Essentials in Science and Technology

(course for ArtScience, 2009/10)

In this course, nine key moments in the history of science and technology will be discussed. In nine broad sweeps we will survey this history from the early beginning of mathematics and natural philosophy up to the more recent developments in science and engineering that have completely transformed the human environment in the previous century. The examples are especially chosen to illustrate themes that have inspired artistic concerns. In this way the course hopes to contribute to a sense of continuity between the history of science and technology and the history of art and music. The examples presented in class will be used as material to reflect on the links between the world of the arts as we currently know them and the world of modern science and technology.

Joost Rekveld