NEDE: Newton, Darwin, Einstein (Summer 2001)
Center for Talented Youth: Johns Hopkins University
Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
Instructor: Dr. Robinson M. Yost
Teaching Assistant: Leah Neuhauser
Illustration from Visualized Modern History (1932), by Philip Dorf
What view of science does the illustration portray?
Course Description:
Studying the history of science through the careers and influence of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein clearly
illustrates the persistent human desire to describe and explain the natural world. In addition, the historical approach to the
"scientific" quests of Newton, Darwin, and Einstein imparts a deeper understanding of how different areas of science have
drawn upon and contributed to many other areas of human achievement. Scientific theories have been influenced by society,
and, in turn, have influenced societal views. Grappling with the history, the ideas, and the tremendous influence of Newton,
Darwin, and Einstein are the primary goals of this course.
Introduction:
The approach will stress an understanding of scientific ideas within the particular historical contexts in which they developed.
For example, understanding Isaac Newton's "physics" does NOT require a previous understanding of modern Newtonian
physics. Similarly, comprehending Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection does NOT require knowledge of modern
evolutionary theories or genetics. The main goal is to understand scientific ideas within the situations giving rise to them.
Instead of judging past science & scientists by modern-day standards, ask yourself the following types of questions:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Why did scientific beliefs make sense to certain people in the past? What questions were they trying to answer?
What motivated certain people to develop particular scientific ideas? What problems were they trying to solve?
In what ways has science influenced society? In what ways has society influenced science?
In what ways has science interacted with other human activities (e.g., religion, politics, economics, technology)?
How have these relationships changed in differing contexts and over time?
An important aspect of this course involves thinking historically about the changing meanings of "science". Consider the
following definition of "science":
Science is a process for producing knowledge. The process depends both on making careful
definitions of phenomena and on inventing theories for making sense of those observations.
Change in knowledge is inevitable because new observations may challenge prevailing theories
. . . Scientists assume that even if there is no way to secure complete and absolute truth,
increasingly accurate approximations can be made to account for the world and how it works.
Over the course of the semester think about this definition. Does it apply to past "scientists"? Were they just doing "science" a
long time ago, or did they make different assumptions about the world than modern scientists? Is science something that is
easily defined, or has it changed over time?
As an additional starting point, consider the following statements about the nature of science by chemist Henry H. Bauer:
According to internalists, since correct science reflects nature, it is unaffected by the human
traits of ambition, ideology, prejudice, or dishonesty. . . . According to externalists, by
contrast, the science that people produce, just as everything else they do, reflects their biases
and wishes and social environment. . . . In reality and quite obviously, internalist and
externalist positions are both right and both wrong, because some bits or aspects of science
lend themselves to internalist explanation whereas others yield naturally to externalist
exegesis.
Class Readings:
• Jacob, James R., The Scientific Revolution: Aspirations and Ideas, 1500-1700 (1998)
• Cohen, I. Bernard and Richard S. Westfall (eds.), Newton: Texts, Backgrounds, Commentaries (1995)
• Bowler, Peter J., Evolution: The History an Idea (2d. ed., 1989)
• Kragh, Helge, Quantum Generations: A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century (1999)
• handouts & possible library work
Purposes of this course:
• Improving analytical reading, writing, & speaking skills.
• Learning how scientific ideas develop in specific historical circumstances.
• Practicing analyzing & interpreting facts in historical context.
• Practicing thinking historically & asking thoughtful questions.
Assignments:
Tardiness & Breaks:
• Readings notebook
• Timed essays
• In-class writings
• be on time, return from breaks on time
• 10-15 minute break(s) each morning session
Courtesy & Participation:
• Each student is expected to participate and contribute constructively to class discussions
• We will also work in small groups/everyone will contribute to the discussion
• Please be polite when you participate, use common courtesy with everyone in the class
Tentative Course Outline
Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
1) Introduction [Monday, June 25]
• introductions/trivia quiz & course structure
• historical facts: evidence & interpretation
• reading historical sources/examples of historical context
• what is history?/what is science?
2) Background to Newton [Tuesday, June 26]
• Greco-Roman philosophy/Aristotle, Ptolemy, Galen
• medieval universities & translation/Scholasticism
• Renaissance humanism/ A Scientific Revolution?
• Mechanical Philosophy: Descartes, Gassendi, and others
• Protestant Reformation/Cavaliers versus Roundheads
3) Newton’s Natural Philosophy: Part I. [Wednesday, June 27]
• early life & education: Cambridge, geometry, & experiment
• 1665-66: annus mirabilis (the "marvelous year")
• speculations on the nature of gravity & light: Hypotheses non fingo?
• two different traditions: Principia (1687) & Opticks (1704)
• Sir Isaac Newton: The Gravity of Genius [VIDEO]
4) Newton’s Natural Philosophy: Part II. [Thursday, June 28]
• Never a deist: Newton’s roles for God
• Reaction to Newton’s work: British & Continental
• popularization: Newton for the public
• deism, materialism, & atheism: Newton and religion
5) Newtonians & the Age of Reason [Friday, June 29]
• apotheosis of Sir Isaac Newton: Enlightenment ideals
• what’s a "Newtonian"?: different flavors of Newtonianism
• experimental philosophy & mathematical physics/ the triumph of "Newtonianism"?
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
6) Tradition & Change in the Enlightenment [Monday, July 2]
• Theories of the Earth's Origins & Argument from Design
• Classifying Living Things: Chain of Being & Linnaeus
• Water & Fire: Neptunism and Vulcanism
• Evolution in the Enlightenment: Erasmus Darwin & J.B. Lamarck
7) Changing Views of Man & Nature [Tuesday, July 3]
• Human Nature & Society: Laws to be discovered
• Adam Smith & Thomas Malthus: Laissez Faire Economics
• Geology (1800-1859): Charles Lyell
• Paley, Cuvier, & Chambers
8) Charles Darwin: Early Life & Education [Wednesday, July 4]
• Voyage of the Beagle: Galapagos Islands
• development of a theory: natural selection
• Alfred Russell Wallace & publication: Origin of Species
• Charles Darwin: Evolution's Voice [VIDEO]
9) Reception of Darwinism [Thursday, July 5]
• promoting evolution: T. H. Huxley, Asa Gray
• objections to natural selection: religious, philosophical, & scientific
• Purpose & Progress in Nature: Theistic Evolution
• Religious & Moral Problems
10) Darwinism in Application: Used, & Abused [Friday, July 6]
• "Social Darwinism": Society & Imperialism
• Herbert Spencer: Survival of the fittest in human society
• Eugenics: Selective breeding of humans
• "Darwinism": the broader impact?
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
11) Nineteenth-Century Physics [Monday, July 9]
• Theories of Light & Electro-magnetism
• Theories of Energy & Thermodynamics
• Turn-of-the-Century Physics: Ether & Energy
• Michelson-Morley Experiment: Where's the Ether?
12) Albert Einstein [Tuesday, July 10]
• youth & education
• 1905: annus mirabilis (the "marvelous year")
• Special theory of relativity: riding a beam of light?
• photoelectric effect: packets of light?
• NOVA: Einstein Revealed (Part One) [VIDEO]
13) Einstein's Age [Wednesday, July 11]
• The Great War (1914-18) & Uncertainty
• Quantum Theory & Uncertainty
• Desperate times: Fascism/Nazism & Antisemitism
• 1915: general theory of relativity
• NOVA: Einstein Revealed (Part Two) [VIDEO]
14) Einstein's Impact [Thursday, July 12]
• Impact on Physics: Relativity
• Impact on Physics: The Quantum
• Popular Reception of Relativity
• Cultural Resonances: Philosophy, Visual Art, Literature
15) Class Conclusion [Friday, July 13]
• wrapping up: final discussion & party
• significance of Newton, Darwin, Einstein
• importance of science?/importance of history?