OVERVIEW

The nineteenth century saw an expansive world of scientific engagment by the public through spectacles that combined education with entertainment, that brought scientfic experimentation into the home (as with zoetropes or chemistry sets), in which zoos and aquariums became established as major sites of pilgrimage, and that encouraged speculation on what was yet to be discovered about ancient peoples such as the Egyptians -- with the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone, that unlocked the meaning of hieroglyphics -- or the possibility of other planets in the solar system being populated by beings of some sort, such as Martians. The dynamics of the interplay between the professional world and the public world did not simply flow in one direction from the first to the second. Literary creation Sherlock Holmes was applying forensic science to solving murders well before the police adopted these techniques and science fiction writers were anticipating scientific feats such as the creation of submarines and journeys to the moon by generations.

INTRODUCTION TO READINGS AND LEARNING MATERIALS

The reading in our core text provides content and analysis that you will use to build your knowledge base, and that will serve as the basis for your reflective essay that is due at the end of the week. The videos provide background information and context for the lesson and serve as source material for the essay and your pocket exhibit project The questions for your reflective essay are designed to prompt you to assess the material and determine what you find to be most significant and to explain why. The Pocket Exhibit Project allows you to use historical skills to interpret primary source materials, and to create an online site to communicate your research findings.

LIST OF READINGS AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Reading Assignments:

The reading in Ede & Cormack for this week are Chapters 7 and 8 [these are the basis for Essay #2 due on Friday June 19]
Professor Pandora's Blog "Petri Dish": "Hollow Heads? Science, Fantasy and What's as Plain as the Earth Beneath our Feet"

Learning Activities:

Read these background articles:

- "Sherlock Holmes’ Victorian Era Science and Technology" Exhibit from the South Carolina State Museum (February 2020)
- "The Great Moon Hoax Was Simply a Sign of Its Time," Smithsonian Magazine (July 2015)
- Bess Lovejoy, "Fifteen Glowing Facts about the History of Radiation," Mental Floss (March 2016)

Watch this movie from the time period:

Le voyage dan la lune (The Trip to the Moon) / George Melies (1902) [12 mins]

Assignments:

Essay #2 Due.
Begin reviewing the Pocket Archive Project #3 Source Material for next week's post on: Sputnik and the Media