Math 181, Winter 1989


The chaos concept from prehistory to the present. The lectures of this course became the book, Chaos, Gaia, Eros, HarperSF, 1992.

Syllabus

0W Jan.  4.     Orientation, math and history

1M Jan.  9.     Archeomathematics
1W Jan. 11.     Archeoastronomy

2M Jan. 16.     (Holiday)
2W Jan. 18.     Writing, the wheel

3M Jan. 23.     the quadrivium
3W Jan. 25.     The myth of Er (Paul Lee)

4M Jan. 30.     Quiz 1, Report 1 due
4W Feb.  1.     Euclid's route: a medieval journey

5M Feb.  6.     The Renaissance (Yates)
5W Feb.  8.     The Copernican Revolution, 1473-1610:
				Copernicus, Kepler (Neyman, Kuhn, Koestler)

6M Feb. 13.     The Copernican Revolution, 1610-1687:
					Galileo, Newton (de Santillana, Yates, Westfall)
6T Feb. 14.     Cosmic Order and Chaos, 1700-1710:
					Newton and Whiston (Stecchini)
6W Feb. 15.     Gematria, John Dee (Mishael Caspi, Paul Lee)

7M Feb. 20.     (Holiday)
7W Feb. 22.     Quiz 2, Report 2 due (in Comm. Bldg., Studio C)

8M Feb. 27.     Worlds in Collision: Bruno (1600), Whiston (1710),
					Laplace, Oscar, Kovalevsky, Poincare (1998),
					Velikovsky (1950), Wisdom (1987)
8W Mar.  1.     Chaoscopy (1980)

9M Mar.  6.     Dynamics and history (the future)
9W Mar.  8.     Cybernetics (Nilo Lindgren, Paul Lee)

XM Mar. 13.     Quiz 3, Report 3 due (Last meeting)
XT Mar. 21.     Final (12:00-3:00pm), optional term papers due.

Revised 01 April 1996.