A study guide is a useful thing, particularly in the history of science. Standing astride the ‘Two Cultures,’ the History of Science holds a unique but challenging position. Because it draws students equally from the sciences and humanities, attention must be given to basic elements of the historical tradition as well as to the rudiments of modern science. The problem is double-edged, however, when technical concerns arise in terra incognita, for example in the hinterlands of Ptolemaic astronomy. Here most students, regardless of their training, are equally lost. The present study guide is designed in the first instance as a crude roadmap in historic and scientific space-time, and second, as a travel brochure for sailors of strange seas of thought. In no sense does it offer an alternative to required readings, lectures, and discussions, nor does it reduce the need for integrative, interpretive, and imaginative thinking.
This study guide has its roots in a crowded TA office in South Hall, a sandstone building perched on Bascom Hill. I warmly acknowledge the presence of several handouts, rescued here from our collective and anonymous stockpile of recycled purple dittos. Beyond this occasional anonymity, other texts presented here are identified and cited individually. Most are the work of the author, as are actual draftings of timelines, charts, and all the astronomical diagrams.
Just as fathers are sons educators are students. I wish to take this opportunity to thank some of my teachers, among them, Mildred Dahl, Tom Claseman, Wayne Peterson, Orv Gilmore, Margo Waring, Dave Lindberg, the late Bill Stahlman, and good friends Mark Smith and John Leavey. Finally, thanks goes to Hypatia Alexandrinus, star of stage and screen, and to Izzy, a furry reminder about curiosity and the constancy of wonder.
This Study Guide is a small gesture of reciprocity to my teachers, an ongoing token of appreciation to students past and present.
Bob Hatch
Perihelion Halley
2nd Edition Winter Solstice 1994
Web Edition Winter Solstice 1999