Astronomy 336 Spring 2011

Instructor: Prof. Jay M. Pasachoff, 115 Thompson Physics and Astronomy Lab, x2105, jay.m.pasachoff@williams.edu

Office hours: Tuesdays, 11:15-12:15, Wednesdays, 10:30-11:30 a.m., by appointment, and by stopping in most any old time.

Class meetings: Wednesdays, 1:10-3:30, Thompson Physics and Astronomy Lab

additional meetings:

Tuesday, February 1, 8 pm (organizational section)

Monday, February 7, 8 pm (read the C. P. Snow book and related material)

Monday, February 14, 8 pm (read material on how to lie with statistics)

Many books are on a shelf behind the checkout desk in Schow.

Many articles are in electronic reserves administered by Schow Library.

To access them:

http://www.williams.edu/library

· under Finding articles choose reserve by course number, or go directly to http://francis.williams.edu/search/r

· use course number: astronomy 336, and press return or click the Find button

· books on reserve are listed, as is access to on-line articles, as follows:

· click on an entry in the center: Online Course Material (e-reserves)

· enter your password: ASTR336

Jodi Psoter at Schow is the librarian who arranges the electronic reserves

Requirements:

Attending all sessions; participating in class

First paper due, Wednesday, March 2 (10 pages)

Second paper due, Wednesday, April 13 (10 pages)

Final paper due, Wednesday, May 11 (15 pages)

no exams

General periodical resources on reserve:

The Skeptical Inquirer

The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine

References to this course

Berkshire Eagle editorial

Chronicle of Higher Education article (September 9, 2005)

C. P. Snow and The Two Cultures

assigned book, to be read by class on Monday evening, February 7, at 8 pm:

C. P. Snow, The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 1959, 1993) (Water Street Books)

other books:

Jay A. Labinger and Harry Collins, The One Culture? A conversation about science, Chicago University Press, 2001, Q175.55 .O54 2001

C. P. Snow, Public Affairs, Scribner's 1972.

in e-reserves:

LeonBotstein comments (2011)

Leavis-Snow Controversy

 Lionel Trilling

 One Culture

  Public Affairs

 Significance of CP

Snow-Leavis Rumpus

Two cultures

 World Ticks

Hubris of the Humanities    Kristof, N.D.

C. P. Snow: Bridging the Two-Cultures Divide    By David P. Barash (NYTimes)

Morse on C.P. Snow    Morse, Joann

Two Cultures or One?: A Second Look at Kuhn's The Copernican Revolution    Westman, Robert

Known World    Pinker, Steven

Swann's Hypothesis    Max, D.T.

"Two Cultures"

Profs Who Don't (Won't) E-Mail    Ellin, A.    Web Link    -

Our Two Cultures    Phillip Griffiths Looks at 'Two Cultures' Today         Web Link    -

Letters; Frames of Mind         pdf

Letter: Frames of Mind         pdf

In Defense of Naïve Reading    Robert Pippin    Web Link

additional topics:

Iraq fraud (see e-reserves for an article in Skeptical Inquirer by jmp)

The New York Times INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE  | January 24, 2010

British Man Held for Fraud in Iraq Bomb Detectors 

By RIYADH MOHAMMED and ROD NORDLAND

The owner of a company that supplies questionable bomb detectors to Iraq has been arrested for fraud, and the export of the devices has been banned. 

The New York Times, WORLD  | January 23, 2010

Iraq MPs Demand Bomb Detector Be Axed After UK Ban 

By REUTERS

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers demanded on Saturday that security forces stop using a device used widely for detecting explosives which the British government says does not work.