Hiding in the Light
Study Guide for Episode 4
Note: Episode numbers in Study Guides and in the Netflix Streaming edition of "Cosmos" do not always agree with those of the disk set we use in class. Let the episode titles, not the numbers, be your guide to reading about or watching the episode shown in class.
People
• Ibn al-Hazen provided us with the notion that light travels into our eyes to produce an image. He also laid the groundwork for observation- and evidence-based science.
• Galileo first turned the newly invented telescope onto the sky, and found evidence for the Copernican view of the solar system. Much more to come about Galileo.
• William Herschel discovered infrared radiation, and began opening our eyes to radiation that we cannot see, such as ultraviolet light, microwaves, radio waves, and gamma rays. He was the first to realize that we see stars as they were in the past, when the light we see now was leaving them.
• John Herschel continued his father's work in astrophysics, and also made contributions in photography and in understanding color blindness. He was an early and strong advocate of the inductive method in science (reasoning from the specific to the general -- as from data to laws, and from laws to theories).
• Joseph von Fraunhofer founded astrophysics, which we now think of as the physics of astronomical processes, such as the production of light by stars. He first saw the dark lines in the solar spectrum, which we now know implies that the solar atmosphere contains the same elements we find on Earth.
Ideas
• Origins of scientific thought in China and the Islamic world
• Prisms send the different wavelengths of white light in slightly different directions, dispersing it into its component colors. See animation of this process HERE.
• Electromagnetic spectrum and spectroscopy
• Light meets matter: what is "radiation"? Why are some forms of radiation harmless, and some harmful?
• Elements and their makeup
Updates
• The Boston photographer Abelardo Morell uses the camera obscure as an artistic tool.
Readings
• Poem: e e cummings: “in time of daffodils(who know" Read it HERE.
-- This is a challenging poem. What factors make it so?
-- For you, What is this poem about?
-- What is this poem doing in a science course? Think about that before reading THIS.
• Tyson says, "Science needs the light of free expression to flourish." In his book, Science and Human Values", Jacob Bronowski explored connections between science and values, and suggests that when cultures embrace science, they also import and benefit from its value systems. (Older editions ended with a play and a thought-provoking poem, both of which have unfortunately been omitted in subsequent editions.) More HERE.
People
• Ibn al-Hazen provided us with the notion that light travels into our eyes to produce an image. He also laid the groundwork for observation- and evidence-based science.
• Galileo first turned the newly invented telescope onto the sky, and found evidence for the Copernican view of the solar system. Much more to come about Galileo.
• William Herschel discovered infrared radiation, and began opening our eyes to radiation that we cannot see, such as ultraviolet light, microwaves, radio waves, and gamma rays. He was the first to realize that we see stars as they were in the past, when the light we see now was leaving them.
• John Herschel continued his father's work in astrophysics, and also made contributions in photography and in understanding color blindness. He was an early and strong advocate of the inductive method in science (reasoning from the specific to the general -- as from data to laws, and from laws to theories).
• Joseph von Fraunhofer founded astrophysics, which we now think of as the physics of astronomical processes, such as the production of light by stars. He first saw the dark lines in the solar spectrum, which we now know implies that the solar atmosphere contains the same elements we find on Earth.
Ideas
• Origins of scientific thought in China and the Islamic world
• Prisms send the different wavelengths of white light in slightly different directions, dispersing it into its component colors. See animation of this process HERE.
• Electromagnetic spectrum and spectroscopy
• Light meets matter: what is "radiation"? Why are some forms of radiation harmless, and some harmful?
• Elements and their makeup
Updates
• The Boston photographer Abelardo Morell uses the camera obscure as an artistic tool.
Readings
• Poem: e e cummings: “in time of daffodils(who know" Read it HERE.
-- This is a challenging poem. What factors make it so?
-- For you, What is this poem about?
-- What is this poem doing in a science course? Think about that before reading THIS.
• Tyson says, "Science needs the light of free expression to flourish." In his book, Science and Human Values", Jacob Bronowski explored connections between science and values, and suggests that when cultures embrace science, they also import and benefit from its value systems. (Older editions ended with a play and a thought-provoking poem, both of which have unfortunately been omitted in subsequent editions.) More HERE.
