Sarah Lowengard

POST-SECONDARY COURSES DESIGNED AND PRESENTED

Academic Courses
Big Science
Darwin and His Times
Design History
History of the Scientific Method
History of Textiles
Leonardo, Scientist and Engineer
Science and Technology in the Islamic Worlds
Science and Technology in the Long 18th Century
Science and Technology in the Modern World

Courses for Art Conservators

Basics of Textiles Conservation
Research Methods

Online Business Education for Artists, Artisans, Academics

Describing Yourself and What You Do
Establishing a Conservation Practice
Estimating Conservation Projects
Marketing for Conservation
Mitigating Risk in Conservation
Professional Responsibility
Managing Your Pofessional Life
Six Tips to Improve Your Proposal-Writing
Writing to Ask/Writing to Tell
Your Life as an Independent [Whatever]
Sarah Lowengard
All courses
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COURSES TAUGHT AT COOPER UNION

Included in the Catalog:

SS305 Leonardo, Scientist and Engineer

This course uses the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci (1453–1519) to explore science,
medicine, and engineering in Renaissance Europe. We will look at the social and economic life of
the era and examine the institutions and influences that served Leonardo’s imagination, his
inventiveness, and his arts.

SS335 Science and Technology in the Long 18th Century (1687-1839)

This course will examine the changing roles of science and technology in the West during the
18th and early 19th centuries. We will use a case-study approach to consider such topics as
color in theories (light and optics) and color in practice (painting, dyeing and glassmaking);
geology mineralogy and the development of ceramic industries in Europe; the invention, use
(and misuse) of the natural classifications; and automation and automatons: Vaucanson's duck,
Jacquard's loom, Babbage's Difference Engine.

SS378 Time, Travel and Communication in Early Modern Europe

This course is a history of early modern European technology with a strong focus on design
technologies and material culture. It will cover the time period extending approximately from
the Age of Exploration through the French Revolution (about 1500-1800).We will examine early
modern ideas about three critical aspects of modern life: time, communication and travel.
(Interpretation of these themes will be broad and may include not only carriages and bridges
but also carriage upholstery and passports; not only letters, newspapers and books but also
songs and emblems; not only the shift from public to personal time but also calendar reform.) In
addition to readings (both primary and secondary) and discussions (in-class and online),
students will choose to study three artifacts that are relevant to the themes of time,
communication and travel, research them and present their findings to the class.

SS385 Science and Technology in the Modern World

This course will explore the social, intellectual and economic relationships of science and
technology in the modern world (approximately 1845 to the present day). We will use a
modified case-study approach to create “snapshots” of topics that incorporate such factors as
who participates in scientific and technological endeavors, where work is conducted, and the
supports (social, financial, emotional) necessary to individual and collective pursuits. Class
members will have some input into the topics we study, which may include: Technology and
science in everyday things, Darwin and his aftermath, Communication technologies, Science and
technology in war, Transportation, Health and Medicine. Sub-themes that will be incorporated
into all topics include: Objects and physical spaces of science and technology, Attitudes about
the immediate and larger environment, Changing ideas of improvement and progress.
Sarah Lowengard
All courses
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SS393 Darwin and His Times

This course will use the work and life of Charles Darwin (12 February-1809-19 April 1882) to
examine the nature of scientific practices during the nineteenth century and their changing,
often revolutionary, role in life—then and now. Our study will look at Darwin’s life, and conduct
close readings of Darwin's writing on geology and evolutionary biology. We will consider and
discuss both interpretations and implications of “Darwinism,” and opposition to Darwin’s ideas.

Taught under a variable seminar listing

HSS4L Big Science

“Big Science” is a shorthand term used by historians of science and historians of technology to
describe certain kinds of scientific projects. The characteristics of big science projects include:
 Large scale
 The development or use of “big” machines
 Employment of large numbers of specialists
 Big budgets
 A well-defined outcome, one identified before the project begins
 Reliance on government support

Big Science projects have existed throughout history, but their institutionalization in the past
century has changed the way all science is practiced and reported. In this course, we investigate
the recent history of science. We’ll use the characteristics of Big Science as a comparative basis
to understand scientific practices—both successful ones and those considered failures. All
students will have an opportunity to research the history of a Big Science project and to discuss
its impact on non-scientists and scientists alike.

SS318 History of the Scientific Method

Many disciplines consider the scientific method the acme of thought -and-presentation
processes. Aadoption of its tenets is encouraged by many non-scientific and non-technological
disciplines. But what is the scientific method? Is it one technique, or several? What is the
relationship between scientific methods and scientific theories? What is its significance to
experimental method? Has the scientific method always held the privileged place it now has? If
the methodology of scientific presentation has changed with time, how do those different
descriptions of scientific method reflect contemporary definitions of science or technology . . .
or rational ideas?
In this course, we study the different ways that knowledge has been collected and presented
over time. We will connect the different methods of explaining information to the time and
place when it became important, and explore ways that any appropriately scientific method
reflects larger concerns about the place of science and technology in daily life, and in the world.
We will also look at the ways adoption of the scientific method may restrain information, and
consider possible alternatives.
Sarah Lowengard
All courses
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SS318 Science and Technology in the Islamic Worlds

The notion of an Islamic World is a shorthand for a number of unique cultures—Arab, Persian,
Ottoman, Turkic, and Iberian—joined by the flourishing of Muslim or Islamic religion in those
regions, particularly in the 12th through 17th centuries CE. Science and Technology in the Islamic
Worlds considers the roles of inventions and discoveries connected to residents of those
regions—principally but not exclusively Muslims. We will consider the uses of science and
technology in the components of those regions separately and together, and in their
interactions with the world beyond Islam. As we learn about technology and science from Islam,
we will also look at the ideas and inventions brought into these same Islamic worlds from
European, and other Asian or African cultures.
Sarah Lowengard
All courses
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PROPOSED, OR POSSIBLE:
(History of Technology & History of Science)

History of Chemistry (With Laboratory)

In a recent interview, the neuroscientist Beau Lotto complained that modern lab
sciences are taught as “history of science:” The outcomes are known and students
quickly learn that the highest grades are given to those whose results match
predetermined expectations. Lotto’s assessment may decontextualize the student
laboratory, and its purposes, but History of Chemistry (With Laboratory) inverts his
complaint by using the laboratory as a place to understand the history of science. This
course also accesses a trend toward materiality in the history of science, in which
students learn by doing or replicating.

The first half of this course will be devoted to a survey of the idea of material change, as
considered by different cultures and successive ages. Students will learn about the techniques
used in history to analyze and transform matter, who engaged in the chemical arts and in
research, and why. The development of chemistry will be considered within the broader context
of intellectual, economic and cultural evolution of Western (and world) civilization, with an
emphasis on the period since 1600.
The second portion of the course will be devoted to the reenactment of historical experiments
in the laboratory. The results may be recorded (with narration) or described in a written report
(with images, as appropriate).
Course Content and Objectives
Many incidental things can be learned from this course but the learning focus will be deepening
student knowledge of chemistry by examining the science through history. At the end of the
course students will have an understanding of the ways chemistry developed and why.
Questions we might consider include:
• What was chemistry like at different periods of its evolution?
• What apparatus and materials were at its disposal?
• What concepts guided chemical investigations?
• How was chemical knowledge transmitted and furthered?
• What practical applications were made of chemical knowledge?
• How did the kinds of people attracted to the study of chemistry change over time?
• Who were some of the innovators and how do we assess their accomplishments
today?
• What kinds of problems were likely to interest investigators in different epochs, and
how would you describe the approach(es)?
• How did the relationship between the study of matter and other events in the
sciences, philosophy, economics and politics change over time?
NB: I believe I am eligible to apply for C-14 certification, although I have never held it.

Engineering the World (A History of Engineering)

Students in this course will explore the history of engineering, from the late 18 th century obsessions with
measurement and tolerance that contributed to the formation of the metric system, international
Sarah Lowengard
All courses
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standards and the machine tool industry, through the rise and professionalization of engineering as a
discipline, up to the role engineers play in today’s highly collaborative and globalized industries. We will
examine definitions of “engineer” as it has changed over time and within different specialties (computer
engineer, chemical engineer, environmental engineer, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer and
more). At the end of the course, successful students will be able to articulate a history of their own
profession and describe the ethical and social dimensions, the conflicts and the solutions offered in two
different engineering disciplines.

Class meetings will include both lectures and discussions. Students will be expected to prepare for class
with selected readings and, occasionally, submission of a brief thought statement. Some group work
with classmates may be required. Expect the incorporation of audio-visual supplements and the
exploration of websites and other internet-based media. All students will submit several short papers,
one of which will become a longer essay. A mid-term and a final exam will each consist of short essays.

Three Revolutions
This course will look at the social disruptions caused by three technological or scientific events: the
communications revolution that began with the widespread use of the telegraph and continues to
include today’s internet and wireless communications, the revolution in biological/medical
understanding from Darwin to the genome, and the transportation revolution that has changed global
civilization—from canal-digging to trains, planes and automobiles. We will examine the social and
political changes that encouraged or discouraged each revolution and the social and political changes
that were an outcome of each. Students will learn to address such questions as:
 Were these changes truly revolutionary, or did public rhetoric overwhelm events to turn a series
of occurrences into something greater than it was?
 What does the study of revolutions—or so-called revolutions—tell us about other kinds of
scientific, technological or social change?

Students will be expected to prepare for and attend class, and to exhibit engagement in all lectures,
discussions and student presentations. Preparation will include weekly reading assignments and the
occasional submission of reviews, abstracts or short reflective papers. Formal writing assignments will
include three 3-5 page papers on an assigned topic, plus a longer essay (student’s choice). A final exam
will help students bring together what they have learned from the class and permit them to make a
statement about the nature (and, possibly, the existence) of scientific revolutions.

Subtle Fluids
Electricity…Magnetism…Gravity…Air…Heat…Pressure…Light…Phlogiston…Time
Subtle Fluid is the early modern category of substances you can’t see but which nevertheless exert a
strong and important effect on life and on the world. In this course, we will trace the history of these
substances in general and several of them in specific. We’ll start with ancient descriptions, move
through medieval and early modern discovery, understanding, and use, and continue to today’s
explanation and categorization of these substances (or are they just ideas?). Successful students will
develop insight into changing theoretical and experimental understanding that surrounds these
phenomena.
Sarah Lowengard
All courses
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Voyage Into Space

This course is inspired by the 60th anniversary of NASA (2018). It will look at the history of space travel
from the fantastic and imaginative to ballooning, to more recent successes (and failures). We will
examine the social contexts that drive the desire to go into “outer space,” the changing definition of that
term, and the opposition or constraints to space travel programs in the 20 th and 21st centuries.

Technology as Threat and Promise

Popular histories of technology—however you may define “technology”—frequently present the
introduction of well-known technologies as uncompromised and immediate successes. Historians of
technology recognize the struggles that can come with acceptance, and look at the ways that new
technologies change social, economic, and intellectual landscapes. This course will explore the contexts
of technological developments, the ironies of their acceptance, resistance to both, and the ultimate
outcomes. Each student will research and write a case study that examines the development and
introduction of a technology or technological system of their choosing. Each case study will look at the
contexts of development, alternatives proposed at the time of invention, resistance to its creation or
use, and more.

This course will take advantage of my affiliation with an international research group that uses case
studies from the 18th through 20th centuries to analyze social and economic expectations for future
technological systems—at present what is sometimes called the fourth industrial revolution.

Alexander von Humboldt: The Explorer’s Life

This course will use the work and life of Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) to
examine efforts and attitudes toward the exploration and exploitation of foreign lands at the beginning
of the modern era. We will use the life and work of Humboldt—tenacious explorer, scientific superstar,
writer and saloniste—to examine artistic and scientific interpretations of nature and the place of
humanity within it. Assignments will include readings taken from Humboldt’s own work and that of his
cohort, as well as more recent assessments of his accomplishments and (if possible) exhibitions and
public lectures in honor of the 250th anniversary of his birth. Students will choose one area of
Humboldt’s interests and serve as the “class specialist” as we examine such themes as the life of the
explorer/scientific superstar, European understanding of native Latin American culture and natural
history, and the meaning of Humboldt’s work today.