Schedule

SS = Steven Shapin, The Scientific Revolution

LP = Lawrence Principe, The Scientific Revolution: A Very Short Introduction

Weekly Schedule:

Week One: Preliminaries

Aug 21: NO MEETING, Office Hours on Zoom

Aug 23: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • Syllabus (2023scirev.jessicaotis.com)
  • AHA History Tuning Project: 2016 History Discipline Core
  • OPTIONAL: Liba Taub, Ancient Greek and Roman Science: A Very Short Introduction
• Other Activities
  • Join the class Slack instance and post an introduction that includes your preferred name, pronouns, and why you signed up for this course (“I need it to graduate” is a valid reason!)
  • OPTIONAL: sign up for a free password manager, e.g. LastPass, Keeper Security, 1Password

Week Two: 

Aug 28: Class in Horizon 1008

Aug 30: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • LP, Introduction & Chapter One
  • Sarah Werner, “A practical look at the Practical Science of Printing“
  • OPTIONAL: Sarah Werner, “Finding women in the printing shop“
  • OPTIONAL: Caroline Duroselle Melish “A red proof sheet used as printer’s waste“
• Other Activities:
  • Stephanine Grimm, et al, Adventures in Illuminating (did in class)
  • OPTIONAL: Folger Shakespeare Library’s Virtual Printing House (7 online exercises)

Week Three: 

Sept. 4: NO MEETING, Labor Day Holiday

Sept. 6: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • Roy Rosenzweig, “Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past,” The Journal of American History 93, no. 1 (2006), 117-146.
• Videos
  • Week Three Recorded Lecture

Week Four: 

Sept. 11: Class in Horizon 1008

Sept. 13: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • Jessica Otis, “‘Set Them to the Cyphering Schoole’: Reading, Writing, and Arithmetical Education, circa 1540-1700,” Journal of British Studies 56, no 3 (July 2017), doi: 10.1017/jbr.2017.59 (if you are off campus, this can be accessed via the GMU Libraries)
  • Ray Schrire, “The Mystery of Humphrey Walcot’s grocery bill and early-modern popular numeracy“

Week Five: 

Sept. 18: NO MEETING, Office Hours on Zoom

Sept. 20: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • SS, Introduction & Chapter One
  • John Dee’s Mathematical Preface to the English translation of Euclid
  • OPTIONAL: Jacqueline Stedall, The History of Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction
• Videos
  • Week Five Recorded Lecture

Week Six: 

Sept. 25: Class in Horizon 1008

Sept. 27: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • LP, Chapter Two
  • Abbie Weinberg, “Whose least part crackt, the whole does fly”: early views on Prince’s Rupert’s Drops” (also the brief video at the end)
• Other Activities:
  • Folger Shakespeare Library Before Farm to Table: Foodways exhibits (British Manuscript Recipe Books; Globalization and the Spice Trade; Colonization, Sugar, and Enslavement)
  • skim some of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s culinary and medical Recipe Books
  • explore modernized versions of early mdoern food recipes (Linked via Webpage) or (PDF)

Week Seven: 

Oct. 2: NO MEETING, Office Hours on Zoom

Oct. 4: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • SS, Chapter Two
  • Kristin Heitman, “Of Counts and Causes: The Emergence of the London Bills of Mortality“
  • OPTIONAL: William H. Brock, The History of Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction
• Videos
  • Week Seven Recorded Lecture
• Other Activities
  • Jessica Otis, et al, Death by Numbers and Gaming the Great Plague

Week Eight: 

Oct. 9: NO MEETING, Fall Break

Oct. 11: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • SS, Chapter Three
  • Mauricio Onetto, “The habitability of our planet“
  • OPTIONAL: John A. Matthews, David T. Herbert, Geography: A Very Short Introduction
• Videos
  • Week Eight Recorded Lecture
• Other Activities
  • check out the Map of Early Modern London project

Week Nine: 

Oct. 16: NO MEETING, Office Hours on Zoom

Oct. 18: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • LP, Chapter Three
  • Katherine Walker, “Almanacs as Underdogs“
  • skim Hopton 1607. An Almanack and Prognostication [EEBO, sorry about the print quality]
• Videos
  • Week Nine Recorded Lecture

Week Ten: 

Oct. 23: Class in Horizon 1008

Oct. 25: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • Begin reading Thomas F. Mayer, ed. The Trial of Galileo, 1612-1633
  • Abbie Weinberg, “From comet tales to bear tails“
  • Galileo, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina
• Other Activities
  • work on those final projects!

Week Eleven: 

Oct. 30: NO MEETING, Office Hours on Zoom

Nov. 1: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • Finish reading Thomas F. Mayer, ed. The Trial of Galileo, 1612-1633
  • OPTIONAL: Michael Hoskin, The History of Astronomy: A Very Short Introduction
• Videos
  • Week Eleven Recorded Lecture
• Other Activities
  • try to spot the four moons of Jupiter
  • work on those final projects!

NOTE: The class debate on The Trial of Galileo is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 1st or 6th.

Week Twelve: 

Nov. 6: Class in Horizon 1008

Nov. 8: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • LP, Chapter Four & Five
  • skim 3 entries from Edward Topsell, A Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes [EEBO]
• Other Activities
  • work on those final projects!

Week Thirteen: 

Nov. 13: NO MEETING, Office Hours on Zoom

Nov. 15: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • LP, Chapter Six & Epilogue
• Videos
  • Week Thirteen Recorded Lecture
• Other Activities
  • work on those final projects!

Week Fourteen: 

Nov. 20: Class in Horizon 1008

Nov. 22: NO MEETING, Thanksgiving Break

• Videos
  • Week Fourteen Recorded Lecture
• Other Activities
  • explore the Making and Knowing Project – https://www.makingandknowing.org
  • work on those final projects!

Week Fifteen: 

Nov. 27: NO MEETING, Office Hours on Zoom

Nov. 29: Class on Zoom

• Readings
  • Pamela H. Smith, “Science on the Move: Recent Trends in the History of Early Modern Science“
•  Videos
  • Week Fifteen Recorded Lecture
• Other Activities
  • work on those final projects!

Final exam: Weds, December 6th, 4:15pm