HISTORY OF PHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY

The course’s objective is to provide the student with the basic elements necessary to evaluate the historical and epistemological path of Physics discipline and the methods used in scientific investigation with particular reference to the developments of the 1900s.

The student will develop a deep knowledge and understanding of the scientific method together with a comprehension of the structure and procedures of Physics research.

The course will allow to acquire the ability to identify the essential elements of a scientific work distinguishing between empiricism and rationalism. Critical skills in historically determined approaches also related to the conceptual change from classical (Newtonian) physics to relativistic and quantum mechanics will be gained.

Skills in debating on the interpretations of some fundamental physical phenomena in modern physics (Michelson and Morley experiment, quantization, etc.) will be encouraged.

Ability to communicate in Italian and English in advanced sectors of the history of Physics will be enhanced and adequate cognitive tools for the continuous updating of knowledge and to access specialized literature in the field of the history of physics will be acquired.

The course will be carried out through frontal lectures. Critical reading of some selected scientific passages relating to the course content will be performed.

Should the circumstances require online or blended teaching, appropriate modifications to what is hereby stated may be introduced, in order to achieve the main objectives of the course.
The final assesement will consist in an oral exam. Through questions aimed at discussing points of the various parts of the program, the overall level of knowledge acquired by the candidate, his / her ability to critically approach the topics studied and the ability to correlate the various parts of the program will be assesed. Students will be able to begin the exam with the presentation of a topic of their choice, based on a subject included in the course content. The exam aims at evaluating the ability to understand historical relationships and mastering the ideas introduced.

Exams may take place online, depending on circumstances.

The course proceeds by illustrating the structuring of physics during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries without neglecting references to ancient physics.

Topics:

• Introductory concepts of the history of Physics
• Archimedes' method
• The principle of conservation of momentum in Leonardo
• Galileo's experimental method
• Newton and the interpretation of Gravity
• The kinetic theory of gases
• E. Mach's critique of the concepts of space and time
• Einstein's critique of the concepts of space and time
• Historical origins of atomic quantization

- Lucio Russo, La rivoluzione dimenticata. Il pensiero scientifico greco e la scienza moderna, Feltrinelli 2013

- Roberto Maiocchi, Storia della scienza in Occidente, La Nuova Italia, 2000, selected topics.

- E.Bellone, Storia della Fisica, Utet, 1990

- R.Westfall, Newton e la dinamica del XVII secolo, Il Mulino, 1982 J.L.Heilbron, Alle origini della Fisica Moderna, Il Mulino, 1984

- B.D'Espagnat, Fondamenti concettuali della meccanica quantistica, Bibliopolis, 1980 G.Boniolo

(a cura), Filosofia della fisica, B.Mondadori, 1997

-E.Segrè, Personaggi e Scoperte della Fisica, Oscar Saggi Mondadori