History 82: Fall, 2001, Professor Judith V. Grabiner

The history of science and technology in the 19th and 20th centuries

Office: Fletcher Hall 224, extension 7-3160; email jgrabiner@pitzer.edu

Office Hours: MWF 10:30 – 11:30, Thursday 3-4, and by appointment.

Every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate students with disabilities. Pitzer students needing to request accommodations or additional assistance may contact the Academic Support Services Office, extension 7-3553.

Themes: What is characteristic of science in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? Make your own list, but the course will address the biological revolution and its implications for the study of human beings; the rise of statistical thinking; modern physics, chemistry, philosophy, and the atomic bomb; the influence of science on technology; and the interaction between science, technology, and society.

Required Books (in bookstore):

Appleman, Philip, ed., Darwin, 3d edition, Norton paperback, 2000.

Gould, Stephen J., The Mismeasure of Man, revised edition, Norton paperback, 1996.

Koertge, Noretta, A House Built on Sand, Oxford University paperback, 2000.

Mowrey, David C., and Nathan Rosenberg, Paths of Innovation, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press paperback, 1999.

Porter, Theodore, The Rise of Statistical Thinking, 1820-1900, Princeton paperback, 1986.

Rhodes, Richard, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Touchstone paperback, 1995.

Watson, J. D., The Double Helix, Touchstone paperback, 2001.

Strongly recommended collateral reading (on reserve in Honnold):

Charles C. Gillispie, The Edge of Objectivity, Princeton, 1960, pages 260-520.

This provides a continuous narrative covering the period of the course. Reading this will help place specific topics in context. Although this is an old book, both chronologically and in its approach to the history of science, it summarizes a lot of sound scholarship and hits many of the important points.

Articles may be handed out in class at any time, and many suggestions for additional reading will be provided.

Course policies: (Please read these now!)

(1) You are responsible for any assignments, handouts, revisions of calendar, etc., made or given in class. Please check with me or with a classmate should you miss class.

(2) Attending class, participating in discussions, courtesy to your classmates, will be taken into account in borderline grade situations. Besides, these things will add to your learning.

(3) Late work will be penalized 10% for each day that it is late. [Exceptions for compelling reasons (e.g., illness) must be requested by the due date. Leave a message on my machine, 7-3160, or on email, jgrabiner@pitzer.edu.]

(4) Part of this class will be student-led discussions, with individuals or pairs of students being responsible for a brief presentation and then a discussion. These events will follow completion of each major reading assignment.

(5) There will be one exam: a final, for which study questions will be provided. The final will count 30% of the grade. As long as this class remains small, it will be run as a seminar: lots of discussion, students giving occasional reports. This is more fun and results in more learning. People strongly desiring a midterm may have one as an option; let me know.

Other Assignments:

(1) For each individual reading and for each class at which a reading is to be discussed, bring in a sheet of paper with one sentence -- no more -- answering each of these 3 questions:

(I) What is the main point of this? (or, if that seems too difficult, “What is this about?” (II) What is an important question the reading raises, or an important question that you have about it?

(III) What did you personally find most interesting about it?

This is to be TYPED or in PRINTED VERY LEGIBLY in INK. Please do not e-mail it. Its purpose is partly to give you a start on the in-class discussion, and partly for you and me to have a continuing dialogue about the materials. Your grade on these will be the percentage you have completed, except that if your questions do not engage the material in a serious way you won’t get full credit.

(2) Short papers and reports may be assigned in various points in the course as relevant. For instance, you may be asked to write a brief essay on materials read, or to report on some outside reading.

(3) Each student will be required to attend at least THREE out-of-class lectures or other events relating to the subject of the course. (Not straight science lectures, though.) All the lectures of interest I know about will be announced in class; these will include the Science, Technology, and Society colloquium lectures which happen about once a month. If you find a lecture I haven’t found, bring me a notice and I’ll be delighted to announce it.

A report, NO MORE THAN ONE double-spaced TYPED page in length, coherently and accurately describing the main points, and concluding with your judgment of the value of the lecture, will be required; this is due NO LATER THAN the second class period following the event. PLEASE NOTE THE UNDERLINED REQUIREMENTS! You’ll get full credit if you meet these requirements, though I may make comments on your writing – or engage your ideas -- for your benefit.

(4) Bring questions if you have them. For your own reading – of everything in the world, not just material in this course -- in addition to the questions in #1 above, it is useful to ask, “How does this author’s text relate to others I’ve read?”, “What’s the evidence and is it sufficient to support the author’s points?” and “Who’s s/he shooting at?”

Dates to note:

2d day of Rosh Hashanah Wednesday September 19: Class will not meet

Fall Break Monday and Tuesday, October 22-23: No class Monday

Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday November 22-23. Reading day November 21

Final Examination: Monday, December 17, 2 PM

Calendar (subject to adjustment as our intellectual adventures dictate; page numbers are tentative and may be revised):

Wed., Sept. 5: Introduction to the course; Lecture on the background to Darwin. (Readings for the September 10 class, except the last which is in one of the required books, will be made available)

Mon. Sept. 10: A series of challenges to shape the course:

Is the history of science just telling what happened when? (J R R Christie, “The Development of the Historiography of Science”);

Is technology the hope for all humanity? (C Alvares, “Science, Colonialism, and Violence: A Luddite View”);

Is the choice of a scientific career just a choice? (H Etzkowitz et al., “Barriers to Women in Academic Science and Engineering”);

What happens when the content of science clashes with widespread public views – for instance, religion? (National Academy of Sciences, “Frequently Asked Questions about Evolution and the Nature of Science” [1998], in P Appleman, ed., Darwin, pp. 617-623)

Wed. Sept. 12: The biological revolution begins: P. Appleman, ed., Darwin, selections from The Origin of Species, 95-135 (make sure you understand the diagram on page 128). Also read the selection from Malthus in Appleman, pp. 39-40.

Mon. Sept. 17: Darwin continued, Appleman 135-174. Essay to be assigned: pick a sub-topic from Appleman, read the relevant essays, explain what the issue is and what you think about it (a more formal description will be provided)

No class Wednesday

Mon. Sept. 24: Darwin continued: Descent of Man, Appleman, 175-222, 252-254 (do not miss this last little bit!)

Wed. Sept. 26: Student reports on topic of Sept. 17

Mon. Oct. 1: A first-hand and very personal view of a major scientific breakthrough:

J. D. Watson, The Double Helix (all of Watson’s text)

Wed. Oct. 3: Students: what’s all this about a biological revolution? Readings from Science magazine, issue of 16 February 2001 on the human genome, to be handed out: Svante Päabo, “The Human Genome and Our View of Ourselves,” Peter McGuffin et al., “Toward Behavioral Genomics,” Senators James Jeffords (R-Vermont) and Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota), “Political Issues in the Genome Era,” and reviews of three books:

R C Lewontin on Lily Kay, Who Wrote the Book of Life? A History of the Genetic Code; Sean B. Carroll on Evelyn Fox Keller, The Century of the Gene; Sydney Brenner on Kevin Davies, Cracking the Genome: Inside the Race to Unlock Human DNA.

Mon. Oct. 8: Biology, psychology, race: S J Gould, Mismeasure of Man.

Two introductions:

Where’s Gould coming from? Gould, 19-61. What does he conclude? Gould, 351-366.

Wed. Oct. 10: Gould in action: on Broca: 105-141.
Mon. Oct. 15: Gould continued: IQ, Gould 176-263.

Wed. Oct. 17: Students: social issues and science. Readings will be chosen by individuals by topic, ranging from Rosalind Franklin’s role in DNA to Herrnstein and Murray’s book The Bell Curve.

No class Monday, Oct. 22

Wed. Oct. 24: Theodore Porter, Rise of Statistical Thinking. Pages 1-13, chapter 2 (pp 40-70), chapter 4 (pp 93-109). This is about the origin of statistics in the study of society.

Mon. Oct. 29: Statistical thinking continued. Chapter 5 (pp 110-148), selections from chapter 6 (pp 151, 162-176). These are about the relationship between physics and social science, and about free will and determinism.

Wed. Oct. 31: Students: various topics

Mon. Nov. 5: Richard Rhodes, The Atomic Bomb (the book addresses many topics in the history of chemistry and physics as well as the topic of the title). Chapters 2, 7. Among many other topics, these chapters will introduce atomic physics and relativity.

Over this two weeks, rapidly skim through EVERY unassigned chapter.

Wed. Nov. 7: Rhodes continued. Chapters 10, 14. These introduce us to the physics of nuclear reactions and the establishment of the Manhattan project.

Mon. Nov. 12: Rhodes continued. Chapters 17, 18. These introduce the moral, social, and political questions facing scientists whose work has life-and-death implications.

Wed. Nov. 14: Rhodes, Chapters 19 & Epilogue. The bombing of Japan and its implications.

Mon. Nov. 19: Students: report on a topic from Rhodes

Wed. Nov. 21: Reading day

Mon. Nov. 26: The current debate over science as a social phenomenon: Noretta Koertge, ed., A House Built on Sand. The Sokal Affair. Read Koertge’s introduction, 3-6; Sokal, 9-22, Kitcher, 32-54.

Wed. Nov. 28: Koertge continued. Read Meera Nanda, “The Epistemic Charity of the Social Constructivist Critics of Science and Why the Third World Should Refuse the Offer,” and recall the earlier essay by Alvares. Also read and report on one additional essay in this book, choosing a topic from Parts II, III, or IV.

Mon. Dec. 3: Science and technology in the twentieth-century U. S. D Mowrey and C Rosenberg, Paths of Innovation. Assigned reading: Introduction, chapters 3 and 4, Conclusion, and a chapter of your choice. For Monday, read 1-10, 47-70. A written essay assignment will follow.

Wed. Dec. 5: Mowrey and Rosenberg continued. Read 71-102, 167-180.

Mon. Dec. 10: Guest lecture: Professor Rudi Volti. No new reading.

Wed. Dec. 12: Bringing it all together.

Final Examination, Monday, December 17, 2 P.M.