Dialogue of Civilizations trip to Italy, Summer 2 2017
What do weather prediction, the stock market, and phone call routing have to do with Galileo, Newton, and Leonardo da Vinci? Come to Italy to find out!
Italy and the Scientific Revolutions
Instructor: Prof. Waleed Meleis
This Dialogue studies two revolutions in scientific thought: the Scientific Revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries and the computational revolution of the 20th century. We begin with an exploration of the Scientific Revolution, as exemplified by the work of Copernicus and Galileo in Italy. From our base in Florence and Rome, the heart of the Italian Renaissance, we trace the evolution of scientific thought from the 16th through 18th centuries. We study the natural connections between the history of science taking place during the Italian Renaissance through scientific outings to local museums, observatories, universities, laboratories and archaeological sites. We then contrast this material with key results from chaos theory, computational complexity, logic, physics, quantum mechanics, and the theory of computation, all developed in the 20th century. Students will visit key historical, cultural and artistic sites in Florence, Rome, Pisa, Bologna, and Vinci.
An information session about the trip will be help in November.
Interested students should send email to meleis@ece.neu.edu to be added to the mailing list for reminders and more information.
Visit http://www.northeastern.edu/scientificrevolutions for trip information, itinerary, course syllabi, instructor bio and pictures.
Visit http://www.northeastern.edu/geo/opportunity/italy-and-the-scientific-revolutions/ to enroll.