5 minute summaries
1 quote, 3 ideas & 1 question from each episode
__________
Patricia Fara on Newton, Scientific Progress, and the Benefits of Unhistoric Acts
Conversations with Tyler
24 Feb 2021
57mins
FEATURING
Owltail Summaries
1 quote, 3 ideas & 1 question from each episode
_________
Patricia Fara on Newton, Scientific Progress, and the Benefits of Unhistoric Acts
24 Feb 2021
57mins
Quote
"Patricia says: Unhistoric acts, big impact on individuals can be more rewarding than historic acts of smaller impact on many people."
Ideas
1
Learning about the history of a discipline is something that all students should do.
Patricia talks about how she'd like to make history of science compulsory for all science students.
She says one thing that they learn are the debates of the past.
A lot of the ethical considerations involved in previous debates are still very relevant.
What historians of science do is argue and interpret and find ways of expressing their own points of view. We teach science students how to write essays, how to present their own position. These are skills that everybody is going to need.
And finally, by learning about the history, the students themselves have an opportunity to argue and to express their own ideas and think for themselves, and compare that to people of the past to understand their differences.
She says one thing that they learn are the debates of the past.
A lot of the ethical considerations involved in previous debates are still very relevant.
What historians of science do is argue and interpret and find ways of expressing their own points of view. We teach science students how to write essays, how to present their own position. These are skills that everybody is going to need.
And finally, by learning about the history, the students themselves have an opportunity to argue and to express their own ideas and think for themselves, and compare that to people of the past to understand their differences.
1
Learning about the history of a discipline is something that all students should do.
Patricia talks about how she'd like to make history of science compulsory for all science students.
She says one thing that they learn are the debates of the past.
A lot of the ethical considerations involved in previous debates are still very relevant.
What historians of science do is argue and interpret and find ways of expressing their own points of view. We teach science students how to write essays, how to present their own position. These are skills that everybody is going to need.
And finally, by learning about the history, the students themselves have an opportunity to argue and to express their own ideas and think for themselves, and compare that to people of the past to understand their differences.
She says one thing that they learn are the debates of the past.
A lot of the ethical considerations involved in previous debates are still very relevant.
What historians of science do is argue and interpret and find ways of expressing their own points of view. We teach science students how to write essays, how to present their own position. These are skills that everybody is going to need.
And finally, by learning about the history, the students themselves have an opportunity to argue and to express their own ideas and think for themselves, and compare that to people of the past to understand their differences.
2
Science is part making great discoveries, part communicating the ideas to others.
Of course there are individuals, like Newton and Einstein, who made great discoveries, but what was really important, was the translations and explanations of their ideas and those that came before them, were things that a greater audience of people could understand.
Patricia thinks of science as being continuous, not as a range of mountain peaks with individual geniuses standing on top of them. Women played a very important role in this, because the teaching, illustrating, editing, collecting different specimens are all absolutely crucial to progress.
Science is about collaboration. It's about cooperation, standing on the shoulders of those that came before us.
Patricia thinks of science as being continuous, not as a range of mountain peaks with individual geniuses standing on top of them. Women played a very important role in this, because the teaching, illustrating, editing, collecting different specimens are all absolutely crucial to progress.
Science is about collaboration. It's about cooperation, standing on the shoulders of those that came before us.
2
Science is part making great discoveries, part communicating the ideas to others.
Of course there are individuals, like Newton and Einstein, who made great discoveries, but what was really important, was the translations and explanations of their ideas and those that came before them, were things that a greater audience of people could understand.
Patricia thinks of science as being continuous, not as a range of mountain peaks with individual geniuses standing on top of them. Women played a very important role in this, because the teaching, illustrating, editing, collecting different specimens are all absolutely crucial to progress.
Science is about collaboration. It's about cooperation, standing on the shoulders of those that came before us.
Patricia thinks of science as being continuous, not as a range of mountain peaks with individual geniuses standing on top of them. Women played a very important role in this, because the teaching, illustrating, editing, collecting different specimens are all absolutely crucial to progress.
Science is about collaboration. It's about cooperation, standing on the shoulders of those that came before us.
3
A picture can be worth 1,000s of words.
Many types of information are better communicated visually.
Patricia says in teaching, particularly if it's the beginning of the academic year and you've got a group of nervous students, that don't want to embarrass themselves in front of the other students.
If you show them a picture, everybody can say something about a picture. They can say, "Well, that's a man and a woman sitting at a table."
A picture can often be more easily interpretable, and by using a picture, you encourage people to more easily explore the ideas together.
Patricia says in teaching, particularly if it's the beginning of the academic year and you've got a group of nervous students, that don't want to embarrass themselves in front of the other students.
If you show them a picture, everybody can say something about a picture. They can say, "Well, that's a man and a woman sitting at a table."
A picture can often be more easily interpretable, and by using a picture, you encourage people to more easily explore the ideas together.
3
A picture can be worth 1,000s of words.
Many types of information are better communicated visually.
Patricia says in teaching, particularly if it's the beginning of the academic year and you've got a group of nervous students, that don't want to embarrass themselves in front of the other students.
If you show them a picture, everybody can say something about a picture. They can say, "Well, that's a man and a woman sitting at a table."
A picture can often be more easily interpretable, and by using a picture, you encourage people to more easily explore the ideas together.
Patricia says in teaching, particularly if it's the beginning of the academic year and you've got a group of nervous students, that don't want to embarrass themselves in front of the other students.
If you show them a picture, everybody can say something about a picture. They can say, "Well, that's a man and a woman sitting at a table."
A picture can often be more easily interpretable, and by using a picture, you encourage people to more easily explore the ideas together.
Questions
1
Can you think of some more unhistoric acts, or big impact
acts on individuals that you could do more of?
1
Can you think of some more unhistoric acts, or big impact
acts on individuals that you could do more of?
What else is in the episode
1
On Isaac Newton; How he died rich, leaving Cambridge to work at The Royal Mint, etc
1
On Isaac Newton; How he died rich, leaving Cambridge to work at The Royal Mint, etc
2
How Patricia doesn't think there was a scientific revolution & trying to get away from a Eurocentric view on the history of science.
2
How Patricia doesn't think there was a scientific revolution & trying to get away from a Eurocentric view on the history of science.
3
Why some scientific discoveries took so long; such as Darwin's theory of evolution.
3
Why some scientific discoveries took so long; such as Darwin's theory of evolution.
Who is Patricia Fara?
1
Historian of science at Cambridge University.
- Author of Life after Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career.
- She's also well known for her writings on women in science, and portraiture and art in the history of science.
1
Historian of science at Cambridge University.
- Author of Life after Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career.
- She's also well known for her writings on women in science, and portraiture and art in the history of science.
Related episodes
Explore More
