Cal Poly
History 423
Modern Science in World History
Instructor: Zuoyue Wang Office: Building 94, Room 335
Winter Quarter 2006 Office Hours: TTh 1-2 & apptmt.
Class Time: TTh
Classroom: Building 98C, Room 4-032 Email: zywang@csupomona.edu
Course website: www.csupomona.edu/~zywang/hst423.html
Course Description:
This course examines the development of modern sciences, especially physics and
biology, from the second scientific revolution of the late 19th century to the
present, and the changing relationship between science and society in the
twentieth century. It traces how the
rise of quantum and relativity and genetic theories has changed our view of the
world and of life, and how Big Science, nuclear weapons, computers,
biotechnology, and other applications of modern science have changed the
relationship between science and society.
The focus will be on Western Europe and the
What is History of Science? History of science, as a field, rose in the post-World War II era as a response to what C. P. Snow called the “Two Cultures” problem: the increasing gap between the humanities and the sciences in understanding each other has often resulted in dangerous misconceptions in regard to science, technology, and public policy. Now perhaps more than ever a well-educated student in either the humanities or the sciences needs to understand the profound social, political, cultural, and global implications of changes in modern science. The course is intended to be a bridge across the “Two Cultures” divide as it brings students in both the humanities and the sciences together to explore both the intellectual and social aspects of modern science.
Format: Lectures will be supplemented with discussions, internet sessions, films, and videos. Professor Wang encourages you to raise questions at any time in class, his office, or via email. Knowledge of modern physics and biology will be useful but not required.
Learning Objectives: After successfully completing this course, students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the major changes in modern science in the world, explain the interactions between science and society, and improve their communications skills, both written and oral, and ability to think critically and historically.
General Education (GE) Designations and Prerequisites: This course fulfills General Education Area C-4 (Humanities Synthesis) or D-4 (Social Science Synthesis). If you want this course to fulfill your GE C-4 (Humanities) requirement, you will need to have already completed all GE lower-division requirements in Areas A and C. If you want this course to fulfill your GE D-4 (Social Science) requirement, you will need to have completed all GE lower-division requirements in Areas A and D. For detail, see University Catalog pp. 90-93: (http://www.csupomona.edu/~academic/catalog/gen_edu/General_Education.pdf)
Required Books Available at Bronco Bookstore:
1. Barbara Cline, Men Who Made a New Physics
2. Banesh Hoffmann, Albert Einstein, Creator and Rebel (this book is out of print. The bookstore may have only a few copies. A copy will be put on reserve in the library. You should be able to order a used copy at any of the following websites: www.amazon.com, www.bn.com, www.alibris.com, and www.ebay.com. You can also order the audiobook version at www.audible.com. You can listen to a sample.)
3. James D. Watson, Double Helix
4. Michael Frayn,
5.
6. William Kelleher Storey, Writing History: A Guide for Students
In addition, there will be online reading assignments.
Term Paper: You are required to write a paper on a topic related to the class and approved by Prof. Wang in advance. During the first two weeks, try to thumb through the texts to get an overview of the topics we will be studying and think about what topics you would like to write on. You are required to submit and discuss with Prof. Wang the topic and a one-page outline of your paper by Thursday of the third week of class. A preliminary draft of your paper is due in class on the last day of class in week 9. The completed paper is due at the beginning of the last week of class. It should be about 5-8 pages, double-spaced, with 12 point font and one inch margin on all sides, printed on plain paper using a laser-jet or ink-jet printer, stapled at the upper-left corner (no plastic cover or binding please). For style, including footnotes, consult Storey's Writing History. All writings are graded for both grammar and content and there will be presentations and discussions of paper drafts later in the quarter.
A good paper will have a clear thesis statement, supported by a narrative built on a variety of evidence such as scholarly books and articles, reports in newspapers or magazines, or oral history interviews. It can describe an event or individual, but should explain how that event or individual does or does not fit in the general themes of this class.
Work Sheets and Discussions: Please complete the reading assignments before each session. To help you manage the reading assignments, I will post on the course website a one-page worksheet that you will be required to fill out using a word processor and bring to class. We will use these worksheets for in-class discussions where you will be asked to comment on assigned readings and raise your questions about them for discussions.
Examinations: There will be a midterm, which covers the first half of the class, and a final exam, which covers the whole class. Before each exam, Prof. Wang will provide you with study questions.
Classroom Ground
Rules (for the benefit of all of us):
1. Late works will be penalized by 1/3 letter grade per day, e.g. B to B- if one day late.
2. Cell phones should be turned off during class period.
3. Activities not related to class are prohibited during class: e.g., web browsing, text-messaging, newspaper-reading, and chatting.
4. Repeated, unexcused absences will considerably lower your grade.
5. Avoid late entry or early exit without instructor's prior authorization.
6. Plagiarism: See Cal Poly Pomona Catalog for 2001-2003 (p. 452) regarding university policy against plagiarism (presenting ideas and writing of others as one's own).
Grading (general
guideline):
Work Sheets, Oral Presentations, Participation in Discussions, Attendance: 25%; Midterm: 25%; Term Paper: 25%; Final: 25%.
Topics and
The lectures will cover only a few major events in depth but the students should read the texts to gain a comprehensive understanding of developments covered in class. Click on the session title for the worksheet; underneath the titles are reading assignments.
Week 1
1/3 Introduction
1/5 New
scientific discoveries at the turn of the 20th century: x-ray,
electron, and radioactivity; video: Atomic
Physics; Cline, chapters 1-2; American Institute of Physics exhibit
on the Discovery of the Electron;
AIP Exhibit on Marie Curie
Week 2
1/10 Max Planck, Albert Einstein, and the quantum theory; Video: Einstein Revealed (pt 1, 1 hour);
Cline, chapters 3-5; Hoffmann, chapters 1-5
1/12 Einstein and the special relativity theory; Video: Einstein Revealed (pt 2, 1 hour)
Hoffmann, chapter 6; AIP Exhibit on Einstein (“Formative Years”—“Public Concerns”)
Homework assignment: try to explain Einstein’s special relativity to a friend, co-worker, or relative, write a one-paragraph report on the experience, and turn it in at the end of class next Tuesday.
Week 3
1/17 Einstein’s general relativity theory and modern cosmology
Hoffmann, chapters 7-8; Cline, chapter 12; AIP Exhibit on Einstein (finish the exhibit)
1/19 Einstein as a social and political activist
Hoffmann, chapters 9-12; Einstein, “Why Socialism?” Monthly Review 1, no. 1 (May 1949); John J. Simon, “Albert Einstein: Radical: A Political Profile,” Monthly Review 57, no. 1 (May 2005); Time magazine, “Person of the Century: Albert Einstein.” Due: Tentative title and paragraph on term paper. For help with selecting a topic, see this link.
Week 4
1/24 Atomic physics from Rutherford to Niels Bohr
Cline, chapters 6-8
1/26 Quantum physics and its philosophical implications; Video: Mechanical Universe (part 50 “Particles and Waves,” 30 minutes); Cline, chapters 9-11, 13-14; AIP Exhibit on Heisenberg; Dennis Overbye, “Far Out, Man, But Is It Quantum Physics?” New York Times, March 14, 2006.
Week 5
1/31 Nuclear physics to the discovery of fission; The rise of American science between the wars
Badash, “Introduction,” chapters 1-2; AIP Exhibit on Lawrence and the Cyclotron; AIP Exhibit on the Discovery of Fission
2/2 Writing History papers; Library/Internet Session; Meet in Library 5th Floor Instructional Area.
Storey book. Handout of Midterm Questions.
Week 6
2/7 The making of the atomic bomb; Video: Hiroshima: Why Was the Bomb Dropped (1 hour; part 1); review sample student papers; Badash, chapter 3. Midterm due
2/9 The
use of the atomic bomb; Video:
Badash, chapters 4-6; Truman Library website on The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb
Week 7
2/14 The
German bomb project; Video:
Frayn,
2/16 Science and politics in the Soviet Union and China
AIP Exhibit on Sakharov: http://www.aip.org/history/sakharov/;
Peter Neushul and Zuoyue Wang, "Between the Devil and
the Deep Sea: C. K. Tseng, Mariculture, and the Politics of Science in Modern
China,"
Week 8
2/21 The origins of modern genetics; Video: Double Helix (part 1, 1 hour)
Watson, Double-helix
2/23 Gender and genetics; Video: Double Helix (part 2, 1 hour)
Lynne Osman Elkin, “Rosalind Franklin and the Double Helix,” Physics Today, February 2003; James Watson Online Chat at Time-Yahoo!, March 24, 1999; Elisabeth Rosenthal, “For Fruit Flies, Gene Shifts Tilts Sexual Orientation,” International Herald Tribune, June 3, 2005.
Week 9
2/28 Biological and chemical warfare. Video: Bioterror.
Jonathan B. Tucker, “A Farewell to Germs: The U.S. Renunciation of Biological and Toxin Warfare, 1969-70 [pdf] [html],” International Security 27, no. 1 (Summer 2002), 107-148.
3/2 Presentations and discussions of term paper drafts—Bring draft term paper to class.
Week 10
3/7 The
politics of big science during the Cold War; video: Cold War: Sputnik (45 minutes);
Term Paper due
Zuoyue Wang, "The
Politics of Big Science in the Cold War," HSPS 25, no. 2 (1995): 329-356.
3/9 From
high energy physics to the World Wide Web; video: The Century: Facing the Millennium (15 minutes); Gregory R. Gromov, “The Roads and
Cross-Roads of Internet History,” http://www.netvalley.com/intval-zagotovka3-0327-25.htm