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Sept. 9, 2011: 10am Class

Sept. 9, 2011: 10am Class. Please complete Quiz #3 on d2l before Friday, Sept. 16 Will talk about quizzes at beginning of class 21inch Telescope will open for telescope lab Sept. 19. New homework: Starry Night Lab due Sept. 21 Section 2: STAR PARTIES at Saguaro Nat. Monument

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Sept. 9, 2011: 10am Class

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  1. Sept. 9, 2011: 10am Class • Please complete Quiz #3 on d2l before Friday, Sept. 16 • Will talk about quizzes at beginning of class • 21inch Telescope will open for telescope lab Sept. 19. • New homework: Starry Night Lab due Sept. 21 • Section 2: STAR PARTIES at Saguaro Nat. Monument • Sept. 18, Oct. 2, Oct. 23, Nov. 20 • PLEASE FILL OUT DOODLE POLL (see d2l) by • MIDNIGHT THIS SUNDAY, SEPT. 11 • Today: Occam’s razor, Galileo, the scientific method • Overview of the Solar System

  2. “…Gov. Rick Perry of Texas invoked 17th century science in discussing his doubts about climate change. He cited the astronomer and mathematician Galileo Galilei – often called the father of modern science – in suggesting that the current thinking that climate change is a result of human activity could be overturned. “Galileo got outvoted for a spell,” he said.” NY Times, Sept. 9, 2011, after Republican Presidential candidate debate

  3. Cosmological Models: v. 1.0 v. 3.0 v. 2.0 Version 1.0: “Superdome” model Version 2.0: Geocentric model Version 3.0: Heliocentric model

  4. Which is right? (1) Occam's Razor: Pluralitas non estponenda sine neccesitate "plurality should not be posited without necessity." Given a set of otherwise equivalent models of a phenomenon, the simplest one is the best. Keep it simple, stupid.

  5. William of Occam 1285-1349 English philosopher from Ockham Franciscan Monk Got into trouble with the Pope for advocating “apostolic poverty” Died of the Black Death while in exile Advocated Epistomological Parsimony c.f. Ontological parsimony Epistomology = theory of knowledge Ontology = what exists?

  6. (2) More importantly, Galileo’s observations of the phases of Venus were consistent with Copernicus, inconsistent with Ptolemy.

  7. 1633: Galileo is ordered to his house in Arcetri, under house arrest, where he remained for the rest of his life. The book remained on the index of forbidden books until 1822 Pope John Paul II finally gave an address that admitted that there had been errors in the treatment of Galileo by the church, in 1992. ASIDE: Contrast Galileo with Nicolas Steno (1638-1686), who laid the groundwork for the interpretation of the fossil record. See The Seashell on the Mountaintop by Alan Cutler.

  8. Modern Scientific Method 1. Observations and Experiments Data which describes the physical world 2. Theory, Hypotheses, Models: -> Organize Facts from experiment & observations Unifying principles Make testable predictions

  9. Creationism and Intelligent Design vs. Evolution. The example of gravity as a scientific theory: Newton’s Law c. 1700 AD Einstein’s theory of General Relativity c. 1916 Photon versus wave description of light The most interesting scientific questions to work on for a professional scientist are those we don't know the answer to. Interesting theories to work on are those which fail to explain an observation or fact. Many modern astronomers are deeply religious people.

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