Category Archives: Teaching HPS

The place of science in history and history in science

As an historian of science working between two museum sites and with people researching or communicating both history and science, I often feel I’m a stuck-record, piggy-in-the-middle, harping on to the historians to pay attention to the science and the … Continue reading

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More Science than Fiction

Science-fiction stories and movies are not only entertainment for a rainy day but also mirrors of the scientific abilities, ambitions, even anxieties of a society. A short overview about tales and movies shows this evolution. The decade of 1950 to … Continue reading

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Nations, nationality, nationalism, history and historiography

Was Boscovich Croation or Italian? Copernicus Polish or German? Al-Haytham Persian or Iraqi ? Gemma Frisius Belgian or Dutch? For some critical thoughts on the illegitimacy of these questions and the incorrectness of the usual answers go read here

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The Two Cultures?

Slides from my history of science class. Update (11/28): Turns out this is the last set of slides from me this semester.

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Science & Religion

Slides from my history of science course.  

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The Big Bang

Slides from my History of Science class this coming Tuesday.

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Einstein

Last week we spent two classes on Einstein’s life and work. Overall, a fairly simplistic presentation but probably sufficient to get the students grounded in some of the ideas. Next lecture (on quantum mechanics) is by my teaching assistant and … Continue reading

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Continental Drift & Plate Tectonics

Slides from my History of Science course …

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The Age of the Earth

Slides from my History of Science course.

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HSS Annual Meeting (Nov 4 – 7)

The History of Science Society annual meeting is rapidly approaching and is to be held in Montreal on November 4th through 8th. As always, there are lots of interesting sessions, but as a member of the Committee on Education, I’d … Continue reading

Posted in Conferences, History, Philosophy, Teaching HPS | 15 Comments