Description: Seminar, two hours. Limited to 20 freshmen. Inquiry into unexpected discoveries in science that have had significant impact on society and analysis of circumstances that brought these about, beginning with discovery of helium in sun by Janssen in 1868 (using newly developed field of spectroscopy). Discovery of X rays by Röntgen in 1895 and of radioactivity by Becquerel in 1896. Other topics include discoveries important to medicine, such as penicillin by Fleming in 1928 and cis-platin by Rosenberg in 1969. P/NP or letter grading.

Units: 0.0