Lecture: How Do You Know: Divine or Human Authority vs Logic and Experiment

Description

Lecture Description

Professor McBride outlines the course with its goals and requirements, including the required laboratory course. To the course's prime question "How do you know" he proposes two unacceptable answers (divine and human authority), and two acceptable answers (experiment and logic). He illustrates the fruitfulness of experiment and logic using the rise of science in the seventeenth century. London's Royal Society and the "crucial" experiment on light by Isaac Newton provide examples. In his correspondence with Newton Samuel Pepys, diarist and naval purchasing officer, illustrates the attitudes and habits which are most vital for budding scientists - especially those who would like to succeed in this course. The lecture closes by introducing the underlying goal for the first half of the semester: understanding the Force Law that describes chemical bonds.

Course Description

This is the first semester in a two-semester introductory course focused on current theories of structure and mechanism in organic chemistry, their historical development, and their basis in experimental observation. The course is open to freshmen with excellent preparation in chemistry and physics, and it aims to develop both taste for original science and intellectual skills necessary for creative research.

from course: Organic Chemistry