into neighboring disciplines. We will also consider scientific institutions and the relationship between science and other features of European culture: the educational system that made progress possible, the encounter between science and religion, and the close relationship between science and philosophy. Finally, we will follow the geographical itinerary of Western science from ancient Greece and Rome to medieval Islam, back to medieval Europe, and ultimately to Europe at the beginning of the modern era.
History of Science 202: The Making of Modern Science
(meets with ILS 202)
3 cr.; H (Humanities), E (Elementary); 11:00 TR; 5206 Social Science, 2 lectures and 1 discussion section per week. Prerequisite: Open to freshmen.
Instructor: Richard Staley
This course offers an introduction to the history of the sciences between the work of Isaac Newton in the late seventeenth century and Albert Einstein in the early twentieth, with the aim of understanding how science came to be so important in modern culture. Investigating the historical significance of such fundamental scientific concepts as gravity, energy, and evolution, and the complex interrelations between theory and experiment, we study the changing ways that scientific and social values have been interwoven in Western culture. Setting the work of individual scientists in social context the course traces links between ideas, instruments and institutions across both disciplinary and national boundaries. Our studies deliver insight into the changing relations among science and technology, science and religion and science and the state, as we explore the rise of laboratory-based sciences, the changing cultural status of the scientist, and the professionalization of the scientific disciplines.
History of Science/History of Medicine 212: The Physician in History
(crosslisted with Medical History)
3 cr.; H (Humanities), E (Elementary); 2:25 MW, 5206 Social Science, 2 lectures and 1 discussion section per week. Prerequisites: Open to freshmen, for Honors credit concurrent registration in Hist Sci/Hist Med 284 or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Thomas Broman
This course presents an introductory survey of the history of medicine during the past 2500 years, and is aimed primarily at pre-medical students and others interested in careers in the health professions. It explains how the understanding of health and illness has evolved in Western culture, and describes how physicians have used those meanings as a source of status and authority in different ages. Most importantly, by providing the "long perspective" on the history of medicine, the course attempts to challenge some widely held assumptions about the ways that experimental science has contributed to modern medicine.
The first theme, titled “The Cause of Illness,” examines how thinking about health and illness has evolved between the time of the ancient Greeks 2500 years ago and today. The changes described there, as will be made clear, have not all been for the better. The second unit, “The Physician in Society,” could as well have been titled “The Rise and Fall of the Medical Profession.” It studies how the physician’s identity as an actor in society has evolved from the time of the Middle Ages to today. In particular, it is concerned with how medicine rose to a position of preeminence among modern professions in the early 20th century and it describes the challenges of “deprofessionalization” that some branches of medicine face today. Finally, our third unit will examine “Health and Disease As Social and Political Problems.” This unit covers public health, the area of medicine concerned not with why individuals fall ill and how to treat them, but instead with illness and health in society taken as a whole. This unit too begins in the Middle Ages and it continues through the horrifying conditions of public health in the 19th century to the contentious problem of paying for health care today. Public health has transformed from the problem of how to keep people from dying prematurely to how to insure an adequate level of health care for the population as a whole.
Course Requirements: The basic requirement for the course consists of three 5-page papers, one assigned at the end of each unit, in which students respond to a question about the major themes of the unit. The essay requires that students use the readings assigned during the unit to provide evidence for their essay. Discussion sections will also feature some shorter and more informal writing assignments.
Texts: Packet of photocopied readings.
History of Science 230: Agriculture and Social Change in Western History
(crosslisted with Rural Soc)
3 cr.; Z (Humanities or Social Science), E (Elementary); 9:30-10:45 AM TR, 10 Ag Hall; Prerequisite: Open to freshmen.
Instructor: Jess Gilbert
Agricultural practices and social history from prehistoric times to the present. Topics include origins of agriculture, feudalism, agriculture in the Industrial Revolution, farming in America, and the consequences of the Green Revolution.
History of Science/History of Medicine 284: The Physician in History - Honors
(crosslisted with Medical History)
1 cr.; H (Humanities), E (Elementary); 4:30 PM T, 6304 Social Science. Prerequisites: Concurrent registration for honors in Hist Sci/Hist Med 212 or consent of instructor. Open to freshmen.
Instructor: Thomas Broman
This course is a one-credit honors option that accompanies HOS/HOM 212. By signing up for this course and registering simultaneously for honors in 212, you will receive 4 credits of honors course work. Because we meet in a seminar-type discussion format, enrollment is limited to 12.
The theme for 284 this time will be “Plague in History.” We will examine how the idea of "plague" took root in the ancient world and study how it evolved through the Black Death in the Middle Ages and down through the epidemics of cholera in the 19th century and AIDS today. The emphasis of these discussions is not so much on the details of how many people died at different times, but instead on how the idea of plague has made itself felt in history through various writings. We will be reading a wide variety of historical materials, along with works of fiction such as Albert Camus’ famous novel The Plague and Connie Willis’s excellent novel Doomsday Book.
Requirements: Apart from doing assigned readings and attending the 9 or 10 discussions during the semester, each student is asked to prepare one 2–3 page "think piece" as an introduction for one week's discussion, and to expand the think piece into a 5-page paper at the end of the semester.
History of Science 325: History of Physics: The Classical Period
3 cr.; H (Humanities), I (Intermediate); 9:55 MWF; 6116 Social Science. Prerequisite: junior standing.
Instructor: Richard Staley
This course surveys the history of physics and related sciences from the seventeenth to the end of the nineteenth century, setting the development of the ideas and methods of "classical" science in social and cultural context. Topics include the emergence of an experimental methodology, mechanics and the Newtonian world view, the history of optics, electricity and magnetism, and thermodynamics. We will trace the interplay of idea and experiment, image and machine across the library, laboratory, exhibition-hall and factory in exploring the changing relations between science and technology, science and religion, and science and the state. Our aim will be to explain the role of the physical sciences in the emergence of the modern industrial world, and to build an understanding of key factors in the vibrant - and troubled - ferment of human knowledge and society circa 1900.
History of Science 343: The Darwinian Revolution
3 cr.; H (Humanities), A (Advanced); 11:00 MWF; B223 Van Vleck, Graduate discussion 1:20 W; 6105 Social Science. Prerequisites: junior standing or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Lynn Nyhart
The publication of Charles Darwin's famous book, On the Origin of Species, has often been viewed as a pivotal event in both the history of biology and the broader history of civilization. This course explores the validity of the claim of a Darwinian "revolution," examining the state of evolutionary thought before and after Darwin's famous publication. We will follow two chief aspects of evolutionary thoery: its scientific twists and turns, and its significance as a broader cultural way of thought, with both religious and sociopolitical implications. At the border between these two realms lies the subject of human evolution, which will form a third distinct theme in the course. Coverage will extend across Britain, Europe, and America, and across audiences from elite scientists to the broader reading public. While concentrating mainly on the nineteenth century, the course will also take the story forward through the “Modern Synthesis” of evolution and genetics in the 1940s to recent issues.
Readings: will include excerpts from important evolutionary writers, including J. B. Lamarck, Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, August Weismann, Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ernst Mayr, and E. O. Wilson; and secondary works by historians, including Peter J. Bowler's Evolution: The History of an Idea (third edition).
Undergraduate Course Requirements: There will be three take-home essays. All undergraduates are also required to turn in regular one-page typed responses to the readings.
Grading: 25% each essay; 25% class participation, including reading responses
Graduate writing requirements: Graduate students will meet in a separate discussion section. In addition to the undergraduates’ readings, grad students will be responsible for reading a number of scholarly books in the field, some collectively, some individually. Grad writing requirements will consist of approximately 25 pages of scholarly prose, either in the form of book reviews, an essay review, preparation of an annotated bibliography in anticipation of a prelim field, or a research paper, as befits the individual’s stage in the graduate program. Grad student grades will be based on evaluation of a combination of discussion and writing.
History of Science 350: Special Topics
Topic: The Printed Scientific Book
3 cr.; H (Humanities), D (Intermediate or Advanced); 3:30-5:30 M; 984 Memorial Library. Prerequisites: sophomore Honors or junior standing.
Instructor: Robin Rider
Using as examples rare books in Special Collections and a variety of other printed and electronic resources, this course will explore the printing and publication of science from the late 15th century to the present, with attention to cultural, economic, social, esthetic, and technological factors affecting the dissemination of scientific ideas. The reading list will draw from history of science and technology, history of the book, and cultural history.
History of Science 401: History of Pharmacy
(crosslisted with S&A Pharmacy)
2 cr.; H (Humanities), I (Intermediate); 11:00 TR, 2006 Rennebohm. Perquisites: junior standing or consent of instructor.
Instructor: John Scarborough
Pharmaceutical field, from antiquity to modern medical care; professional; structuring in principle countries of the West.
History of Science 431: Childbirth in the United States
(crosslisted with Medical History and Womens Studies)
3 cr.; S (Social Science), D (Intermediate or Advanced); 1:00-2:15 TR; 1010 Medical Sciences Center. Prerequisites: Women Studies 103 or 430 or equiv.; or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Judith Leavitt
The course examines women’s childbirth experiences in the United States from the colonial period to today. It addresses throughout questions of authority and decision-making issues that remain central in women’s health policy debates today. Basic physiology of childbirth, interactions between birthing women and their attendants, changes in experiences over time, and evolving ideas about “choices” in childbirth are major themes addressed during the semester.
The class is conducted as a seminar-discussion.
History of Science 512: Galileo Galilei: Life, Writings, and Interpretations
3 cr.; A (Advanced); 4:00-5:15 PM TR; 6116 Social Science. Prerequisites: sophomore Honors or junior standing.
Instructor: Michael Shank
CANCELLED
In both the popular imagination and the history of science, Galileo Galilei casts a shadow of almost mythic proportions in accounts of science and religion, as well as the history of physics and astronomy. Interpretations of his achievement and its context thus span an extraordinary range. The course offers an introduction to his writings with emphasis on his context (Pisa, Padua, Florence, Rome), and to the many interpretations of both his scientific work and his trial. The course format combines lecture and discussion.
Readings will include much of Galileo’s Dialogue on the two Chief World Systems; Drake, ed., Opinions and Discoveries of Galileo; Finocchiaro, ed., The Galileo Affair; Blackwell, Galileo, Bellarmine, and the Bible; a course reader.
History of Science 513: Environment and Health in Global Perspective
(crosslisted with Medical History and IES)
3 cr.: Z (Humanities or Social Science), A (Advanced); 9:30-10:45 TR, 155 Van Hise. Prerequisite: junior standing.
Instructor: Gregg Mitman
Although Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring helped mobilize the environmental movement in exposing the environmental and health hazards of chemicals like pesticides, she was not the first to raise concerns about the relationships between environment and health. Rather, she tapped into a long history of medical, scientific, and citizen involvement in combating pollution and other environmental hazards found in places where people lived, worked, and played. This course explores the historical relationships between environmental change and human health from the 17th through the 20th century. How, for example, did microbes become biological agents of empire in historical patterns of settlement and conquest? And, in what ways did colonial encounters with indigenous populations and new diseases alter conceptions of health and the environment? How have issues of class, gender, ethnicity, and global relations played a historical role in the disparities of exposure to environmental hazards? What commonalities and differences have attended the rise of concerns and conflicts over worker illnesses such as black lung over time and place? And how have particular places, from nuclear waste sites to hay fever resorts, been altered by the health concerns of their habitants? These are some of the questions this course will illuminate in its historical exploration of environment and health within a global perspective.
History of Science 555: Undergraduate Seminar
Topic: Science and Exploration
3 cr.; A (Advanced); 3:30-5:25 T, 4308 Social Science. Prerequisites: Open to History of Science majors only; initial preference to seniors.
Instructor: Gary Blair Nelson
This seminar introduces majors in History of Science to the process of doing history, not just reading it. The course will guide students through the steps involved in producing a 15 to 25-page paper based on original historical research using primary sources. These steps include selecting a topic, creating bibliographies, analyzing historical sources, constructing arguments about historical questions, and writing/revising an historical research paper. Most of the required work will consist of library research and writing.
The topic for this semester focuses on how European concepts of nature colored - and were themselves colored by - early modern European exploration of the globe during the two centuries or so following Christopher Columbus' 'discovery' of the New World.
History of Science 562: Byzantine Medicine and Pharmacy
(crosslisted with S&A Pharmacy, History, Medical History and Medieval Studies)
3 cr.; H (Humanities), D (Intermediate or Advanced); 2:30-3:45 TR, 2327 Sterling; Prerequisites: junior or senior standing or consent of instructor.
Instructor: John Scarborough
Byzantine and Islamic medicine and drug lore from Oribasius to the beginnings of the Italian Renaissance (c. 350-c. 1400 A.D.).
History of Science 668 Lecture 1
Topic: From Gettysburg to Gaza: War, Medicine & History
(crosslisted with Medical History)
3 cr.; A (Advanced); 3:30-5:30 R; 240 Van Hise. Prerequisite: junior standing.
Instructor: Rosalind Hearder
The widespread application of penicillin, pioneering techniques in surgery, the treatment of tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever: these are only some of the many advances in modern medicine that have been developed in the military and in times of war. Particularly since the 19th century, warfare has accelerated, and in some cases, been the direct cause of new knowledge in medicine. In this course, we will study some of the impacts of war and conflict on medical innovation from the American Civil War to contemporary military and peacekeeping operations.
History of Science 668 Lecture 2
Topic: In Syknesse & in Healthe: A History of Medicine in the Middle Ages
(crosslisted with Medical History)
3 cr.; A (Advanced); 2:30-3:45 TR, 223 Van Hise; Prerequisite: junior standing.
Instructor: Walton Schalick
CANCELLED
What do we mean by medicine in the Middle Ages? How did medieval societies structure healthcare? How did they react to disease and health? How did different kinds of patients get treated differently by different kinds of practitioners? What relationship does medieval medicine have to modern medicine? By looking at institutions shaped in the Middle Ages, like the university and the hospital, at illnesses, like the plague and leprosy, and at groups of patients and care-givers, like women and surgeons, we will explore medieval medicine as it developed from late Antiquity to the late Renaissance.
History of Science 668 Lecture 3
Topics in History of Medicine
(crosslisted with Medical History)
Instructor: staff
3 cr.; A (Advanced); time: to be arranged; Prerequisite: junior standing.
CANCELLED
History of Science 713: Studies in Environment and Health
(crosslisted with Medical History & IES)
1 cr.; time-to be arranged. Prerequisites: graduate standing or consent of instructor; concurrent registration in History of Science 513.
Instructor: Gregg Mitman
In addition to attending the scheduled 513 class, graduate students are required to attend an additional one-hour weekly meeting to discuss advanced readings in the primary and secondary literature on the history of environment and health with an emphasis on current historiographic issues.
History of Science 907: Seminar
Topic: Historiography of Technology
3 cr.; 2:30-5:00 T, 6105 Social Science; Prerequisite: graduate standing.
Instructor: Eric Schatzberg
This graduate seminar surveys the methodological and theoretical issues that have shaped scholarly work in the history of technology. Readings will range from classic works, like Lewis Mumford's 1934 Technics and Civilization, to the latest releases, some perhaps still in page proofs. The first few weeks will be devoted to getting an overview of the historiography of the field, primarily through journal articles, which will also include an examination of the relationship between history of technology and the broader field of science and technology studies. The remainder of the semester will focus on a series of exemplary works in different areas of the field, including, for example, studies of technology and politics, the nature of invention, cultural meanings of technology, technology and national identity, technology and gender, technologies in use, and the relationship between science and technology.
History of Science 915: Seminar
Science in America
(crosslisted with Medical History)
3 cr.; time: to be arranged, 1406 Medical Sciences Center; Prerequisite: graduate standing.
Instructor: Ronald Numbers
This course will be devoted to the History of Science, Medicine and Religion.
History of Science 921: Seminar
Topic: History of Semiotics in Science & Medicine
3 cr.; 9:00-11:30 W, 7130 Social Science; Prerequisites: grad standing or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Michael Shank, Thomas Broman
This course features a slightly idiosyncratic introduction to semiotics that attempts to analyze both the historical evolution of thinking about signification and semiotically informed analyses of historical material. The main theoretical orientation will be provided by the writings of Umberto Eco. Case studies will include the use of semiotic systems and the emergence of script; Babylonian divination and ancient Greek medicine; theories of the sign in medieval philosophy; hermeticism and the “efficacious word” in the Renaissance; philosophies of language in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; Romantic semiotics and who knows what else....
Readings will include selections from Manetti, Theories of the Sign in Antiquity; Eco, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language; Eco, The Name of the Rose; Foucault; The Order of Things; and Foucault, Birth of the Clinic. Among primary sources: Hippocrates, Augustine of Hippo, William of Ockham, John Wilkins, Condillac, Friedrich Schlegel, C.S. Peirce, and Saussure.
History of Science 925: Seminar: Research & Thesis
1-3 cr.; time to be arranged, 7130 Social Science; Prerequisite: history of science major; graduate standing.
Instructor: Lynn Nyhart
Preparation of Masters paper for second year History of Science graduate students.
History of Science 950: History of Science Colloquium
0-1 cr.; A (Advanced) 3:30-5:30 W, 6240 Social Science; Prerequisites: History of Science major; Graduate Standing
Instructor: Thomas Broman
Intended for graduate majors in the history of science, this requires regular attendance at History of Science colloquia, averaging 4 or 5 per semester. May be taken for 1 credit or 0 credits. Required of first and second semester graduate students in History of Science.