From Medieval to Mildred: history of science night

Medieval Science might seem to be an oxymoron - and there are distinctive differences that have to be navigated when looking at how people thought about natural phenomena all those centuries ago. But while it's easy to find examples of what might appear as superstitious, credulous, and religiously-centred approaches to the world and cosmos, that is far from the whole story. Opening up medieval science creates some challenges but some very interesting opportunities and insights too. From zoology to meteorology, and from materials science to cosmology, this talk will explore some examples.

Mildred Dresselhaus was a renowned physicist who passed away in 2017. She is remembered for making critical breakthroughs in the physics of carbon and for expanding women’s access to physics at a time when the field was almost totally male-dominated. But she was also a ground-breaking teacher. She explored new ways to communicate ideas to students that drew insights from her own home life, and from her experience as the child of a poor immigrant family in the Bronx. Examining how Dresselhaus swam against the current of physics education can give us enduring lessons for teaching science.