HONR 302 – The Roots of Twentieth Century Science (50568)

Spring 2005

TIME: 9:55-11:10 TTh

PLACE: Sturges 106

INSTRUCTOR: G. Towsley, South 324 C , x5388, towsleyg@geneseo.edu

TEXTS:

Plato, Timaeus

Lucretius, The Nature of Things

Galileo, Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo

Galileo, Dialogues on the Two Chief World Systems

Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution

Born, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity

EVALUATION PROCEDURES:

The final grade for the course will be based upon writing assignments, a midterm exam, a final exam and class participation. The portions of the evaluation are weighted as follows:

Writing Assignments…………………………………..65%

Midterm Exam…………………………………………15%

Final Exam……………………………………………..15%

Class Participation………………………………………5%

The midterm exam will be given on or near Thursday, March 24. The final exam is scheduled for Tuesday, May 10 at 12. The writing assignments will consist of several short writing assignments and two longer papers, one due near March 1 and the other at the last day of class, Tuesday, May 10.

The grades will be assigned on the following schedule.

A - 93-100% A- - 90-92% B+ - 87-89% B - 83-86% B- - 80-82%

C+ - 77-79% C - 73-76% C- - 70-72% D - 60-69% E - 0-59%.

CONTENT OUTLINE:

The course will cover the development of Western Cosmology from three early theorists (Aristotle, Plato, Democritus and the Atomists) through the Scientific Revolution to the discovery of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics in the early Twentieth Century and finally a look at String Theory at the turn of the Twenty First Century. A more detailed outline will be given in class.

OFFICE HOURS: 9:30-10:20 MWF, 8-9:50 T Th, 11:30-12 MWF

WEB SITE: The web site for the class is found by going to www.geneseo.edu/~towsleyg/COURSES