FOUN 091-44 Life and Times of Great Physicists from Galileo to Hawking

Instructor: Katharina Vollmayr-Lee, kvollmay@bucknell.edu, Olin 152, 577-3109

Office Hours: T 1-3, R 3-5 and by appointment

Texts:

• Richard P. Brennan, “Heisenberg Probably Slept Here” (HPSH)
• William H. Cropper, “Great Physicists” (GP)
• Richard P. Feynman,“Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman”
• Michael Frayn,“Copenhagen”
• Kurt Vonnegut, “Cat's Cradle”
• G. Graff and C. Birkenstein, “They Say, I Say”
• M. Shelley, “Frankenstein”
• For additional readings please use Blackboard.

Course Handouts

• Course Information
• College Core Curriculum and List of Requirement Approved Courses
• Autobiographical Paper
• Bacon: Transparencies (Biography: Peter, Tom, Kapil; Scientist/Philosopher: Brian, Ben, Christian, Mike; Statesman: Tony, Jake, Chris, Matt; Poet: Mike, Ryan, Brett)
• How To Give Talks (Slides) (Summary Sheet)

Announcements:

• Coffee/Tea/Cookies Wed, Dec. 8, 3:30pm (114 S 4th St.)
• Notes on talks due Tue, Dec.7, 9pm
• bring computers to next three classes (for summaries of talks)
• Dec. 1 Talks: J. Goodall (Kapil & Brett) and S. Gould (Brian & Ben)
• Dec. 3 Talks: M. Kaku (Peter & Tom), F. Crick (Chris & Jake)
• Dec. 6 Talks: J. van Neumann (Tony & Matt), R. Dawkins (Ryan & Christian) and C. Sagan (Mike & Mike)
• Project III
• no final
• Brian Greene, Tue, Febr. 8, 7:30pm, Trout Auditorium

Account Login:

(Answers to Daily Assignments)

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Assignments

Due	Topic	Read	Daily Assign.
Aug. 25	Computer Intro, Chain Writing	Course Information	RD 08/25
Aug. 27	Chain Wr. & Plan Interview	Faust to Strangelove & Chain Wr.	RD 08/27
Aug. 30	Cartoons & Interviews	Intro of “They Say, I Say”	RD 08/30
Sept. 1	Writing Center: Peer Review	no reading	1st draft Autobio.
Sept.3	Frankenstein	Frankenstein	RD 09/03
Sept.6	Stereotypes	start Cat's Cradle	RD 09/06
Sept.8	Cat's Cradle	finish Cat's Cradle	RD 09/08
Sept.10	Library	no reading	Final Autobiographical Paper
Sept.13	Bacon	Your References	RD 09/13
Sept.15	Galileo: Life & Work	GP p. 5-17 & HPSH p. 1-10	RD 09/15
Sept.17	Galileo: Dialogue	see blackboard	RD 09/17
Sept.20	Newton	HPSH 11-43	RD 09/20
Sept.22	Einstein: Work	HPSH 45-74	RD 09/22
Sept.24	Einstein: Life	HPSH 74-84	RD 09/24
Sept.27	Gibbs	GP 106-123	RD 09/27
Sept.29	Maxwell	GP 154-175	RD 09/29
Oct.4	Rutherford	HPSH 107-129	RD 10/4
Oct.6	Meitner	GP 330-343	RD 10/6
Oct.8	Women in Science	see blackboard	RD 10/8
Oct.13	Talks: Brahe & Kepler	Final Paper	RD 10/13
Oct.15	Talks: Hubble & Bethe	Notes of Wed Talks (Brahe & Kepler)	RD 10/15
Oct.20	Talks: Archimedes & Euler	Notes of Fr Talks (Hubble & Bethe)	RD 10/20
Oct.22	Success	Synopsis of Wikipedia: Outliers	RD 10/22
Oct.25	Franklin & Heisenberg	HPSH 153 - 183	RD 10/25
Oct.27	Copenhagen	Copenhagen pages 3-94	RD 10/27
Oct.29	Reality and Fiction	Copenhagen pages 95-135	RD 10/29
Nov. 1	Scientists and the Totalitarian State	Scientists & Total. State	RD 11/01
Nov. 3	Feynman (Life & Work)	HPSH pages 185 - 212	RD 11/03
Nov. 5	Feynman (Life)	Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman	RD 11/05
Nov. 8	What Motivates Scientists	What Motivates Scientists & Bibliography	RD 11/08
Nov. 10	Gell-Mann	HPSH 213 -- 241	RD 11/10
Nov. 12	Hawking	GP 452 -- 463	RD 11/12
Nov. 15	Science & Fraud	Hand-Outs	RD 11/15
Nov. 17	Visit: S. Bell	no RD, 1st draft project III	RD 11/17
Nov. 19	Scientists in Present	no RD, 2nd draft project III	RD 11/19
Nov. 22	Science & Pseudoscience	see hand-outs (blackboard)	RD 11/22
Dec. 1	Talks: Goodall & Gould	no RD, work on talk & paper	RD 12/01
Dec. 3	Talks: Kaku, Crick, van Neumann	talk notes, work on talk & paper	RD 12/03
Dec. 6	Talks: Dawkins & Sagan	talk notes, paper	RD 12/06

Cool Links:

• Nobel Prize
• Graphene
• Sunspots
• Phasediagram of Water
• Niels Bohr Archive
• Berhanu Nega
• Feynman Lecture: Quantum Mechanics I
• Feynman Lecture: Quantum Mechanics III
• Gell-Mann Lecture: Beauty and Truth
• Periodic Table
• Eightfold Way
• Physics et al.: Statistics , SalaryI , SalaryII (&more) e.g. Careers in Physics