I. Structure of the Course

• Two lectures, one preceptorial weekly.
• Midterm written exercise consisting of an essay of about 1500 words on one of several suggested topics.
• Final examination covering the material of the lectures, readings, and preceptorial discussions.

II. Books to be Purchased

• Jean LeRond D'Alembert, Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot (University of Chicago Press)
• Francis Bacon, The New Organon (Prentice-Hall)
• William Harvey, On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals (Prometheus)
• Michael S. Mahoney (ed.), Readings in the Scientific Revolution (packet available from Pequod)
  

All assigned readings are also on 3-hour reserve in the Reserve Room in Firestone Library. There are some general resources for the course on the World Wide Web. Each week has a link to the sources pertinent to its topics.

III. Lectures and Assignments

	Week I (2 February) Lecture 1. Introduction: Science, Culture, and History Lecture 2. The World of Aristotle and Ptolemy Reading  John of Holywood, On the Sphere, in E. Grant (ed.), Source Book in Medieval Science, 442-451 (in Readings and online) Anon., Theorica planetarum (Models of the Planets), in Grant, 451-465 (in Readings) M.S. Mahoney, "Ptolemaic Astronomy in the Middle Ages", (online and in Readings) WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading
	Week II (9 February) Lecture 3. The World on Its Head: Copernicus'On the Revolutions Lecture 4. The Union of Head and Hand: Vesalius'On the Structure of the Human Body Reading  Nicholas Copernicus, On the Revolutions (trans. Rosen), Prefatory material and Book I (online) and Book V, pp. 227-254 (in packet) Andreas Vesalius, On the Fabric of the Human Body, Preface and Printer's Note to the Reader (Online edition at Northwestern; go to the homepage and from there to Book One, then choose the two items from the sidebar on the left.) J.D.deC. Saunders and C.D. O'Malley, The Illustrations from the Works of Andreas Vesalius of Brussels (spend some time looking at Vesalius'drawings) WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading
	Week III (16 February) Lecture 5. Shaping the World: Renaissance Engineering Lecture 6. Machines and Motion: Galileo's Two New Sciences Reading S. Drake and I.E. Drabkin, Mechanics in Sixteenth-Century Italy, 3-26, 63-78, 241-258 Galileo Galilei, Discourses and Demonstrations Concerning Two New Sciences (trans. Crew and DeSalvio [online or pdf], or Drake), First Day, 49-68, 105-118, 127-141; Second Day, 151-158; Third Day, 190, 197-214; Fourth Day, 268-280 (N.B. the page numbers here refer to those of the standard Italian edition and are given in square brackets in the Crew-DeSalvio translation and at the side of the page in the Drake translation) WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading
	Week IV (23 February) Lecture 7. Breaking the Circle: Kepler's New Astronomy Lecture 8. The Cosmological Crisis: Galileo's Two World System Reading  Curtis Wilson, "How did Kepler Discover His First Two Laws?", Scientific American (March 1972), 92-106 (in packet) Galileo Galilei, The Assayer, selections in Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo (trans. Drake), 231-280 Galileo, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (trans. Drake), 46-80, 140-188 (in packet) WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading
	Week V (1 March) Lecture 9. The Promise and Threat of Magic Lecture 10. Bacon on Truth and Utility Reading  William Eamon, "Technology as Magic in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance" Janus 70(1983), 171-212 (in packet) Francis Bacon, The New Organon, Book I (pp. 33-120) [online version] WWW Resources | Background and Supplementary Reading
	Week VI (8 March) Lecture 11. Meeting the Sceptical Challenge  Lecture 12. Optics and Mechanicism  Reading Marin Mersenne, The Truth of the Sciences (online and in packet) Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method, Optics, Geometry and Meteorology (trans. Olscamp), 65-83, 162-173, 332-352 (in packet) WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading

	Week VII (22 March) Lecture 13.The Cosmology of Light: Descartes' World Lecture 14. The Mechanical Philosophy Reading Descartes, The World, or a Treatise on Light (online and in Readings) WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading
	MIDTERM EXERCISE DUE 3:00 PM, FRIDAY, 26 MARCH
	Week VIII (29 March) Lecture 15. The Motions of the Body: Harvey's Theory of Circulation Lecture 16. The Sublimity of the Mundane Reading  William Harvey, The Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals [online version] Descartes, Discourse on Method, Sect. V [online version] WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading
	Week IX (5 April) Lecture 17. The Virtuosi  Lecture 18. Salomon's House  Reading:  Accademia del Cimento, Essayes of Natural Experiments (1667), sels. in Readings Robert Hooke, Micrographia (1665), sels. in Readings Steven Shapin, "Pump and Circumstance: Robert Boyle's Literary Technology", Social Studies of Science 14(1984), 481-520 (online version) WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading
	Week X (12  April) Lecture 19. Learning to Work Together Lecture 20. Pendulums and Falling Bodies Reading either E. Mariotte et al., New Discoveries Touching Vision (online) or "The Hooke-Newton Dispute Over Colors" (in the Philosophical Transactions available online through JStor) Memorandum from Christiaan Huygens to Minister Colbert regarding the work of the new Académie Royale des Sciences M.S. Mahoney, "Christiaan Huygens: The Measurement of Time and of Longitude at Sea", in H.J.M. Bos et al. (eds), Studies on Christiaan Huygens, 234-270 M.S. Mahoney, "Organizing Expertise: Engineering and Public Works under Colbert, 1662-83 WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading
	Week XI (19 April) Lecture 21. Pendulums and Moons: Newton's Principia Lecture 22. "Nature conformable unto herself": The Newtonian World Reading  Isaac Newton, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (ed. Cajori), xvii-xxxiii, 1-28 [definitions and axioms], 40-41 [Prop. I], 398-419 [preface, rules of reasoning, phaenomena, Props. I-X], 543-547 [General Scholium] Newton, Opticks (ed. Cohen), Query 31 [in packet; online pdf version of 1721 edition, Qu. 31 at pp. 350-382] WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading
	Week XII (26 April) Lecture 23. Competition on the Continent Lecture 24. The Light of Science: St. Petersburg and Beijing  Reading  D'Alembert, Preliminary Discourse, Part II Nathan Sivin, "Why the Scientific Revolution Did Not Take Place in China -- Or Didn't It?", in Transformation and Tradition in the Sciences: Essays in Honor of I. Bernard Cohen (ed. Everett Mendelsohn), 531-554 WWW Resources  | Background and Supplementary Reading