This fall, Shreeharsh Kelkar, Continuing Lecturer in the Interdiscplinary Studies Field, will be teaching ISF 110: Science: Foundational Texts, a course dedicated to understanding the nature of the enterprise we call science, or technoscience more precisely. Students who are pursuing the STS Minor or interested in understanding how science works and interested in reading deeply together will find this course worthwhile. Please note that this course is a STS Minor Elective. It is a course in The History and Philosophy of Science pathway.
The course is structured around the close reading of three foundational texts spanning distinct literary genres through seminar-style discussions. Enrollment is limited to 25 students.
Class Description:
What is the thing we call "science"? What do scientists actually do in their private laboratories and in the public arena? How do personal and structural factors like ambition, the availability of data and/or funding, or the competitive race to succeed shape the practice of science and its impact on the world? Concentrating on post-WW2 science, this course examines how scientists and engineers have grappled with these questions. As a "great books" course, this class involves the deep reading of three foundational texts that capture the human drama behind scientific progress.
James Watson’s The Double Helix (1968) is a first-person unfiltered memoir that describes the events behind his and Francis Crick's discovery of the structure of the DNA and makes no bones that it was fame and success that motivated them as much as the pursuit of the truth.
Tracy Kidder’s Pulitzer-winning The Soul of a New Machine (1981) is a look at what it takes to invent, build, and manufacture a new kind of mini-computer exploring the role of money, office politics, competition, and just the difficulty of getting things to work.
John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood (2018) is the story of Theranos, a Silicon Valley start-up that was the talk of the town and of venture funding until it was revealed that the technology it claimed to have built simply did not exist. It is a cautionary tale--also frequently hilarious--about the nature of scientific fraud and why it happens.
By engaging with these texts, students will gain a deeper understanding of the human and institutional structures that shape modern science.
For more information, please view the course catalog here. Please note a separate course shares the ISF 110 number and covers different material with different texts. Students should confirm they are enrolling in Science: Foundational Texts.
Inquiries may be directed to Shreeharsh Kelkar, skelkar@berkeley.edu.