History of Astronomy

Catalog description

This course reviews the historical significance and discoveries made by astronomers ranging from the early Greeks and Mayans through the discoveries of recent times using modern techniques and tools such as the Hubble Space Telescope. As both a history class and a science class, this course bridges the two by examining the interconnection of the events and people involved in astronomy through the ages as well as analyzing the observations that have formed the core of humanity's effort to understand and describe what we see around us. The majority of the course materials are primary sources, as students will read many of the original papers that have brought us to our current understanding of the universe. A major component of this course is learning to interpret history for different audiences in a wide variety of writing assignments.