Assignment # 8 Final Course Reflection

My perspective about humanities and science changed after taking this course because at first I wasn't as much knowledgable on the science part as much as I was on humanistic part. Since I come from a society that's richer in cultural aspects than science, it was typical that I see things more from a humanistic perspective. However I am a curious person and I like knowing how things work and since I grew up in a generation of several technologies which influences me to know more on the science part. In this class I learned a lot about the promise and perils of technologies and how evolution actually works. I also learned a lot about Albert Einstein and all his contributions to the contemporary world of advanced technology. Before I knew nothing about Albert Einstein except that he was a very famous and remarkable scientist. I learned how he was indirectly responsible in the making of the atomic bomb. Before I took this course I had very minimum knowledge about artificial intelligence but after taking this course I learned a lot about the past and present of artificial intelligence. Personally I did believe that there was a connection between science and humanities but I was never able to expand my knowledge enough to be able to identify it. It is a very thin connection and commonly speaking science and humanities are very conflicting fields. Taking this class helped me look more deeply into the two cultures and locate the contact between these two fields. After taking this class I've come up with the conclusion that I am both. I have strong humanistic values but I have grown a strong fascination for science and technology. I think after taking this class I am now very optimistic about where science and technology can takes us. Taking this class was not only greatly educative but it was equally as much interesting and fun. This class has influenced me to learn more and think critically about the future of the two cultures and where our technology will take us. It has persuaded me to be more interested and knowledgeable in the field of science and technology and be able to distinguish the bridge between two cultures. 

Assignment #7 Critical Thinking About a Scientist’s Life and Work

In my opinion one of the greatest scientist that influenced our technological advances and the way we live now was Albert Einstein. If it wasn't for his most important theory of general relativity we probably wouldn't have modern technology like the GPS for another 50 years. Or if it wasn't for his most important equation E=mc2 we wouldn't have modern refrigerators, the red-glowing exit signs in malls and movie theaters,  radiology examinations, tomography (PET) scans used for medical diagnostics in hospitals and several other technologies. That's how we are now able to locate exactly where tumors or cancer's are in our bodies.  Albert Einstein was an open minded thinker and although he was a great scientist his beliefs on non scientific issues were often indisputable. Although he became a well known physicist, he had struggled through school when he was young. He also faced struggle when Adolf Hitler came to power and since he was Jewish he wasn't able to go back to Germany. That's why he came to the U.S. and became an American citizen. He also wrote a letter to President Roosevelt persuading him to speed up the development of the most powerful bomb: the atomic bomb that was created using the E=mc2 equation. Einstein's work inspired us as well as threatened us. Some of his technologies hold a great promise in improving and advancing our technologies but some of them like the making of the atomic bomb threatens the entire existence of humans. 

Works Cited: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

Assignment # 6 Sharing and Reflecting on Two Research Sources

My research paper was about Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dreams and his perspective on the two cultures, Humanities and Science. Albert Einstein was a great Physicist of all times but he was also a strong pacifist. Most of our modern technologies are based on Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 and the theory of general relativity. For my research paper the main articles that I used was a book review by Pangratios Papacosta "Eisntein's Dreams" accessed from Academic One File. This book review describes Einstein's dreams and compares it with other fictional novel and conveys that the author of this book avoids connecting these different dreams with any physics principles. It also conveys that this book bridges the gap between two cultures. I will be using this source to support my claim that Albert Einstein was not only a great scientist but a great humanist as well. Another source that I used was a biographical paper called "Einstein, Albert (1879-1955)" found from AccessScience. This academic paper contains Einstein's personal life and his achievements from birth to death. It displays everything about Einstein including who he was as a person as well as how he contributed to the technologies we are using today. It also talks about how he came up with his famous theory of relativity. I will be using this source to discuss how Einstein's personal life influenced his idea of relativity.