Galileo-related Activities
For many years I had contributed lectures dealing with the
emergence of modern science in our Austin College core course
entitled (unfortunately) the Heritage of Western Culture: The
Scientific Heritage. Then it became possible to expand and
solidify my expertise in this area, focusing in particular on
Galileo Galilei. Beginning in January 2003 I taught or co-taught a
total of eleven undergraduate courses that focused at least in
part on Galileo. The list includes
- Heritage of Western Culture 201:
Metaphors and Scientific World Views, Spring 2007, taught
in collaboration with economist Dan Nuchols and chemist Hank
Gibson
- Heritage of Western Culture 201 Galileo
in Context: the Origins of Modern Science, January 2007,
in Florence, Siena, Pisa, Padua, Venice, and Rome
- Heritage of Western Culture 101
Vision, Reflection, Discovery: Arts, Letters, and Discovery
From the Renaissance to the Age of
Enlightenment, Fall 2006, taught in collaboration with
italien Renaissance art historian Jeffrey Fontana and
intellectual historian Max Grober
- Heritage of Western Culture
201: Metaphors and Scientific World Views, Spring 2006,
taught in collaboration with economist Dan Nuchols and chemist
Hank Gibson
- Heritage of Western Culture 101
Vision, Reflection, Discovery: Arts, Letters, and Discovery
From the Renaissance to the Age of
Enlightenment, Fall 2005, taught in collaboration with
italien Renaissance art historian Jeffrey Fontana and
intellectual historian Max Grober
- Heritage of Western
Culture 201 Galileo in Context: the Origins of Modern Science,
Spring 2005
- Heritage of Western Culture
201 Galileo in Context: the Origins of Modern Science,
January 2005, in Florence, Siena, Pisa, Vinci, Padua, Venice,
and Rome. Highlights are available here
- Freshman Seminar: Does the Earth
Move ...and Who Cares?, (Schedule)
Fall 2004
- Heritage of Western Culture
101 Vision, Reflection, Discovery: Arts, Letters, and
Discovery From the Renaissance to the Age of Enlightenment,
Fall 2004, taught in collaboration with Jeffrey Fontana and Max
Grober
- The Life and Times of
Galileo, January 2003, in Florence, Siena, Pisa, Vinci,
Padua, Venice, and Rome. Highlights are available here
In addition I collaborated in Florence, Italy, in May, 2004 and
2005 with AC intellectual historian Max Grober and AC historian of
Renaissance art Jeffrey Fontana on a National Science Foundation
sponsored Chautauqua course for college teachers entitled
Galileo's Genius Viewed in Scientific, Artistic, Political and
Religious Context. In May 2006 I co-taught with the Galileo
historian Tom Settle a substantially revised Chautauqua course
entitled Galileo's Genius Viewed in Craft, Engineering,
Scientific, Artistic and Political Context. We did a revised
version in May 2007 entitled Galileo's
Science and its Artisanal, Commercial, and Engineering
Origins. Archival material is available here.
In December, 2004, I gave a public lecture at the Planetarium in
Barranquilla, Colombia on Galileo. The powerpoint presentation is
available here.