HIST-238: HISTORIES OF SCIENCE

THE INTELLIGIBILITY OF NATURE

FALL 2009

Dr. Jean-François Gauvin

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow
McGill University
(514) 312-5907
jean-francois.gauvin@mail.mcgill.ca
jfgauvin2008.wordpress.com

Time: MWF, 11:35am-12:25pm

Location: Stewart Biology Building, Room N2/2
Office hours: Wednesday, 2-4pm
(or by appointment)

Course Overview:
The goal of this survey course is to introduce you to some key themes in the history
of science. From Descartes’s mechanical worldview to Lavoisier’s chemistry, Buffon’s
natural history, Darwin’s evolutionary theory and Heisenberg’s probabilistic quantum
universe, we will look at how natural philosophers—later scientists—attempted to
understand Nature in all of its expressions. The course focuses especially on the
“instrumentality” of science, or the tools and instruments (telescopes, microscopes,
rocks, natural history collections and particle accelerators) that became crucial since
the early modern era in uncovering nature’s secrets. Throughout the semester we
will also discover the existence of an epistemic tension between knowing and doing,
a tension at the very foundation of what it means to be a modern scientist.

To explore these themes, which have been of critical importance to our

understanding of science, you will encounter a wide variety of sources (primary,
secondary, fiction, historical, sociological, scientific), accompanied by a few out-of-
the-classroom visits on McGill’s campus. The course does not require technical
knowledge in the natural sciences.

Assessment Structure

1. Attendance and Class Participation: 10 %

2. Two short take-home assignments: 40 %
3. One in-class midterm, on Oct. 23rd: 20 %
4. Final paper, due Dec. 22nd: 30 %

Two short take-home assignments:

• First assignment (due on Oct. 2): In 2-3 pages (ca 500-700 words) analyze
the reading that struck you as the most fascinating thus far in the course. Whether it
is a primary source (such as Galileo’s Sidereus nuncius) or a secondary source (such
as Biagioli’s “Replication or Monopoly” article), first summarize what the text is all
about and then go over the author’s argument. Why is it fascinating? How does the
 author convey the significance of his/her “discovery”? Why is this piece of scholarship
relevant to our understanding of science? (Week 1 through 5)
• Second assignment (due on Nov. 16): In 2-3 pages (ca 500-700 words)
discuss the relationship between knowing and doing in one of these cases: Dalton and
the atom, Darwin and natural selection, the Maxwellians and the submarine cable,
Bohr and complementarity, the atom and the A-Bomb. What is the interplay between
the theory and the practice of science—between the mind and the hands of the
scientists? Can we know something about nature if we do not experiment on it? On
what kind of data these five cases are based upon, and how meaningful are they in
formulating a theory about nature? You can also tackle a comparative study on this
topic between Dalton’s atom and Borh’s atom, for instance. Or try to compare
Darwin’s methodological approach to the Maxwellians’. (Week 6 through 11)

Final paper: Pick an instrument—any “instrument”—and discuss it in 5 to 7 pages (ca 1,000

words). It can be an instrument we have talked about in class (or seen during one of the
tours), or any other one you think is particularly interesting. Find an original argument in
describing it. Go beyond the simple factual and historical data. Explain why the instrument you
chose helps us understand the layers of complexities embedded in the material culture of
science. A large part of the grading will be attributed to the topic’s originality and depth of
interpretation. (For what I mean by this, refer to my Einstein’s blackboard presented at the
last lecture.) Make sure to provide all the references into the paper’s footnotes or in a
bibliography at the end. All quotes should be well identified. [For more ideas, take a look at
the voluminous Bruno Latour & Peter Weibel, eds., Making Things Public: Atmospheres of
Democracy (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2005)].

[Please proofread before submission. The final paper should be submitted to the History
Department office before 4.30pm, with date of submission stamped on the front page.
Unexplained late papers will be penalized at a rate of one half-step (A to A-) per day.
Submission by email will only be possible in exceptional circumstances.]

Attendance and class participation will be graded with the full range of marks. All
written assignments can be submitted in English ou en français.

McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and
consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the code of student conduct and
disciplinary procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information) / L'université McGill attache
une haute importance à l'honnêteté académique. Il incombe par conséquent à tous les étudiants de
comprendre ce que l'on entend par tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions académiques, ainsi que les
conséquences que peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de l'étudiant et des
procédures disciplinaires (pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez consulter le site
http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity).

In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University’s

control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject
to change.

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Required Books:
(Books are available at Paragraph bookstore and online at Amazon.ca)

Peter Dear, The Intelligibility of Nature. How Science Makes Sense of the World
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006).

Michael Frayn, Copenhagen (New York: Anchor Books, 1998).

All other readings and web links will be posted on WebCT/myCourses.

WEEK 1—The Mechanical Universe

Lecture I (Sept. 2): General Introduction

Lecture II (Sept. 4): René Descartes’s Machine World

Readings: *Descartes, The World, chaps. 1-5 and 9
*Dear, The Intelligibility of Nature, intro + chap. 1

WEEK 2— The Mechanical Universe (II)

Lecture III (Sept. 7): Labor Day, no class

Lecture IV (Sept. 9): The Telescope: Galileo Galilei and the Sidereus nuncius (1610)
Readings: *Galileo, Sidereus nuncius
*Biagioli, “Replication or Monopoly? The Economies of Invention
and Discovery in Galileo's Observations of 1610”

Lecture V (Sept. 11): The Air Pump: Robert Boyle and the Production of Facts
Readings: *Shapin, “Pump and Circumstance”
*Schaffer interview on How to Think About Science (episode 1)

WEEK 3— The Mechanical Universe (III)

Lecture VI (Sept. 14): The Microscope: Robert Hooke and the Micrographia
Readings: *Hooke, Micrographia, preface
*Dennis, “Graphic Understanding: Instruments and
Interpretation in Robert Hooke’s Micrographia”

Lecture VII (Sept. 16): The Prism: Isaac Newton’s Principia mathematica and Opticks
Readings: *Newton, “Rules of Reasoning Philosophy”, in Principia
*Newton, “A Letter of Mr. Isaac Newton … Containing His New
Theory About Light and Colors”
*Schaffer, “Glass Works: Newton’s Prisms and the Uses of
Experiment”

Lecture VIII (Sept. 18): General Discussion

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WEEK 4—A Place for Everything

Lecture IX (Sept. 21): Collections, Wonder, Museums and Order

Readings: *Dear, The Intelligibility of Nature, chap. 2

Lecture X (Sept. 23): Visit to the Redpath Museum (Group A)

Readings: *Daston & Park, Wonders and the Order of Nature, chaps. 6-7

Lecture XI (Sept. 25): Visit to the Redpath Museum (Group B)

Readings: *Daston & Park, Wonders and the Order of Nature, chaps. 6-7

WEEK 5—A Place for Everything (II)

Lecture XII (Sept. 28): The Early Systematists

Readings: *Sloan, “John Locke, John Ray and the Problem of the Natural
System”

Lecture XIII (Sept. 30): Carl Linnaeus vs the comte de Buffon

Readings: *Lyon & Sloan, From Natural History, chaps.
*Sloan, “The Buffon-Linnaeus Controversy”

Lecture XIV (Oct. 2): General Discussion

First assignment due. Submission via WebCT

WEEK 6—Atoms and the Chemical Revolution

Lecture XV (Oct. 5): From Alchemy to Chemistry

Readings: *Dear, The Intelligibility of Nature, chap. 3

Lecture XVI (Oct. 7): Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and the Phlogiston

Readings: *Lavoisier, Elements of Chemistry (Google Books)
*Golinski, “Precision Instruments and the Demonstrative Order
of Proof”

Lecture XVII (Oct. 9): John Dalton and the Atom

Readings: *Dalton, A New System of Chemical Philosophy (Google Books)
*Whitt, “Atoms or Affinities”

WEEK 7—Design and Disorder: The Origin of Species

Lecture XVIII (Oct. 12): Thanksgiving, no class.

(Lecture has been moved to Dec. 3)

Lecture XIX (Oct. 14): Darwin and Natural Selection

Readings: *Darwin, The Origin of Species, intro + chap. 4
*Dear, The Intelligibility of Nature, chap. 4

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Lecture XX (Oct. 16): The Age of the Earth: Worlds Before Adam
Readings: *Secord, “The Discovery of a Vocation”
*Rhodes, “Darwin’s Search for a Theory of the Earth”

WEEK 8—Design and Disorder: The Origin of Species (II)

Lecture XXI (Oct. 19): Darwin’s Reception in the 19th Century

Readings: *Hull, “Deconstructing Darwin”
*Browne, “Darwin in Caricature”

Lecture XXII (Oct. 21): General Discussion (before exam)

Lecture XXIII (Oct. 23): In-Class Midterm

WEEK 9—The Aether and Victorian Machines

Lecture XXIV (Oct. 26): Horror vacui

Readings: *Dear, The Intelligibility of Nature, chap. 5

Lecture XXV (Oct. 28): Teaching Experimental Science

Readings: *Gooday, “Precision Measurement and the Genesis of Physics
Teaching Laboratories”

Lecture XXVI (Oct. 30): Instruments: Visit to the MacPherson Physics Collection
(Group A) Hall of the Rutherford Physics Building

WEEK 10—The Aether and Victorian Machines (II)

Lecture XXVII (Nov. 2): Instruments: Visit to the MacPherson Physics Collection
(Group B) Hall of the Rutherford Physics Building

Lecture XXVIII (Nov. 4): The Submarine Cable: Science, Business and Politics
Readings: *Hunt, “Scientists, Engineers and Wildman Whitehouse”
*Headrick & Griset, “Submarine Telegraph Cables”

Lecture XXIX (Nov. 6): General Discussion

WEEK 11—The Quantum Universe

Lecture XXX (Nov. 9): Bundles of Light

Readings: *Dear, The Intelligibility of Nature, chap. 6

Lecture XXXI (Nov. 11): Let’s Do Some Physics…

Readings: *Gribbin, In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat, chaps. 3-5 and 8

Lecture XXXII (Nov. 13): The Einstein-Bohr Debate

Readings: *Holton, “The Roots of Complementarity”

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WEEK 12— The Quantum Universe (II)

Lecture XXXIII (Nov. 16): ‘Destroyers of Worlds’: The A-Bomb

Readings: *Shapin & Thorpe, “Who Was J. Robert Oppenheimer”
*Einstein’s Letters to Roosevelt

Second assignment due. Submission via WebCT

Lecture XXXIV (Nov. 18): Moral Dilemma: Werner Heisenberg and the German Bomb
Readings: *Frayn, Copenhagen

Lecture XXXV (Nov. 20): Theater Day: Watching (part of) Copenhagen

WEEK 13— The Quantum Universe (III)

Lecture XXXVI (Nov. 23): The Super Bomb

Readings: *Galison & Bernstein, “In Any Light: Scientists and the Decision
to Build the Hydrogen Bomb”

Lecture XXXVII (Nov. 25): Big Science

Readings: *Galison, Image and Logic, pp. 303-369

Lecture XXXVIII (Nov. 27): General Discussion

WEEK 14—The Instrumentality of Science

Lecture XXXIX (Nov. 30): From Rolling Balls to Particle Accelerators

Readings: *Dear, The Intelligibility of Nature, conclusion
*Bertoloni Meli, Thinking with Objects
*CERN, The Large Hadron Collider (browse website, link below)
*NIF, the National Ignition Facility (fusion reactor)

Lecture XL (Dec. 2): General Discussion

Readings: *Gauvin, Einstein’s Blackboard

Lecture XLI (Dec. 3): The hour is left to individual discussion about final paper.

Final Assignment due on 22 December 2009.

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SOME ONLINE RESOURCES USED AND TO EXPLORE

Descartes, The World, transl. by Michael Mahoney:

http://www.princeton.edu/~hos/mike/texts/descartes/world/worldfr.htm

On Galileo’s telescope (interactive and very informative website):

http://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/esplora/cannocchiale/dswmedia/simula/esimula1.html

The Newton Project (for more optical papers, theology and alchemy):
http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/prism.php?id=47

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier Panopticon (everything on him)

http://moro.imss.fi.it/lavoisier/main.asp

Darwin Complete Works online (one of several Darwin online projects)

http://darwin-online.org.uk/

Albert Einstein from the American Institute of Physics:

http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/

On Frayn’s Copenhagen, filmed by PBS:

http://www.pbs.org/hollywoodpresents/copenhagen/index.html

CBC’s How to Think About Science, interviews with Daston, Galison, Shapin and
Schaffer (and several scientists):
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/science/index.html

Richard Feynman Talks about Light (YouTube)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjHJ7FmV0M4&feature=related

Brian Greene in the Quantum Café, from Nova The Elegant Universe
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html

A quick summary of the early quantum theory of matter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45KGS1Ro-sc&feature=related

National Ignition Facility (NIF) and Photon Science

https://lasers.llnl.gov/multimedia/photo_gallery/

CERN’s Large Hadron Collider:

http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/LHC-en.html