I.  Description

This is a seminar on recent work in Science and Technology Studies (STS).  STS is an interdisciplinary field in which methods from history, philosophy, sociology, and literary and cultural studies are used to analyze the relations among science, technology and society.  This course is a core requirement for STS-majors. For non-STS majors, the purpose of this course is to increase understanding of the ways in which science and technology interact with society, and to become familiar with humanistic and social scientific modes of thought.  For Spring 2010, the seminar will focus on material cultures of practice in histories of physics and engineering in 19th and 20th century Britain and the U.S.  Prerequisite:  One Level 2 course from the STS cluster of HuSS electives.

II.  Required Reading
At Bookstore:

1. Marsden, B. and C. Smith (2007) Engineering Empires, Palgrave Macmillan.
2. Warwick, A. (2003) Masters of Theory:  Cambridge and the Rise of Mathematical Physics, Univ. Chicago Press.
3. Kaiser, D. (2005) Drawing Theories Apart:  The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics, Univ. Chicago Press.
4. Shapin, S. (2008) The Scientific Life:  A Moral History of a Late Modern Vocation, Univ. Chicago Press.

Additional Reading:

1. Smith, C., et al. (2003) "'Avoiding equally extravagance and parsimony':  the Moral Economy of the Ocean Steamship", Technology and Culture 44, pp. 443-469.
2. Smith, C. and A. Scott (2007) "'Trust in Providence':  Building Confidence into the Cunard Line of Steamers", Technology and Culture 48, pp. 471-496.
3. Gooday, G. (2005) "Fear, Shunning, and Valuelessness:  Controversy over the Use of 'Cambridge' Mathematics in Late Victorian Electro-Technology", in D. Kaiser (ed.) Pedagogy and the Practice of Science, MIT Press, pp. 111-149.
4. Kaiser, D. (2005) "Making Tools Travel:  Pedagogy and the Transfer of Skills in Postwar Theoretical Physics", in D. Kaiser (ed.) Pedagogy and the Practice of Science, MIT Press, pp. 41-74.
5. Shapin, S. (2007) "Science and the Modern World", in E. Hackett et al. (eds.) The Handbook of Science andTechnologyStudies, 3rd Ed., MIT Press, pp. 433-448.
6. Shapin, S. (2006) "The Man of Science", in L. Daston and K. Park (eds.) The Cambridge History of Science, Vol. 3, Cambridge Univ. Press, pp. 179-191.

III.  Requirements
1.  Participation in class discussion (20%).  Each student will be required to submit a list of 5-7 questions (typed, double-spaced) on the assigned reading at the start of every class.  Students should keep a copy of their questions during the class discussion.

2.  Depending on class size, one or two presentations of a reading assignment (20%).

3.  Three papers.
(a) Two Response Papers of 4-6 pages (30%, @15% each).
(b) One Research Paper of 8-10 pages (30%).  The research paper will be a critical extension, based on instructor feedback, of one of the response papers from item 3(a).
(c) All papers must conform to writing guidelines handed out and discussed on the first day of class.
(d) Late paper policy:  Late papers will be accepted but will be given an initial penalty of a third of a grade point, and a further penalty of a third of a grade point for every period of 4 days after the due date.  Example:  An A paper turned in one day late will receive an A-; an A paper turned in 4 days late will receive a B+; an A paper turned in 8 days late will receive a B; etc.  Late papers will not be accepted after the final day of the seminar.