2013-2014 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog
History of Science Minor
Faculty: Castelão-Lawless, Kopperl.
For additional information about opportunities your college offers, please refer to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences section in this catalog.
In todays technological society no person can be considered to be truly educated unless he or she has an understanding of the role of science in the world. The history of science program offers students the opportunity to go beyond the accumulation of scientific facts and to gain an understanding of the historical roots of science and technology as well as the interaction between scientific history and social, literary, economic, and political history. Thus, scientists can understand the history of their discipline as a part of the progress of human civilization. Nonscientists, on the other hand, can see that science is not a frightening series of facts and formulas that appeared from the chaos, fully developed in the brain of an Einstein or a Newton.
In this regard, the history of science is no different from any other branch of intellectual history. However, because new scientific theories by their very nature render earlier theories obsolete and worthless (at least to practicing scientists), interest in scientific history has been a relatively recent phenomenon.
Requirements for a Minor in History of Science
A student choosing history of science as a minor program must complete 20 hours of study in the history of science, normally including HSC 201, 202, 399, and related courses from other units. Courses not regularly offered may be available through independent study. Such a minor is not recognized as a teachable minor.