HOS

LECTURE 1:Introduction: What is the History of Science

Getting Ready

 Sitting and watching lectures is not a great way to learn, but lectures can be tools for active
learning.
 Interactive activities are only as interactive as you make them.
 Recordings mean you can try different approaches and revisit as you go.
 Have a notebook or computer document ready. (Find/open one now!)
 Take notes during and/or after.
 Pause, think, write, and share when prompted.
 Lectures can be social! Sync with a friend.

Today’s objectives

 Introduce the course organiser.

 Introduce the course topic.
 Explain the course’s perspective and goals.
 Begin to think about your own goals for the course.
 Outline the course’s subjects and questions.
 Break
 Understand how the course is designed and why.
 Explain learning and assessment approaches
 Discuss what you can do to succeed.
 Know whom to contact (and how) with questions or problems.
 Lingering questions

Science

 Science is a part of our lives. We come to this class with lots of ideas and experiences about
science.
 In this course, we will pay attention to our own assumptions about science and try to identify
and understand what others (in the past and present) believe about science.
 Systems of knowledge, expertise, artifice
 Plural: natural, physical, life, social, theoretical, experimental, laboratory, field, exact, data,…
 Linked to technology, engineering, policy, education,…
 Central (but not exclusive!) to Western modernity
 Simultaneously local and universal

Where did Science begin?

 Histories of science are closely linked to questions about science in the present.
 This is the origin of the history of science as a field of study, and a key part of its continued
relevance.
 History is concerned with context…
History

 Method for understanding the past: History is how we interpret the past: what happened but
also why and what it means and how it relates to other things and how we know about it.
History is based on facts and events and also theories and inferences and arguments and
frameworks and motives.
 Synchronic = together [in] time Putting science in specific contexts and explaining differences
among contemporaneous contexts.
 Diachronic = across/through time Understanding change over time, cause and contingency.

Of

 To whom does the history of science belong? What difference does this make?
 Scientists? Research Subjects? Historians? Philosophers? Governments? Educators? Citizens?
Others?
 How are boundaries between science and non-science made, and what effects do they have?
 Can historical inquiry help shape the future of science or the relationship between science and
society?

History of science, disciplines, and the university

 Meaningful and valuable to students and researchers in many disciplines.

 Uses and combines methods and ideas from many disciplines.
 Studies of how disciplines themselves form and work: a critical view of disciplines.
 A chance to gain new perspectives on your own discipline and others.

A Critical perspective

 Critical does not mean criticize or argue against

 Try to understand science in its essential complexity
 Understand how science works in different contexts, and what makes certain activities and ideas
possible and meaningful.
 Understand the consequences of different ways of seeing and acting in the world.
 Examine how science relates to power, identity
 Always look for sex, gender, class, race, religion, cultural identity,…
 Pay attention to limits and assumptions and their implications

Your goals

 Pause / think / write:

 What do you want to gain from this course?

A wider understanding of the development of science throughout the ages that led to the creation of a
scientific modern society. I would also like to have a deeper appreciate how crucial science is in society
as well as being able to identify its flaws. I would also like to be avle to look at the timeline of scinec
from a wider perspective in order to see how progress increase exponentially in certain periods as well
as periods of regression and stagnation.
  Skills (reading, writing, analysis)
 Knowledge (particular sciences, periods, people, ideas)
 Perspectives (science and society/policy/culture/…)
 How does this course fit in your semester?

I plan to make sure I am prepared to complete the work for when I need it. I plan to reasonably set
myself targets and not push myself too far.

 How does it relate to other goals or obligations you have?

I think that science is crucial to our society, and think it will broaden my perspective in society and will
be useful in an ever-scientific world.

 How does the course fit in your degree and beyond?

I have always had an interest in stem subjects and appreciate how valuable it is to me, and it feels like a
mix of humanities and stem.

 Foundation for later studies or interests? Side-interest? Broadening horizons?

Personally it is a side interest for me, I have always found the development of science interesting and a
good collection of my interests, I am interested which I think will put me in a good position to complete
the course to a high standard.

 Do you need a particular mark or outcome?

I plan to get a first in this course, I have a great interest in the subject and know that I will want to put
the effort into the subject. I would also like to be able to feel I put my full effort into the subject.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this course, you will be able to:

1. Explain major developments in the ideas, institutions, and products of science in world history.
2. Apply contextual and comparative perspectives to scientific knowledge and practices from
disparate times and places.
3. Discuss how scientific knowledge and practices relate to their wider political, economic, social,
and cultural contexts.
4. Critically evaluate the use of historical evidence in historical argument.

Unofficially, I want you to be able to:

1. Read like a historian (useful in many fields!).

2. Know how to find reliable information about the history of science and how to tell when you are
looking at unreliable information.
3. Be comfortable talking about science and history and have a sense of ownership over both.
4. Get better at university-level writing skills, including citing, summarizing, paraphrasing, and
constructing a contextualized argument.
5. See the history of science around you and relate it to your life.

Units, Themes, Big Questions

  Unit 1. Cosmologies
 Unit 2. Abstractions
 Unit 3. Collections
 Unit 4. Lives
 Unit 5. Bodies
 Flexible Learning Week
 Unit 6. Quantities
 Unit 7. Measures
 Unit 8. Particles
 Unit 9. Worlds
 Unit 10. Objectivities

 The meaning of life

 The nature of Nature
 The search for fundamental particles
 The age of the Earth and the search for origins
 Time, space, and measurement
 Cosmology, theology, and the universe
 Globalisation, trade, empire, and cultural contact
 Sex and bodies
 Elites and masses
 Science in Edinburgh
 Engineering and government
 Machines, instruments, infrastructures
 Power, authority, discrimination, and exploitation
 Race, gender, and the construction of difference
 The idea of progress
 The nature of knowledge and objectivity

Course design

This is a BIG course

 Big subject matter, many topics, different levels of detail.

 Big student group, with many different backgrounds, needs, and goals.

The course will be different for each student

 Your responsibility to chart a path through the course that meets your needs and goals.
 Can include specific skills, topics, questions,…
 Can also involve time commitments, constraints, other parameters.

My responsibility to give you methods and perspectives to make this possible and that respond to your
background and objectives.
How hard is this course?

You have a lot of power to determine how difficult and rewarding the course is for you, and it is best to
do this deliberately.

 Our goal: challenging but not difficult.

 All the work you do should be worthwhile.
 You can get a worthwhile challenge from many different investments of time and focus.
 The work you do and the challenges you take on should respond to your needs and goals.
 Officially: 200 hours (approx. 2-3 hours/day)

Assessment

Supporting evidence:

Self-Evaluation. Discuss and evaluate all of your learning activities from the semester in light of your
goals and the course learning outcomes.

Portfolio. Submit samples of your work (up to 3500 total words, closer to 2500 for most students) to
demonstrate what you have learned.

 Will receive feedback during the semester.

 Submission will come directly from your learning activities, with opportunities to revisit and
improve.
 Variety of possible components and formats depending on your goals.

Examples of portfolio components:

 Short responses to questions about the weekly themes (200-300 words)

 Analyses of sites and objects from Edinburgh (and/or wherever you are located) related to the
history science
 Reading journals and evaluative abstracts
 Historical source analyses
 Responses to current events connecting them to course themes
 An essay (1000-1500 words) connecting themes from multiple weeks of the course.
 Something else that you propose!

How to read like a historian:

Pay attention to the source

 What is the source meant to convey?

 What information do you need from it?
 What are the audience, genre?

Identify the most important information

 What are the main claims?

 What evidence supports them?
 What are the key illustrations of the argument?
  Why was this included in the Resource List?

Don’t worry about understanding every word or claim.

 Skim, skip around, look for key points.

 Focus on the most important terms and ideas.
 Take notes after you have answered some of the key questions above. This will help you focus
on the most important information.

Strongly recommended Keep a reading journal.

 Write the full citation for each source you read.

 Collect key quotes and references with page numbers that you might use later.
 Identify the major subjects and evidence used.
 Note connections to other readings.
 Check your understanding by writing a summary of the key points after you have finished
reading

Writing and ither self-directed learning

 Practice course methods and demonstrate understanding

 Write regularly
 Set a time limit and free-write answers to study/comprehension questions
 Practice revising your answers and adding citations
 Exercises posted in Learn will help you develop skills and perspectives.
 Discussed in your self-evaluation but not included in portfolio.
 Proofs (double meaning: challenges and demonstrations) posted in Learn will help you develop
and give evidence for your learning in the course.
 You will include a selection of these in your portfolio.