A freshman seminar: energy -- the history of a concept
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Published version
Date
2018-06-12
DOI
Authors
Hughes, W.
Version
Published version
OA Version
Citation
W Hughes. 2018. "A Freshman Seminar: Energy -- The History of a Concept."
Abstract
This new freshman honors seminar, to be first offered in Spring 2019, uses the development of the concept of energy from the 17th to the 20th century to combine the teaching of both scientific inquiry and intellectual history. By reading original papers as well as modern works, students trace the concept of energy from Leibniz's vis viva, through the development of steam power and thermodynamics to relativity and quantum concepts. Students also explore how the concept of energy and the conservation of energy is central to our current understanding of both life and the physical universe and to the way humans live today.