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. Recently it has been possible to expand and solidify my expertise in this area, focusing in particular on Galileo Galilei. Since January 2003 I have taught or co-taught a total of eleven undergraduate courses that have 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?, 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, Artisitc and Political Context. We are teaching another Chautauqua course from May 30 through June 4, 2007, also based in Florence, entitled Galileo's Science and its Artisanal, Commercial, and Engineering Origins. There are still openings available. Course information and an online registration form is available here. More information about the Chautauqua courses, including archives, 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.