History 4526‑01 CRN: 25167 Fall 2004 Dr. Jeffrey A. Johnson
Modern Science, Art, and Invention 1790-1970 SAC 440, X97404
T-Th. 1-2:15 pm in JBARRY 211 Hrs. T-Th 11am-noon,
website: http://www11.homepage.villanova.edu/jeffrey.johnson/ Th 2:30-3pm,& by appt.
email: Jeffrey.Johnson@villanova.edu
AIM: This undergraduate elective course is designed to examine patterns of creative work in science, technology and art that shaped modern society and culture from the French and industrial revolutions of the late 18th century to the decline of classical modernity after the Second World War. Through case-studies, we will explore social, cultural, and psychological sources of creativity and of opposition to creativity; social and political conditions such as wars or political repression that have produced destructive as well as creative effects from creativity; and group interactions and shared cultural values among scientists, inventors, and artists that produced especially creative conditions.
MATERIALS: Readings will be selected from the following paperback books, available in the bookstore, and from some additional materials to be placed on paper or online course reserve (there will also be some films to be shown in class).
M. Howe, Genius Explained
M. Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Arthur Miller, Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time and the Beauty That Causes Havoc
George Mosse, Nazi Culture: Intellectual, Cultural and Social Life in the Third Reich
L. Graham, The Ghost of the Executed Engineer: Technology and the Fall of the Soviet Union
J. Watson, The Double Helix
WORK AND EVALUATION: This course will meet for two lecture‑discussion sessions each week; your participation in these will be graded (10% of total grade for general participation, 10% for oral presentations). Written work will include an in-class midterm (10%) and final essay examination (20%) as well as two take-home short (5-page) essays (25% each), which may be revised. Each essay and oral report will involve a case-study of scientists, artists, or inventors whose major creative work falls into one of the three principal periods covered in the course (c.1790-1870, 1870-1915, 1915-1970). In each part of the course, 2/3 of the class will choose, in consultation with the instructor, a creative worker as subject for a written case study and oral report; hence each student will prepare 2 oral reports and written papers related to them. Those students who are not presenting in any part of the course will act as analysts and critics. At the end of each part, after the oral presentations, the class will analyze and compare the patterns of creativity shown in each of the cases presented. Guidelines with full explanations of procedures will be distributed with the first assignment.
LATE WORK AND MAKE‑UPS: In case you must miss an assignment, notify Dr. Johnson by phone or email (see information above) BEFORE the due date, so that special arrangements can be worked out. If you do not complete an assignment within the first week it is due, and if you do not present an appropriate written excuse (e.g. a serious medical condition), your maximum possible grade must be reduced one letter grade after each week the assignment is overdue.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: The instructor will not tolerate plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty; students handing in work which is demonstrably not their own can expect to be disciplined according to standard university procedures. If you are not certain how to carry out an assignment properly, please consult with the instructor WELL BEFORE the due date.
LEARNING DISABILITIES: It is Villanova University’s policy to make reasonable academic accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. This may include special arrangements for note-taking, taking examinations, etc. If you will need such arrangements, please discuss privately with Dr. Johnson and consult the Office of Learning Support Services in Geraghty Hall (610-519-5636).
History 4526-01 (Science, Art, & Invention) J. Johnson, Fall 2004
OUTLINE AND READING SCHEDULE (reading assignments in parentheses):
Week 1 (Thursday, 8/26) Introduction; begin reading Howe, ch. 1, & handout for next week
Week 2 (8/31-9/2) The problem of creativity; the Industrial & French revolutionary eras
Tues.: The Romantic myth of creative genius; patterns and sources of creativity (Read Howe, ch. 1; Scientific American/Simonton/Jamison [handout])
Thurs.: Self-made inventors & scientists in the industrial revolution: Stephenson & Faraday (Howe, chs. 3-4) FIRST SET OF REPORT/ESSAY TOPICS TO BE ANNOUNCED
Week 3 (9/7-9) Darwin: the gentleman scientist as revolutionary
Tues.: Darwin; the man and his ideas (read Howe, ch. 2)
Thursday: The revolutionary impact of evolution (handout or WebCT, TBA); St. Thomas of Villanova Day; WE MEET FROM 11:30 TO 12:20 PM TODAY ONLY
Week 4 (9/14-16) The creative hero against old times and traditions: a parable of progress
Tues.: Science, invention, and magic; the problem of changing minds \ (Twain, chs. 1‑8, 10, 13, 16-17, 25‑28)
Thurs.: Revolution from above? (Twain, chs. 37‑44)
Week 5 (9/21-23) Cases of creativity to c. 1870
Tues.-Thurs. First set of group reports (times to be assigned)
Week 6 (9/28-30) Midterm essays
Tues.: Review FIRST SET OF ESSAY DRAFTS DUE
Thurs.: In‑class essay; PICK UP COMMENTED ESSAY DRAFTS FOR REVISION
SECOND AND THIRD SETS OF REPORT/ESSAY TOPICS TO BE ANNOUNCED
Week 7 (10/5-7) Introduction to Modernism
Tues.: The creative perception of time and space (read Miller, chs. 1-4)
SUBMIT TOPIC REQUESTS FOR SECOND & THIRD SETS OF REPORTS
Thurs. NO CLASS (instructor at academic conference) - begin work on second reports
SEMESTER BREAK (Oct. 11-15)
Week 8 (10/19-21) Picasso & Einstein (read Miller, chs. 5-8)
Tues.: Einstein and modern physics
Thurs.: Picasso and modern art
Week 9 (10/26-28) World War, revolution & creativity (reading TBA)
Tues.: Futurism and the cult of violence; science and technology in World War I (read Futurist manifestoes on WebCT)
Thurs.: Dada, Surrealism (films to be shown in class)
Week 10 (11/2-4) Cases of creativity in early modernism, c. 1870-1920
Tues.-Thurs. Second set of reports (times to be assigned)
History 4526-01 (Science, Art, & Invention) J. Johnson, Fall 2004
OUTLINE AND READING SCHEDULE (continued):
Week 11 (11/9-11) Regimented culture between the wars: Nazi Germany
Tues.: From Weimar to Nazi culture; ideas on race, gender, & art (read handout on the Bauhaus; Mosse, introduction, chs. 1 [pp. 1-16], 2 [pp. 17-23, 35-43, 3 [pp. 57-65, 79-91, and illustrations following p. 228]) Be sure to bring the Mosse book to class as we will discuss the illustrations. SECOND SET ESSAY DRAFTS DUE (11/9)
Thurs. (11/11): Nazi regimentation of intellectual life (read Mosse, chs. 5 [pp. 133-145, 151-159], 6 [pp. 197-234], 8 [pp. 304-308, 314-316]) DRAFTS RETURNED FOR REVISION
Week 12 (11/16-18) From War & Revolution to Cold War regimentation: USSR & USA
Tues.: The impact of Stalinism on Soviet creativity (read Graham, entire)
Thurs.: Regimented science in World War II America: The Manhattan Project (Film, "Day After Trinity," part 1, in class) REVISED DRAFTS OF SECOND SET OF ESSAYS DUE
Week 13 (11/23) Aftermath of the Manhattan Project (Film, "Day After Trinity," part 2, in class)
THANKSGIVING BREAK (Nov. 25-26)
Week 14 (11-30-12/2) Cases of 20th-century creativity, c. 1920-1970
Tues.-Thurs.: Third set of reports (times to be assigned)
Week 15 (12/7-9) Shaping molecular biology: the double helix / Conclusion
Tues.: Watson & Crick: unusually creative scientists? (Watson, chs. 1-16; Crick, "The Double Helix: A Personal View") THIRD SET ESSAY DRAFTS DUE (12/7)
Thurs.: Crossing interdisciplinary & institutional lines (Watson, chs. 17-28 & epilogue; Review THIRD SET ESSAY DRAFTS RETURNED FOR REVISION
THIRD SET ESSAY REVISIONS WILL BE DUE FRIDAY=THURSDAY, 12/16
(to Dr. Johnson's mailbox in SAC 401 by 4:30 pm)
Tuesday (12/14): Reading Day (no class)
Exam Week (12/15-21): Our final examination will be on Monday, Dec. 20, from 10:45 to 1:15pm