History of Ideas in Physics

Recommended Prerequisites

Training in Physics at the 1st cycle of studies.

Teaching Methods

The History of Ideas in Physics is presented as a human endeavor, resulting from the contribution of individual and scientific communities also reflect social and ethical concerns of a particular era. We will analyze some aspects of the development of instruments and experimental techniques of seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. Through research activities result in the presentation of written and oral presentations. This strategy will foster interpersonal relationships and teamwork.

Learning Outcomes

This course aims to give an overview of the evolution of ideas in physics in its fundamental aspects, its organization, and to promote critical thinking about scientific development and its connection to the present.

Students who successfully complete the course will:

- Acquiring an effective understanding of the fundamental aspects related to the history of science and technology

- Understanding the complex dynamics of epistemological and cultural factors that contribute to changes in science.

- Know the primary and secondary sources of the History of Ideas in Physics

- Knowing the different means of dissemination of scientific ideas

- Relate the scientific with the social and technological aspects

- Use diverse resources of the History of Science in teaching strategies / learning

- Relate the development of ideas in physics with the evolution of teaching

- Treat historical documents and use them in an educational context.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

- Genesis of Science in Antiquity

- Scientific stagnation of the Middle Ages.

- Experimental attitude of philosophers in the 13th century.

- Theory of impetus in the 13th and 14th centuries.

- Copernican Revolution.

- Galileo's Scientific Revolution

- Ideas in Physics in the second half of the 17th century.

- Huygens' formulation of conservation principles.

- Principles of Newtonian philosophy.

- Diffusion of science in the 18th century

        The. Physics courses at European universities.

        B. Manufacturers of scientific instruments.

- Fundamentals of electromagnetism in the 19th century.

- Developments in Thermodynamics and Optics in the 19th century.

- Discovery of X-rays and the discovery of the electron.

- Celestial Mechanics and foundations of Astrophysics in the 18th and 19th centuries.

- Geodesic studies and the variation of gravity acceleration.

- New knowledge about geomagnetism in the 19th century.

- Developments in Physics at the beginning of the 20th century.

Head Lecturer(s)

Sónia Antón Castillo

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Synthesis work: 30.0%
Research work: 30.0%
Exam: 40.0%

Bibliography

McCain, Kevin; Kampourakis, Kostas. What is Scientific Knowledge?: An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology of Science. Routledge, 2019.

Heilbron, J. L. The History of Physics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. 2018.

Adams, M. P.; Biener, Z.; Feest, U.; Sullivan, J. A. Eppur si muove: Doing History and Philosophy of Science with Peter Machamer: A Collection of Essays in Honor of Peter Machamer, Springer. 2017.

Bowler, P. J.; Morus, I. R. Making Modern Science: A Historical Survey. University of Chicago Press 2010.

Jefferson Hane Weaver: The world of physics : a small library of the literature of physics from antiquity to the present : 3 vols. New York : Simon and Schuster, 1987.

Lloyd Motz and Jefferson Hane Weaver. The concepts of science : from Newton to Einstein. New York : Plenum Press, 1988.

Gerald Holton: Physics, the human adventure : from copernicus to Einstein and Beyond / Gerald Holton, Stephen G. Brush. London : Rutger University Press, 1985.