Newton, Darwin, and Einstein
Newton, Darwin, and Einstein was a CTY Humanities course that involved the historical perspectives of some of the world's greatest scientific minds. It was "strongly recommended" that students would take Introduction to History, making it an unofficial prerequisite of the course. This course was offered from 1998-2001. It was offered at Baltimore, Carlisle, Clinton, Lancaster and Towson.
Course Description
From the CTY Summer Catalog (1999):
Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein were scientific geniuses whose ideas reformulated the basic scientific assumptions of their times. But they were much more than that—they initiated wholesale intellectual revolutions in the way that their contemporaries thought about the world. This course investigates how the modes of thought articulated by these individuals came to define the eras in which they lived. In a broader sense, it encourages students to think critically about the distinctions between traditional intellectual disciplines and to consider their interrelationships.
Students examine Newton's laws of the physical universe from the perspective of historians, considering them alongside the commitments to natural law and balanced government that appeared during the American and French revolutions as well as the proliferation of deism and other "rational" religions of the time. Students examine Darwin's evolution not only in relation to biology but also as the inspiration of 19th-century European imperialism, laissez-faire public policy, and formalist jurisprudence. Finally, students explore how the irrationality, unpredictability, and relativity of Einstein's physics affected the arts, sciences, and humanities.
