Course Name | History and Philosophy of Astronomy |
Code | Semester | Theory (hour/week) | Application/Lab (hour/week) | Local Credits | ECTS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GENS 212 | Fall/Spring | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
Prerequisites | None | |||||
Course Language | English | |||||
Course Type | Service Course | |||||
Course Level | First Cycle | |||||
Mode of Delivery | - | |||||
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course | ||||||
Course Coordinator | ||||||
Course Lecturer(s) | ||||||
Assistant(s) | - |
Course Objectives | This course will examine the history and philosophy of astronomy in a way accessible to students of all majors and levels. Commencing from prehistory, emphasis will be placed both on lessons learned from past scientific developments and on open issues to stress the dynamics of discovery, including dark matter and cosmological questions about the Big Bang and the “multiverse.” Analysis of the impact of astronomical research will consider industrial benefits, mention of the novel phenomenon of commercial space and societal change from the artistic, literary, and philosophical standpoints, including also science straying into metaphysics. The contribution given by women throughout history will be explicitly showcased to provide a balanced view. Finally we shall consider the colonization of Mars, the dream of interstellar exploration, and the history and philosophical implications of the possible discovery of alien life in the universe, including intelligent civilizations. |
Learning Outcomes | The students who succeeded in this course;
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Course Description | |
Related Sustainable Development Goals |
| Core Courses | |
Major Area Courses | ||
Supportive Courses | ||
Media and Managment Skills Courses | ||
Transferable Skill Courses |
Week | Subjects | Required Materials |
1 | Introduction, the Solar System, our Universe | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: NASAS: Planets, Moons, Asteroids, Comets and Meteors. BSF: Part I; BSFWB: Ch. 1; PINLN |
2 | Prehistory, archeoastronomy, ancient Egypt | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: RMPI: pp 3-47; TESA: Ch. 4 PINLN |
3 | Basic naked-eye astronomy, observing the sky | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: PINLN |
4 | Babylonian mathematics and astronomy | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: TESA: Ch. 1-3, 5 PINLN |
5 | Greek philosophy and astronomy I | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: TESA: Ch. 6 HWP: Part I–The Presocratics PSC: Prologue PINLN |
6 | Greek philosophy and astronomy II | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: HWP: Part II–Socrates, Plato, Aristotle GINPTO PINLN |
7 | The Middle Ages and Astronomy in Islam | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: PSC: Ch. 2 (Historical Perspectives) PINLN |
8 | The Copernican Revolution, Tycho, and Kepler | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: HWP: Bk 3, Pt. VI–The Rise of Science PINLN |
9 | Galileo, the telescope, Newton, and mechanics | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: PINGT; PSC: Ch. 3, 5 (gravitation) PINLN |
10 | Midterm I | |
11 | Triumphs and failures. Einstein and relativity | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: PSC: Ch. 8, 9, 26 SGT: Part II PINLN |
12 | Space exploration. The race to the Moon | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: NASARS: 1-26; BSFWB: Ch. 4; BSF: Ch. 9 PINLN |
13 | Project I | |
14 | Exploring Mars. Interstellar space. Alien life | No-advanced-math based concept summary and essential concepts from: BSFWB: Ch. 9; BSF: Ch. 13; NASAINS; ESAEXB: II.3; PINLN |
15 | Project II | |
16 | Final exam |
Course Notes/Textbooks | NASA Science, Our Solar System, https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/overview/ : NASAS. A. B. Chace, The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus (Vol. I) (Mathematical Association of America, Oberlin, Ohio, 1927): RMPI. O. Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity (Dover Publications, New York, 1969): TESA. B. Russel, History of Western Philosophy (George Allen and Unwin Ltd., Great Britain, 1947): HWP. T. S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (The University of Chicago, Chicago, 1970): SOSR. K. Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery (Routledge, London, 2005): LOSD. P. Feyerabend, “How to defend society against science,” in Scientific Revolutions, Ian Hacking, Ed. (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981): FEYDS. O. Gingerich, “Was Ptolemy a fraud?” Q. Jl. R. astr. Soc., 21, 253-266 (1980): GINPTO. F. Pinto, “Giants’ Talk,” The Griffith Observer, 2-18, 9, 1992: PINGT. A. Einstein, Relativity: The special and general theory (Methuen & Co Ltd, 1920): SGT. G. W. Mason, Physical Science Concepts (BYU Univ. Press, 1997): PSC. NASA, Adventures in Rocket Science (NASA, 2008): NASARS. D. Doody and G. Stephan, Basics of Spaceflight: Learners’ Workbook (JPL, 1995): BSFWB. D. Doody, Basics of Spaceflight (JPL, 2011): BSF. NASA, Mars InSight Launch Press Kit (2018): NASAINS. F. Pinto, “Engines powered by the forces between atoms,” Am. Sci., 102, 280-289 (2014): PINEFBA. ESA, Exobiology in the Solar System & The Search for Life on Mars (1999): ESAEXB. F. Pinto, Lecture Notes: PINLN. |
Suggested Readings/Materials | - |
Semester Activities | Number | Weigthing |
Participation | ||
Laboratory / Application | ||
Field Work | ||
Quizzes / Studio Critiques | ||
Portfolio | ||
Homework / Assignments | ||
Presentation / Jury | ||
Project | 2 | 40 |
Seminar / Workshop | ||
Oral Exam | ||
Midterm | 1 | 20 |
Final Exam | 1 | 40 |
Total |
Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 3 | 60 |
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 1 | 40 |
Total |
Semester Activities | Number | Duration (Hours) | Workload |
---|---|---|---|
Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | ||
Study Hours Out of Class | 16 | 4 | 64 |
Field Work | |||
Quizzes / Studio Critiques | |||
Portfolio | |||
Homework / Assignments | |||
Presentation / Jury | |||
Project | 2 | 14 | |
Seminar / Workshop | |||
Oral Exam | |||
Midterms | 1 | 5 | |
Final Exams | 1 | 5 | |
Total | 150 |
# | Program Competencies/Outcomes | * Contribution Level | ||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
1 | To be able to use advanced, field-specific conceptual, theoretical, and practical knowledge acquired, | |||||
2 | To be able to analyze and research field-specific concepts and ideas and to interpret data individually or as a team using scientific methods, | |||||
3 | To be able to understand and use grammatical and semantic structures of the source and target languages, | |||||
4 | To be able to obtain information about social, cultural, and historical approaches within the source and target languages and to use this information for textual analysis and production, | |||||
5 | To be able to understand and interpret written and oral texts in the source language and to transfer these texts into the target language using a semantically and functionally appropriate language, | |||||
6 | To be able to produce creative translations and assess the translation products critically by defining the steps, strategies and problems in the translation process in the light of field-specific theoretical knowledge and skills acquired, | |||||
7 | To be able to transfer the theoretical knowledge and research skills within different areas of expertise to translational act, | |||||
8 | To be able to use computer-assisted translation tools and machine translation effectively at each step of the translation process, and to follow the theoretical and practical developments in these fields, | |||||
9 | To be able to gain awareness of the translator’s social role, job profile, and professional ethical values and to acquire workload management skills for individual or team work, | |||||
10 | To be able to access necessary sources to improve quality at each step of the translation process and to assess the target text in accordance with the quality objectives by using these sources, | |||||
11 | To be able to establish effective oral and written communication skills both in English and Turkish, to be able to speak a second foreign language at a good level, to be able to use a third foreign language at intermediate level, | |||||
12 | To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise. |
*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest