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HIS20780

Academic Year 2026/2027

History of Science (HIS20780)

Subject:
History
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
History
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Professor Ivar McGrath
Trimester:
Autumn and Spring (separate)
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module provides a broad outline of the history of science, from ancient times to the present, and incorporates a number of fields of study eventually same to be understood as ‘scientific’. It traces a line from the earliest conceptions of the universe to the evolving views of humanity’s relationship with the world, through the Scientific Revolution to current and emerging scientific models of nature and the universe. The course addresses the question of what counts as science, and how this has changed over time. It asks what the idea of ‘science’ or ‘scientific endeavour’ might have meant to the earliest geographers, zoologists or mathematicians. It also examines the changing relationships between humanity, the animal kingdom, and nature, and the role of science in these relationships. It asks a number of questions, such as: do ‘revolutions’ occur in science? What is the role of science in society and how is science shaped by that society? What is the relationship between science and race, gender, religion, empire?

The module covers the history of several areas of science, including: Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Botany, Zoology, Medicine, Anatomy & Dissection, Physiology, Animal Science & Veterinary Medicine, Alchemy, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Atomic Theory & Quantum Mechanics, Geology, Evolution, Genetics, Environmental Science, Climatology, Microbiology, Immunology, Therapeutics, and Philosophy of Science.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to:

- Assess the role of scientific practice in the development of society from ancient times to the present.
- Examine the validity of traditional narratives of the history of science and the Scientific Revolution, and identify important milestones and events.
- Demonstrate understanding of the historiography of the history of science.


Indicative Module Content:

Lecture 1. Views of the Cosmos I: Babylon to the Ptolemaic Universe, c.3000 BCE-150 CE: Introduction: What is the History of Science? The Cradles of Civilisation and the emergence of mathematics; Babylonian star catalogues and the origins of westernastronomy; models of the universein Ancient Greece; the Aristotelian worldview.

Seminar 1: What is Science? Falsification & Pseudoscience

Lecture 2. The Life Sciences: Ancient Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire, c.350 BCE-c.500 CE: Early medicine and natural science in Asia and Europe; Animal husbandry and care; Babylonian and Egyptian medicine and magic; Aristotle’s biology; teleology and zoology in the Hellenistic period; natural history in the Roman empire, from Lucretius to Galen; human and non-human animals and the tri-partite soul.

Seminar 2: Plague in the Ancient World; Cultural Concepts of the Human Body in Ancient Greece and Rome.

Lecture 3. Science in the Islamic Golden Age, 786-1258 CE: The decline of the Western Roman Empire; Islam and science in the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates; translating ancient texts into Arabic; medieval Islamic contributions to medicine and mathematics; transmission of knowledge to Europe.

Seminar 3: ‘Arab’ vs. ‘Frankish’ Medicine; The Social Construction of Science.

Lecture 4. Science and Medicine in the European Middle Ages, c.900-1453 CE: Science in Europe in the middle ages; Greek and Arabic influences; Charlemagne and educational reform; science and the medieval university; rediscovering the classics; medical and veterinary texts; medicine and gynaecology in medieval Salerno; scholasticism.

Seminar 4: Medieval Gynaecology and the ‘Secrets of Women’.

Lecture 5. New Worlds and New Knowledge, 1492-1650 CE: The European ‘discovery’ of America; understanding a ‘new’ continent and the Columbian Exchange; the printing press and its impact in Europe; sensory experience and the rejection of the Classics; Artisanal Epistemology and The Book of Nature; the anatomy and physiology of Vesalius and Harvey; The Scientific Method and the ‘Scientific Revolution’.

Seminar 5: Bioethics: Animals and Experimentation in the Early Modern Period.

Lecture 6. Discovery, Crisis, Revolution? 1543-1687: What is a scientific revolution? Was there a Scientific Revolution in the 16th & 17th centuries? 16th-century concepts of the universe; the heliocentric universe, from Copernicus to Galileo; Rene Descartes and Mechanical Philosophy; Robert Boyle, the air pump, and experimentalism; what is the legacy of Isaac Newton?
Seminar 6: Writing the Midterm Essay.

Lecture 7. Enlightenment and Empire, c.1700-1815: Science, scientism, and the Enlightenment; the Newtonian worldview and European society; the influence of scientific societies and academies in England and France; science as a tool of social reform; insanity, neurology, and the emergence of psychiatry; science and empire; the Chemical Revolution; science and the Industrial Revolution: a relationship?

Seminar 7: Science and Race in the Enlightenment; the Roots of Scientific Racism.

Lecture 8. Uncovering the Ancient Earth: the Origins of Geology, the Darwinian Revolution, and Biology in the Modern Age c.1750-1953: debates on the age of the Earth; natural history in the 19th century; Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and 19th-century evolutionary theory; Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection; On the Origin of Species; the aftermath of Darwin; social Darwinism and Eugenics in Europe and America; Mendel and the emergence of genetics; DNA and the double helix.

Seminar 8: Gender and Science in the 19th century.

Lecture 9. The Making of ‘Modern’ Science, from the Atom to the Big Bang, c.1800-c.1960: Classifying scientific disciplines; the end of the ‘gentleman scholar’ and the birth of the scientist; the dawn of modern atomic theory; the discovery of the electron; Marie Curie and radioactivity; Relativity and Quantum Mechanics; the bomb; Edwin Hubble and the expanding universe; Steady State vs. the Big Bang; the afterglow of creation.

Seminar 9: Science and War.

Lecture 10. Microbiology, Immunology, and the Therapeutic Revolution, 1750 to the present: Theories of contagion, 16th-19th centuries; Leeuwenhoek’s ‘Little Animals’; the origins of variolation and vaccination; Louis Pasteur and micro-organisms; Germ Theory of Disease: Cholera, Anthrax, and Rabies; Robert Koch and Bacteriology; mechanisms of immunity; Antibiotics and the drugs revolution; a Therapeutic Revolution for whom? Disease and epidemics as social events.

Seminar 10: Animals, Science, and Society, 19th-20th centuries.

Lecture 11. Environment, Climate Change, and Pandemic, 1800 to the present: 18th-century precursors to environmentalism; Empire, industry, and nature in the 19th century; Environmentalism in the 19th and 20th centuries; Climatology, 19th century to the present; One Medicine, One Health; environment, disease, and pandemics in the modern age; science and the anti-science movement: a uniquely modern phenomenon?

Seminar 11: Writing the End-of-Semester Essay.

UNESCO highlights a set of key competencies that support individuals in their development and support society in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCD has adapted these competencies and is combining them with others to form a general framework of learning competencies. This module will help you develop the competencies below to the levels specified. 
Learning Competency Additional Information Level

Collaboration

 The ability to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving. Advanced Beginner

Critical Thinking

 The ability to question norms, practices and opinions; to reflect on one’s own values, perceptions and actions. Advanced Beginner

Systems Thinking

 The ability to recognize and understand relationships; to analyse complex systems; to think of how systems are embedded within different domains and different scales; and to deal with uncertainty. Novice

Strategic

 The ability to collectively develop and implement innovative actions that further sustainability at the local level and further afield. Novice

Integrated Problem Solving

 The overarching ability to apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainability problems and develop viable, inclusive and equitable solution options that promote sustainable development, integrating the competencies in this list. Novice

Self-awareness

 The ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society; to continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions; and to deal with one’s feelings and desires. Advanced Beginner

Normative

 The ability to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions; and to negotiate values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interest and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions. Advanced Beginner

Anticipatory

 The ability to understand and evaluate multiple scenarios for the future – possible, probable and desirable; to create one’s own visions for the future; to apply the precautionary principle; to assess the consequences of actions; and to deal with risks and changes. Novice

Digital Literacy and Judgement

 The ability to access, evaluate, create and communicate information in digital environments; to engage critically, ethically and responsibly with digital technologies and digital information; to understand their opportunities, limitations, risks and impact on individual’s digital identities; and to exercise informed judgement in digital participation and decision-making. Advanced Beginner

AI Literacy & Agency

 The ability to understand, critically evaluate and responsibly engage with artificial intelligence; to recognise how AI systems are shaped by human values; to assess their ethical, social and environmental implications; and to exercise human judgement, agency and accountability in AI-related contexts. Advanced Beginner

Wellbeing

 Wellbeing is having the resources and skills to meet life's challenges, including attributes such as personal development skills, resilience, stress management, strengths, lifestyle skills, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, alcohol/substance use, academic skills, time management, goal setting, interpersonal skills, group work, communication. Advanced Beginner

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


Goal Name Description Coverage

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 1
 

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

11
Seminar (or Webinar)

11
Specified Learning Activities

45
Autonomous Student Learning

45
Total

112

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Students will learn through a combination of lectures, group discussions, and the completion of dedicated research essay and exam paper.

This module has a combined lecture and seminar in the weekly two hour class. The lecture time provide overviews of weekly topics, with focus upon key historical trends, debates and events while the seminar time is focused on small-group active / task-based learning using both secondary and primary sources related to the weekly topic covered in the lecture. Autonomous learning is nurtured through required preparatory reading each week, and the written assignments.

Generative AI is not permitted to be used in this module. Any questions about this should be addressed to the lecturer.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade Component repeat (in-module) Offered
Exam (In-person): 2 hour exam End of trimester
Duration:
2 hr(s)
 Graded No
50
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Midterm essay of 1,000 words. Week 7 Graded No
30
 No
Participation in Learning Activities: Students are expected to contribute in an informed fashion to the weekly classes. Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11 Graded No
20
 No

As part of UCD's student support, under the Additional Consideration policy, extensions may be available for the following assessments in the module: Assignment (including essay/poster), Portfolio, Reflective Assignment, Report(s), and Individual Project.


Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Remediation Type Remediation Timing
Repeat Within Two Trimesters
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on the mid-term Essay Assignment is given in writing on Brightspace. Feedback on the exam is given by appointment in one-to-one meetings.

Name Role
Dr Edward Collins Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Autumn Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 Tues 16:00 - 17:50
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 16:00 - 17:50
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