SC/STS 4655 3.0: From the Ark to the Anthropocene

Course Description

This course examines episodes in the history of the geo-sciences and environmental sciences from the seventeenth century to the present. Topics range from: chronologies of the earth; Enlightenment theories of the earth; fossils, extinction and the origins of paleontology; mining and its relations to the geosciences; the development of plate tectonics; meteor impact theory; ideas of the Anthropocene. The course emphasizes the connections between scientific, philosophical, technological and social change.

Prerequisites