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Course Outline

SC/STS3775

PHYSICS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

FALL 2021

Course description: content and format

Expanded course description

This course explores the major developments in twentieth-century physics. We examine the development of special and general relativity, microphysics, quantum physics, and nuclear physics; the growth of industrial science; the role of physicists in WWII; big science and the military-industrial complex in the Cold War and beyond; scientific cosmology; and climate science in the Anthropocene. The focus is on the practices of research in their institutional, social, and cultural contexts.

The purpose is to build an understanding of the entanglements of physicists’ work with the events and transformations of the twentieth century, from the material dimensions of their involvement in industrial and military technologies to the conceptual restructuring of notions of space, time, matter, and light.

The course is open to all interested in the roles that physics and physicists had in shaping our present world. No background in physics is required.

The course is composed of 12 units and is designed to proceed at the pace of one unit per week. Each unit covers a new topic, presented through required readings and slide presentations.

The course runs in remote through the eClass course website and is asynchronous. In other terms, there are no specific and required meeting or testing times. Students can participate in all the components of the course asynchronously, that is, on their own time, provided that they keep within the time windows and deadlines specified in the Course Schedule. All the course components are essential to your success.

There are class meetings on Zoom every Tuesday starting September 14th until December 7th, 2021. Additional Zoom meetings or tutorials may be called according to students’ needs. Even though attendance is not required, all students are strongly encouraged to participate. For the students who cannot participate synchronously, meetings and tutorials are recorded and posted in the course website.

Individual Zoom meetings are held on appointment. Do not hesitate to email me to set up an appointment whenever you wish to talk with me individually.

Graded assessments of various kinds are designed to be taken at various points during the course. See the section on Evaluation for details. Students may choose when to take the assessments within a scheduled window of time. All the topics, required readings, assignments, and deadlines are detailed in the Course Schedule. The Grading Scheme is explained in detail in the Evaluation section here below.

All the information relevant to all the students in the class will be posted in the course website. Current information will be communicated through the Course Announcements forum. You will receive the course announcements at the email address you have in the class list. You can change your email account by editing your eClass profile (in the top right corner of the course website). Course announcements remain posted in the Course Announcements forum for you to read at any time. Always keep informed by visiting the course website frequently and reading all the course announcements.

Learning outcomes

Upon successfully completing this course, you will be able to

● compose a historical map of physics in the twentieth century, connecting major developments and historical actors to the social, cultural, and political contexts in which they operated

● discuss the historical, philosophical, and technological significance of those developments, highlighting the relevant interactions between scientific research, intellectual transformations, military innovations, and industrial production

● evaluate the consequences of the transformations of physics for the present world

● sharpen and practice transferable skills, such as to critically assess sources of information, to identify the main points of a speech or text, to communicate information and ideas with clarity, to use appropriate terminology precisely and independently, and to draw connections between related issues

Academic Integrity

Full compliance with the policy on academic honesty and integrity of the York University Senate is expected at all time. Students must be familiar with this policy. See the section on University Policies for further details. In particular, read the message of the Faculty of Science Deans Office Regarding Academic Honesty.

All students in the course must take the SPARK Academic Integrity Tutorial and the Academic Integrity Quiz (in the course website).

Evaluation

The course grade will be based on the Course Total, which will be the sum of the following assessments (see the Course Schedule for dates and deadlines):

● Test 1                                       14%

● Test 2                                       14%

● Reading Response 1                   16%

● Reading Response 2                   16%

● Research Project Presentation      5%

● Peer Review of a Draft Paper        5%

● Research Project                         30%

All the assessments are submitted and marked online through the course website in eClass. The list of topics, readings, and deadlines is in the Course Schedule, posted in the course website.

Full compliance with the York University policy of academic integrity is expected. For more information about academic integrity, see the section on university policies below.

For every grade component, the grade will be posted in your Grades table of the course website soon after the grading is completed. You can access your Grades table from the Navigation panel in the course website.

During the course, the number displayed in the Course Total line will be the sum of all the grade quizzes and tests already marked. To know your standing at any point in the course, divide the displayed Course Total by the sum of the ranges of the grade components that have been marked at that point.

Your complete number grade for the course will be the Course Total displayed at the end of the course, after the grading of all the activities, assignments, and tests. The Final Grade (official letter grade) will be assigned converting the Course Total to a letter grade according to the York University Grading Scheme.

For consistency and fairness, all the students in the class must be graded according to the same grading scheme. No artificial grade increase or extra assignment will be provided for any reason at any point during or after the course. Please, contact me about an assigned grade if and only if there is an error in the calculation or recording of a grade, or if you wish to request a reappraisal (for the policy on reappraisals, see below), and do so within two weeks from the assignation of the grade.

If you experience difficulties that prevent you from completing any course assignment according to the schedule, contact me as soon as possible. I cannot give consideration to difficulties that will be notified to me only after a grade was assigned.

Course materials

● Course Outline (this document)

● Course Schedule, posted in the course website. It contains all the information about dates, topics, assessments, and required readings

● Jeff Hughes, The Manhattan Project. Big Science and the Atom Bomb (Duxford UK: Icon Books, 2002 or New York: Columbia University Press, 2003)

● Michael Frayn, Copenhagen (New York: Anchor Books, 1998)

● Other texts available online, as detailed in the Course Schedule

Course policies

● Questions and concerns should be directed to me, the Course Director. My contact information is in the top section of this Course Outline as well as in the course website.

● Conduct during tests, assignments, and activities

○ All the tests, activities, and assignments for this course are individual. While collaborative study and practice exercises are encouraged because they are beneficial to your learning process, no collaboration and no aids are allowed while writing the assignments and during the tests. You must answer the questions by yourself, using only your knowledge of the course material and, in the case of the assignments, the resources posted in the course website.

○ During the timed tests, turn off your cell phone, and close all the apps and all the browser tabs, except the one that you are using for the test. Close also all your books and notebooks.

○ At any point in the course, you must respect the rules of academic integrity according to the Academic Integrity policy of the York University Senate. Please, be warned that every suspected violation of academic integrity will be prosecuted.

● Policy for missed deadlines

○ If you expect not to be able to meet a deadline, or happen to miss one for an unexpected cause that is beyond your control, such as an illness or an emergency, notify me as soon as possible and no later that 48 hours from the test, and be prepared to justify your delay or default adequately.

○ Vacations of any kind do not justify missing a deadline.

○ Employment conflicts do not justify missing a deadline. If you have a job, ensure that your work commitments do not interfere with the course.

○ If you miss a deadline and do not notify me within 48 hours or do not provide an adequate justification, you will receive a late penalty of -1% of the Course Total per day, or -1/24 % of the Course Total per hour. Please be advised that these are percentages of the Course Total, not of the assessment grade. In other terms, if for example an assignment is worth 10% and is submitted 10 or more days late, the grade is automatically 0.

● Course information: It is your responsibility to stay informed about the course by reading all the information and material that is provided through the course website, the online meetings, and the course announcements.

● Course Announcements: General information relevant to all the students in the class will be posted through the Course Announcements forum. You will receive the course announcements at the email account you provided at the time of registration, and will also be able to view them in the forum. Be sure to read all the Course Announcements.

● Grades table: Your grades will be posted in your Grades table, which you can access from the Navigation panel in the course website. For every assessment, the grade will be posted soon after the grading is completed.

● Adversities: If an adverse factor, such as a disability, a protracted illness, or some personal hardship, interferes with your ability to participate in the course or to prepare for a test or assessment, contact me as soon as possible to discuss possible accommodations. I will not take into consideration adversities that will be notified to me only after a mark was assigned

● For disabilities and religious accommodation, see the section on university policies below

● Policy on reappraisals: if you wish to request the reappraisal of an assessment, email me your request and a rationale within one week after the grade has been posted

○ The rationale must be based on academic merit

■ Examples of rationales based on academic merit are, “My answer satisfies the grading criteria a, b, and c”, and “My answer is correct according to the required reading X, page yz”

■ Reasons such as “I worked really hard”, “This grade lowers my GPA”, and “I really need a higher grade” do not qualify as academic merit

○ Please, be aware that a reappraisal may result in the same grade, a higher grade, or a lower grade, depending on the case