INSTRUCTORS:

Charles A. Brau

Professor of Physics

Office: 6639B Stevenson Center

Phone: 322-2559

e-mail: charles.a.brau@vanderbilt.edu

Virginia L. Shepherd

Professor of Pathology

Office: F506 ACRE Bldg (VA Medical Center)

Phone: 327-4751/ext 5499 (off campus)

811-5499 (on campus)

e-mail: shephev@aol.com

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The goal of this course is to use the lives of the Nobel laureates to highlight the great scientific achievements of this and the last centuries. By studying selected lauriates, we will examine the science behind the Prize; the impact of the award on the scientist and his/her future work, and on science itself; and the effect of the discovery on society. In addition, we will use the course to develop personal skills including using the Internet for research, organizing presentations and leading discussions, and forming and posing stimulating questions.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1. You will be required to give two presentations during the semester - one in Phase I and one in Phase II as described below. Your group must meet with Drs. Brau and Shepherd at least three times during each phase, as discussed below, as you prepare your discussions.

2. You will be required to read the Double Helix by James Watson. Discussion of this book will be a part of the Watson/Crick/Wilkins presentation.

3. You will be required to write a term paper due at the end of the semester on a topic of your choice. The topic must relate to the science Nobel prizes, and must be an original question or hypothesis that you wish to research and write about.

4. For each presentation of which you are not a presenter, after reading the assigned material, you must submit one discussion question to the presenting group and to the instructors on the day before the presentation. The discussion leaders will then choose 1 or 2 of these questions to use during their presentation.

 

COURSE ORGANIZATION:

The course is organized on the model of a graduate seminar. Accordingly, we envision much more participation by the students including student leadership of the discussions, rather than faculty-led discussions of assigned reading. This format will involve significant interactions between the students and the instructors outside class, with the instructors playing the role of advisors and resources to assist you as you prepare your presentations.

The class will meet three times per week from 11:10 - 12:00. The course will be a combination of presentations by the course instructors and the students with the following proposed schedule:

Introduction

Wednsday, January 10

Overview of course objectives, schedule, and grading (Shepherd)

Alfred Nobel: His life (Brau)

Friday, January 12

Alfred Nobel: His will and the prizes (Brau)

Awarding of the prizes (Shepherd)

Class assignments (Shepherd)

Monday, January 15-Friday, January 19:

Stanley Prusiner: 1997 Prize in Physiology or Medicine (Shepherd/Brau)

Monday, January 22-Friday, Januray 26:

Otto Hahn: 1944 Prize in Chemistry (Brau/Shepherd)

Phase I

Class presentations of individual prizes, individual prize winners, or narrowly-defined scientific areas

Phase II

Class presentations of broad topics or scientific areas

Each student will participate in a group in Phase I and a group in Phase II. In general, the groups will be different in Phase I and Phase II. Each group will be responsible for a roughly one-week presentation (one day of class presentation per member of the group). For each topic, the instructors will spend one class period, as needed, to present the science behind the prizes. To help with the presentations each group must meet with the instructors at least Three times prior to their presentation. At the first meeting (at least 3 weeks before the presentation) each group will present their topic choice to the instructors and discuss possible reference sources. Students will be expected to locate much of the reference material for their presentations, but the instructors will be available to assist with the searches. At the second meeting (at least 2 weeks before the presentation) the students will meet with the instructors to discuss their proposed presentation plan and to coordinate their presentation with the science discussion. Additional meetings with the instructors are encouraged for further discussion of the material and the presentation. Each student group will be required to provide a list of selected readings and a list of questions which will be discussed. These materials must be provided to the instructors at least one week in advance of the presentation. The presenting group will assemble the schedule and assignments into a web page linked to the class web site. Other members of the class will use these materials to prepare for their participation in the discussions. During the week following each presentation, the group will meet with Professors Brau and Shepherd to discuss the evaluation of their presentation.

During the first Phase of the course the class will be divided into small groups (typically three students per group) for presentations on individual prizes or winners. Each group will choose a specific year or person. A discussion/overview of the science behind the prize will be given by one of the instructors on the first day of each presentation (or as arranged with the group giving the presentation). The students will then follow with their presentations on such areas as the history and difficulties of the discovery, the life of the winner, scientists who contributed to the science but were not included, the impact of the science on society, etc. Students are encouraged to use slides, videos, handouts, games, debates, plays, or other original presentation methods. However, "canned" presentations (videos and computerized presentations) should be limited to less than 30 minutes of the total presentation time. Class discussion is an important part of each presentation, and significant time and thought should be devoted to these discussions during both the preparation and the actual presentations.

There will be a discussion of the book The Double Helix, by James Watson, led by the instructors, with dinner at their home.

During the second Phase of the course, new groups will be formed to give presentations on broader topics such as Women Nobelists, The Bomb, or The Transistor.

GRADING:

Presentations: 40%

Participation in class discussions: 40%

Attendance and participation in the discussions are extremely important in this course. Students will be allowed two "free" (unexcused) absences. All other absences must be discussed with the instructors (in advance, whenever this is possible), and the work must be made up. The discussion of the Double Helix cannot be counted as a free absence and the work must be made up.

Term paper: 20%

Topics must be selected by Friday, March 2, and submitted for approval by the instructors. A first draft is due by Friday, March 21, (this is firm!); the final draft is due by Monday, April 23, which is the last day of class (this is also firm!). The final draft should be between 2 and 10 pages long, single spaced, with a 12-point proportional font.

The paper should discuss a topic agreed on by the student and the instructors. The subject can be a Prize winner or subject not discussed in class, an aspect of a winner or subject discussed in class, or a more general topic covering several winners or Prizes. In the past topics have included what characterized Feynman as a genius (the conclusion: he was smart and flamboyant), Nobel laureates as icons in pop culture (Einstein, for example, may be the most recognized image in the history of mankind), a public opinion survey on awareness and perception of the Nobel Prize (taken in the Nashville airport at Spring Break), the migration of the Jews to America and the establishment of American science in the 1930s. You should use your imagination in selecting an original topic. We will be happy to discuss possibilities with you.

1901 Roentgen: Discovery of x-rays (first Physics prize)

*1903 Becquerel, P. Curie, M. Curie: Investigations of the phenomenon of radioactivity

1922 Bohr, 1932 Heisenberg, 1938 Fermi, 1965 Feynman: Quantum mechanics

*1921 Einstein: Discovery of the photoelectric effect (and relativity, but not for the prize!)

1956 Brattain, Shockley, Bardeen: (Bardeen: 1st to win two prizes in the same field; 3rd to win 2 prizes) Semiconductors and discovery of the transistor effect

1978 Penzias, Wilson: Detection of microwave background radiation (big bang theory)

1908 Rutherford: Chemistry of radioactive substances (Brau)

1954 Pauling: (1st to win an unshared prize in 2 different areas) Chemical bonds and molecular structure (Brau)

1964 Hodgkin: Structural determination of vitamin B-12 (Shepherd)

1923 Banting/MacLeod: Discovery of insulin

*1945 Fleming, Chain, Florey: The discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases

1952 Waksman: Discovery of streptomycin, the first anti-TB drug

1947 Cori and Cori: Discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen (metabloism)

*1962 Watson, Crick, and Watkins: Discovery of the structure of DNA

1983 McClintock: Discovery of mobile genetic elements

Nobel scientists and war: [Nobel himself], [Schwarzchild], Arrhenius, Haworth, Hahn, Haber, Joliot-Curies, M. Curie, [Meitner], [von Braun], Heisenberg, Einstein, [Oppenheimer]

*The BOMB: Urey, Libby, Franck, Feynman, Chadwick, Fermi, Rabi, Heisenberg, [von Weizeker], [Oppenheimer], Einstein

WWII and Jewish scientists: Fermi, Einstein, [Meitner], Pauli, and others.

Women: Curie, Joliot-Curie, Cori, Yalow, McClintock, Levi-Montalcini, Hodgkin, Elion, Goepphart-Mayer, Nusslein-Volhard.

Ethics of technology: transplants, genetic engineering, fetal tissue research, cloning

Ecology: Muller (DDT); Calvin et al. (Photosynthesis); Crutzen, Molina, Rowland, et al. (ozone)

Antibiotics (Domagk, Fleming/Chain/Florey, Waksman)

X-rays (Roentgen, von Laue, Bragg/Bragg, Debye, Kendrew/Perutz, Watson/Crick/Wilkins, Hodgkin)

DNA to Dolly (Morgan, Beadle/Tatum, Lederberg, Crick/Watson/Wilkins, Jacob/Lwoff/Monod, Holley/Khorana/Niremburg, Delbruck/Hershey/Luria, Baltimore/Dulbecco/Temin, Arber/Nathans/Smith)

Cosmology and the Origin of the Universe (Einstein, Penzias/Wilson, Hewish/Ryle, Taylor)

Journals:

Physics Today (Online)

Science (Online)

Scientific American (Online)

Nature (Medical Library)

Books (Personal):

Marie Curie: A Life - Susan Quinn

Lise Meitner - Ruth Lewin Sime

Albert Einstein - Abraham Pais

Atoms in the Family - Laura Fermi

Genius - James Gleick

Microbe Hunters - Paul de Kruif

Double Helix - James Watson

Eighth Day of Creation - H.F. Hudson

Nobel Prize Women in Science - Sharon McGrayne

The Forgotten Plague - Frank Ryan

What Mad Pursuit - Francis Crick

What is Life? - Erwin Schrodinger

The First Three Minutes - Stephen Weinberg

The Nobel Prize - Feldman

Science and Medical Library Holdings (Acorn)

Videos:

Einstein/Nova

The Nobel Century

Fleming

Insignificance

The Race for the Double Helix

Fat Man and Little Boy

Madam Curie

Rosalind Franklin/Nova

World Wide Web sites:

Vanderbilt Home Page

Nobel Foundation Home Page: http://www.nobel.se

TV News Archives

Newspapers, magazines

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Last updated 1/5/07.