Course Listings

Science Studies

SST 120 (TH) An Introduction to the History of Science (1)

This course offers a general survey of scientific thought from the philosophies of ancient Greece to modern physics and molecular biology.

Mode of Inquiry: Thinking Historically

• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Staff

SST 122 Introduction to the History of Technology (1)

This course is an undergraduate survey dealing with the history of technology and its complex relationship to society from ancient Greece to the present. Topics include the Industrial Revolution, the history of the computer, optical technology, the role of technology during World Wars 1 & 2, and the role of nuclear arms technology.

• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Staff

SST 240 (TH) Introduction to the History of Western Medicine (1)

This course offers a survey of the development of Western medicine from the French Enlightenment to the present. Topics include gender and medicine, the social construction of disease, medicine and the state, and medicine and death.

Mode of Inquiry: Thinking Historically; Death Cluster

• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Staff

SST 323 (W) Advanced Topics in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (1)

This course offers an advanced-level seminar on the history of science, technology, and medicine from the Scientific Revolution to the present. Topics include: the politics of the French revolution, optical artisans, technology during the French Enlightenment, the history of venereal disease, and the concept of the gene.

General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing centered

Prerequisite: One course in history

• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Staff

SST 389 (TH) Physics and Society (1)

This course treats the history of physics from 1700 to the present. We shall investigate how sociocultural factors influence physics and, conversely, how physics has influenced culture and society.

Mode of Inquiry: Thinking Historically

• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Staff

SST 392 (TH) Biology and Society (1)

This course explores the relationship between the biological sciences and society from Enlightenment France until the present. Topics include: the role of gender in 18th century classifications of plants, Darwin's theory of evolution and its political and religious implications, eugenics and the Human Genome Project.

Mode of Inquiry: Thinking Historically

Prerequisite: One semester of Biology or consent of instructor

• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Staff

SST 499 (W) Senior Seminar in Science Studies

This course is intended for science-studies major with senior standing and is comprised of direct reading, research and writing of a senior thesis. The topic of study will be selected by the student after consultation with the director of the science-studies program and the student's advisor. This course is meant as the culmination of a science-studied major; hense, the student is to choose a topic from her/his areas of concentration within the major. The work should represent expertise in methodologies relevant to science studies as applied to a specific scientific, historical, philosophical or sociological area.

General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing centered

• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Staff