HTS2081- Visualization in the Scientific Revolution

Description | Syllabus & Schedule | Requirements | Texts

Course Description

This course introduces students to major features of the period of European history described as the scientific revolution. Although we will consider many aspects in the development of science and technology, special attention will be given to the importance of visual representation in the redefinition of science. To facilitate our work, comparisons between the graphic information within the early modern period and our own electronic environments will be made with frequency. To this end, course lectures and discussions will be supported by an electronic infrastructure that will continue to be developed throughout the course. Several questions will be posed repeatedly as we look at particular cases:

  • What characteristics are associated with inquiry during this period and how is it exhibited in the interpretive strategies used to approach nature?
  • How is it that certain activities become normative as a consequence of being enacted through intervention in the world seen through the development of science and technology?
  • In what ways do we find methods of inquiry being shared among different professional communities?

Students will be expected to participate generously in discussions, attend lectures regularly, and turn in written assignments in a timely manner.

Course Requirements

Grades for the course will be determined by:

  • a combination of short quizzes associated with course sections (15%)
  • three short papers (60%)
  • final examination (20%)
  • a book review (5%).

Required Texts

  • Shapin, Steve. Scientific Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
  • Dear, Peter. Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge and Its Ambitions, 1500-1700, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.
  • The Scientific Enterprise in Early Modern Europe. ed. Peter Dear. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

Downloaded articles are in PDF format, a free plugin and stand alone reader are available at Adobe Acrobat Download Page.

Texts are available at the Georgia Tech Book Store and the Engineer's Bookstore.