STSC 431 Cold War Science and Medicine ~NEW~
Cross-listed as HSOC 431
Offered:Spring 2010
Wolfe T 4:30-7:30
Fulfills the HSOC and STSC Capstone requirement
During the Cold War, science, technology, and medicine occupied a central place in the developing and maintaining state power. The incorporation of science into the apparatus of the Cold War state changed the ways that scientists studied, worked, and communicated with each other and the public. But beyond such practical concerns, scientists in both the United States and the Soviet Union had to confront the question of what it meant to pursue natural knowledge in a militarized state. No nation or political system could survive without the weapons, medicines, foodstuffs, and consumer producers made possible by modern scientific research—yet science was supposedly an international system free from the dictates of politics.
This course explores the contradictions of Cold War science and medicine. As a Capstone course, students will have the opportunity to devise and complete a research project on some aspect of this topic. The first half of the course will focus on readings; the second half will focus on student projects and presentations. Writing assignments throughout the semester will lead up to the final project. There are no exams.
