HISTORY 333: GALILEO IN CONTEXT

Spring semester 1996

A. Van Helden (helden@rice.edu)
Office, FL 527 (ext. 2556)
Office Hours: Wednesday, 1:00-3:00 pm

Class Time: T/TH, 10:50 am-12:05 pm
Classroom: RH111

Course Description

After almost four centuries, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) is still the center of controversy. Was the Catholic Church justified in condemning him for his Copernican beliefs in 1633? Was he right in his battle against the entrenched authority of the churc h and the universities? Did he really perform the experiments he claimed to have done? It is the aim of this course to help students find ways to answer such questions.

The format will be that of a discussion class. We will begin by examining the context within which Galileo fashioned his career, and we will then turn our attention to some of the books Galileo wrote. Although there will be some background lectures in c lass, the students will find most of the information on Galileo's life in a computer source, "The Galileo Project," on the Electronic Studio network.

Students will need an Owlnet account and a World Wide Web home page by Friday 26 January. Computer expertise is not required, but students must be willing to learn how to use computer network tools. Consultants will teach students (if necessary) to use the Galileo Project and the course newsgroup. Technical help will be available throughout the semester.

As a way to prepare him/herself for discussions, student will prepare a brief biography (2 or 3 pages), due Tuesday 23 January and put this on his/her home page, by Friday 26 January.

Group Projects
Throughout the semester, students will work on group projects on one of the following topics:

  1. Galileo's telescopic astronomy
  2. Galileo's experiments on motion
  3. The Inquisition
  4. The Jesuits
  5. Universities in the time of Galileo
  6. Florence and Tuscany in the time of Galileo
  7. Venice and Padua in the time of Galileo

Groups, consisting of four to six students, must be formed by 25 January. Groups will meet with the professor and resource persons for initial orientation and periodically thereafter. Each project will have its own home page (linked to the course home p age). Weekly progress reports will be posted on the course newsgroup. Preliminary reports will be presented in class at midterm, and final results, posted on each group's home page by 19 April, will be discussed in class on 9, 11, 16, and 18 April. At the end of the course each team member will evaluate the work of the other members of his/her team.

Grades
In addition to the projects, students will write two 75-minute exams, on 2 March and 25 April. The final grade will be made up roughly as follows:

Schedule and Readings

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