ITB 218 - History of Science and Technology

Course Objectives

1. What, if anything, was revolutionary about early modern changes in the science and technology?
2. In this perspective, How did the science and technology come to have authority over human progress?
3. How did the science and technology become a central part of public life?

Course Description

Science and technology have become defining features of modern life. How did this happen? In this course, we will explore the history of human thought about the natural world from about 1200 to the present. We will discuss not only the most celebrated ideas of the sciences’ past, but also the approaches that did not last and why, and how social and economic changes have shaped the sciences’ development. Because of time constraints, we will focus mainly on the histories of the life and physical sciences.