History Seminar – “Popular Science in Early Modern England, 1500-1800”
Spring 2010
It is an historical commonplace that the study of science underwent some sort of "revolution" during the early modern period, but recently the nature of that revolution – and indeed the term itself – has become a hot topic for debate among historians. This course seeks to look beyond well-studied men such as Sir Isaac Newton and instead examines the forgotten practitioners of early modern science. In particular, it will look at the ways in which scientific inquiry intersected with popular culture. What did members of Parliament, merchants, craftsmen and even poor labors know about the world around them? How interested were they in sciences such as applied mathematics, the study of the natural world and medicine? What did they find useful and how did they apply that knowledge to their daily lives? Thus this seminar seeks to recover something we shall call "popular science."
This course is a research seminar and will culminate in a major research paper, approximately 25 pages in length. The first six weeks of class will be devoted to discussing assigned readings which will include primary and secondary sources intended to introduce students to popular science in early modern England. Readings will typically run around 150 pages per week. During this period, students will also choose their research paper topic, write two short paper proposals and construct an annotated bibliography for their chosen topic. Students will spend the final half of the course writing drafts of this paper and will be expected to present their work to the class at the end of the semester.
This course is a research seminar and will culminate in a major research paper, approximately 25 pages in length. The first six weeks of class will be devoted to discussing assigned readings which will include primary and secondary sources intended to introduce students to popular science in early modern England. Readings will typically run around 150 pages per week. During this period, students will also choose their research paper topic, write two short paper proposals and construct an annotated bibliography for their chosen topic. Students will spend the final half of the course writing drafts of this paper and will be expected to present their work to the class at the end of the semester.
