HPSC4102 - History of Science

Semester 2
Course Co-ordinator: Dr Ofer Gal (History of Science Seminar) or Dr Claire Hooker (History of Medicine Seminar)

Prerequisites: Available only to students admitted to HPS Honours, Graduate Diploma in Science (History and Philosophy of Science) and Graduate Certificate in Science (History and Philosophy of Science)
6 credit points
1 two-hour seminar/week, either in the History of Science or the History of Medicine (see timetable)
Assessment: questions on readings submitted weekly, major research essay, participation

This course is intended for advanced Honours and postgraduate students. It is designed to introduce them to main themes in the history of modern – that is post-Newton – science, as well as wtih the fundamentals of historical work. The course will be taught by all faculty members of the Unit for HPS, each class given by teh person with the best expertise on the subject. The format will be uniform – an hour lecture and an hour of discussion of a primary text. The texts will be distributed to the students electronically a week before the lecture. The students will submit questions regarding the text by email to the lecturer at least three days before class. The grade will be 50% for the questions, 50% for a final, 5000 word essay on one of the discussed texts, which will be graded by the person teaching the relevant class.