College Seminar (101-7-1)

Topic

Celebrating Women in Astronomy

Instructors

Wen-fai Fong

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 4-410: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

In this course, we will learn about major astronomical discoveries in the past century, highlighting the crucial role and contributions of women astrophysicists to our understanding of the Universe. Such fundamental contributions include developing a stellar classification system, laying a foundation for the expansion of the Universe, providing evidence for the existence of dark matter, and discovering a class of neutron stars, called pulsars. We also celebrate the first major observatories to be named after women pioneers, which will come online in the next few years. By bringing these contributions to the forefront, we will also examine and discuss our own biases in how we attribute credit for scientific discoveries.

Class Materials (Required)

Her Space, Her Time by Shohini Ghose (ISBN-13 978-0262048316)

Class Attributes

WCAS College Seminar