| 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 |  |
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| 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 | Weighting |
| 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 master and use fundamental phenomenological and applied physical laws and applications, | |||||
| 2 | To be able to identify the problems, analyze them and produce solutions based on scientific method, | |||||
| 3 | To be able to collect necessary knowledge, able to model and self-improve in almost any area where physics is applicable and able to criticize and reestablish his/her developed models and solutions, | |||||
| 4 | To be able to communicate his/her theoretical and technical knowledge both in detail to the experts and in a simple and understandable manner to the non-experts comfortably, | |||||
| 5 | To be familiar with software used in area of physics extensively and able to actively use at least one of the advanced level programs in European Computer Usage License, | |||||
| 6 | To be able to develop and apply projects in accordance with sensitivities of society and behave according to societies, scientific and ethical values in every stage of the project that he/she is part in, | |||||
| 7 | To be able to evaluate every all stages effectively bestowed with universal knowledge and consciousness and has the necessary consciousness in the subject of quality governance, | |||||
| 8 | To be able to master abstract ideas, to be able to connect with concreate events and carry out solutions, devising experiments and collecting data, to be able to analyze and comment the results, | |||||
| 9 | To be able to refresh his/her gained knowledge and capabilities lifelong, have the consciousness to learn in his/her whole life, | |||||
| 10 | To be able to conduct a study both solo and in a group, to be effective actively in every all stages of independent study, join in decision making stage, able to plan and conduct using time effectively. | |||||
| 11 | To be able to collect data in the areas of Physics and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1). | |||||
| 12 | To be able to speak a second foreign at a medium level of fluency efficiently | |||||
| 13 | 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
