• The midterm (a 50-minute examination) will be given on Friday, October 11 from 10:10-11:00 a.m.
• The final (a three-hour examination) will be given Wednesday, December 11, from 8:00-11:00 a.m.  Location:  102 Moffitt Library (use the entrance to the right of the main doors).  

• Short-answer questions will typically come directly from the reading or from lecture (in the latter case, with a heavy emphasis on the list of names and terms).  They will generally ask for a one-sentence identification of a person, organization, event, etc., plus a one-sentence description of their significance or place in the history of science in the U.S.
• Paragraph-answer questions require more in-depth discussion of developments or themes.  They should aim for coverage at the level of six to nine sentences.  Answering them well involves a sense for big-picture issues as well as a command of important facts or examples.

• What were the origins of the American Philosophical Society?  What is its significance?
• What does P.T. Barnum have to do with American natural history?
• What was the Morrill Act?  What were its most important consequences?
• Where does Albion Small fit into the history of American science?

• How are scientific societies important for the history of science in the U.S.?  Give two or three examples from the colonial/revolutionary period through the mid-19th century. 
• Assertion:  "The case of Alexander Dallas Bache shows that 19th-century demands on a scientific statesman were really no different from those today."  Argue for or against this claim.  To this end, describe some of Bache's strategies to secure support for the U.S. Coast Survey.  Are these fundamentally similar to or different from those of lobbyists for science today?  Briefly address counterarguments.
• How did geologists and chemists contribute to shaping the public image of the scientist in the mid-19th century (up through the Civil War)?  First explain what brought these two scientific professions into the public eye, using at least one concrete example for each.  Then describe how their activities, their successes, and their failures might have influenced the American public's perception of scientists.
• The history of science in the U.S. is liberally salted with contributions from foreign scientists.  In the period we have studied so far, do you think the U.S. manages to break free from subordination to European science?  If so, explain when and how;  if not, explain why not.

• What was the goal of the conservation movement? When did it reach its peak?
• What were the origins of the Federation of Atomic Scientists, and what was its fate?
• What was the significance of the Apollo Program for U.S. science?
• What did the phrase "survival of the fittest" mean to Americans at the turn of the 20th century?

• Argue for or against:  "By all rights, the twentieth century should have been the century of biology;  only political catastrophe made it otherwise."  In justifying your answer, address the state of affairs at the century's beginning and end, as well as the events in between.
• What historical lessons would you draw from the ups and downs of the idea of a national academy of science?  Starting very briefly with proposals from the 18th century, focus your attention mainly on the National Academy located in Washington, D.C.  When was the Academy it successful, when did it fail, and where and why did it stop being important and start up again?
• In the 1890s Henry Rowland complained that Americans tended to confuse science with engineering, pure science with applications. First, do you think he was correct in his day? Second, would his assessment hold past his own era? Give specific examples.
• We can define a "scientific entrepreneur" to be a scientist (or engineer in a field heavily dependent on science) who turns scientific knowledge to practical purposes and finds ways to take it to market.  How has the position of the American scientific entrepreneur changed from the late 19th century to the present?  Consider not just institutional homes, but also sponsors for R&D, as well as the larger political economy into which the scientific entrepreneur fits.

Copyright © Cathryn Carson 2002