See also the Departmental Website, which has more information about this module. Current periodicals in the history of science are on the science floor in the University Library, and are worth browsing in. These cover the mid-Victorian era, focusing upon the idea of scientific progress and the growth of agnosticism and 'scientific naturalism', with particular reference to Tyndall's address to the BAAS in Belfast and its agnostic reverence for nature. Assessment is by 3 hour examination. There are fortnightly Tutorials and a weekly lecture.
Lectures are to give background, make connections and arouse enthusiasm and interest.
Tutorials will allow us to examine novels and poetry as well as more systematic works of the period, bearing on questions of religion and science. You should read some primary sources from the nineteenth century as well as the secondary works on the reading list. In Tutorials we all learn from one another. Explore the relationship between chemical and personal attractions in Goethe s Elective Affinities. Discuss the remarks on miracles in Charles Babbage s Ninth Bridgewater Treatise.