This discussion was very interesting and something that I learned a lot from. Being a science major the name Pasteur is well known to me as a science icon. However I really had no idea how long his list of accomplishments is as before I had really only known of him to be the creator of the swan neck flask and a driving force it practicing sterilization to maintain more accurate and better treatments in the health care system. It was also interesting to hear that while accomplishing all this amazing scientific research he was also going through very rough personal issues of his homeland being invaded by other countries and his personal and familial health struggles. I found it very interesting that he could some what be defined as a function germaphobe I wonder if this is due to all his studies on germs and diseases or the health implications that he and his family were suffering. His laboratory in his parents house is absolutely beautiful and it shows not only is ability as scientist but was kind of a man of many trades as he was able to do the instillation and building of an entire laboratory. I can not wait to learn more about him and see some of his work while on our trip.
Author: evans.2244
Dr.Otter- Adrian Evans
Dr. Otter was an extremely helpful speaker as he has helped me understand the general concepts that Kuhn explores in his book and broke down some of his very important ideas that were hard to comprehend. Although I have only read three chapters, this book has been very hard for me to digest an is definitely something that I need broken down part by part. I find the idea that the history of science is not linear but rather a truth that was once accepted is then replaced by another truth that is now accepted a very good way of explaining science. Although many of them may be extremely close to the real truth, which we may never know through science, they can not be the exact truth so it would make sense to not throw away or reject these ideas as they might carry some aspect of the actual truth. The most interesting part of this talk was the fact that so many scientists have committed suicide after a paradigm that they deeply believed in is moved pass and no longer accepted as the truth for that time. This is amazing to see how deeply connected and invested these scientist are in their work and studies, they truly believe in what they are doing. He also mentioned that paradigm shifts are usually brought on by people that tend to be younger and stand out side of the normal culture. I can see this as in almost all facets of life older generations have a much more difficult time adjusting to any type of change , which is very understandable, and for people that are constantly being taught what is right and what is to be believed they are going to have a more difficult idea defying these teachings to create another explanation.
Dr. Mathur – Adrian Evans
This discussion on Stephen Hawking, black holes, and the universe in general was very enlightening because in all honesty I have never spent much time researching or learning about any of these things. It amazes me how intelligent the people that work with these ideas are because these concepts are so dense and most of which we cant actually prove or experiment with. I also found it super cool that Dr. Mathur has had multiple personal experiences with Stephen Hawking. Also I am interested to see how the string theory tends to hold up as they believe that right now it is the most accurate theory explaining the creation of our universe and it will end. I hope to see some things that I am able to connect with Stephen Hawking or the development of any of these theories while abroad.
Dr. Goldish- Adrian Evans
In all of my previous history/science courses I have learned that there has always been this on going battle between the church and science especially during the time of the scientific revolution. It always seemed that there had to be this choice between one or the other which was disheartening as I have a passion for both. This talk was super interesting and reassuring as I feel like I got a whole new take on some of the most important people in science. The most interesting story in my opinion was the story of Copernicus and how is idea of the sun being the center of the solar system had supposedly infuriated the church. However this was not the case at all as he was essentially the church, he was a priest that was asked by the pope to do some research on the movement of the planets because they were contemplating creating a new calendar. His work was supported by the church and encouraged to be published by the pope since this many of the interpretations of his published work have added in opinions that were not of his own making this story a dramatic warfare. Keppler and Newton were also among the famous scientists that were have said the be rebels to the church because of their groundbreaking discoveries that changed the previous beliefs about how things work around them but again these men were both highly religious people that accredited their talents and finds to God saying that he gave them the tools to do what they did and helped them unveil the understandings that they had. I do find all of this very surprising because it has always been taught to me and talked about around me that there has been this on going war for as long as science has been around. I truly wonder why this idea of competition and hostility came about if this was generally a peaceful matter.
Dr. Cogan – Adrian Evans
A tale of two (three) chemists gave me such a different take on the enlightenment and an appreciation for the science that came about in this time period. It was also a little teaser for a future lecture that will include Marie Lavoisier and a multitude if strong female influences in the scientific community (which I am so excited for). I really enjoyed the activity in which we had to put ourself in their shoes and describe things such as air with little to no knowledge of anything because it was really amazing to realize how difficult this subject matter and thought process would have been. It also made me think how different times are were they were just able to accept a very generalized and undefined answer to their question and now it seems that every question in the scientific community is continuously studied to deeper and deeper levels of understanding. I also find it very interesting that at this time they still had a very distinct separation between religion and science as these scientist were also heavily influenced and supported by the church and government. It was also amazing to see how democracy and the revolution were so intertwined and influential on one another, a movement in one spectrum caused a shift at the other. I will me very interested to follow up with “Out of Thin Air” to learn more.
Dr. Root- Adrian Evans
This lecture was very interesting to me as I plan to go into medicine in my future career and I have never taken the time to look into the history of vaccinations or how big of a role geography can play into the spreading of bacteria and viruses. I have heard of John Snow before and his break through in discovering the cause and transmission of cholera. But I found it interesting that just these details of his study are focused on while some of the best parts of his study that have changed the entire process of data collection and scientific experiments. His work among other well known scientists have contributed to the development of Germ Theory which during their time was a very radical idea. The most interesting aspect of both John Snows study and the studies that Dr. Root has contributed in was the personal survey aspect of data collection which I found to be different than what the typical idea of scientific data collection is where everything is numbers and statistics not really focusing on all these personal details. Learning about vaccine efficacy was something that I think is super applicable especially because right now vaccines are such a hot topic so it was super informative to learn about the process of testing vaccinations and looking at them from a biosocial point of view to fully digest how vaccines are contributing to so many health changes around us.
Dr. Anelli and Creation- Adrian Evans
Overall I found both the movie Creation and Dr. Anelli’s presentation to be very interesting as the history behind Charles Darwin and the development of his theory was never something that I had previously taken time to consider or learn about. I have always had this unsupported idea of Darwin to be a very radical and brave man that created a theory against what was most commonly accepted at that time and did this with out any refrain. After watching the film and presentation it became very apparent that although his theory of evolution and variation was indeed very radical at this time when everything was explained through theology, Darwin himself was not as rebellious of a person that I had thought. Darwin was had so many reservations to releasing his work that he sat with it for nearly twenty years in fear of what might happen to him, his family, and his relationships when he published his findings.
It was interesting to learn about the people, such as Cuvier, Lyell, Paley and many others, that inspired Darwin and started the path which would eventually lead to these revolutionary ideas. When Darwin started looking into the all of the geological findings that were showing species have not always been in the exact way that they appeared at that moment he was able to use that and his findings from his five year voyage to accept the unheard belief of variation and that the world is much older than what theology had been teaching. Although his work proved not to be perfect what Darwin did was truly ground breaking in not only developing a theory that this this day is accepted but also changed the way in which scientist develop and study their own theories.