How have scientists produced knowledge about the natural world across the centuries? Why does reality in quantum physics defy our everyday intuitions? How can we investigate planets light-years away—and even search for signs of life beyond Earth? And what role do aesthetics, imagination, and the arts play in shaping scientific discovery?

In this course, we will explore historical and contemporary methods of knowledge production in the natural sciences, examining how ideas, instruments, and institutions have evolved over time.

Science never unfolds in isolation. Alongside natural science, this course places a strong emphasis on technology studies, asking how technologies not only support scientific work but also shape what counts as knowledge in the first place. We will analyze the material culture of science—laboratories, instruments, models, computers—and how technological infrastructures have enabled or constrained discovery. From Galileo’s telescope to CERN’s particle collider, from slide rules to quantum simulators and space telescopes, technology has always been a key player in how we observe, measure, and interpret the world.

Participants will be introduced to key questions in Science and Technology Studies (STS), drawing on historical, philosophical, and sociological perspectives. How do scientific facts become established? What power structures and values are embedded in technologies? How do gender, culture, and politics influence what science and technology can do—or fail to do?

We will examine major scientific revolutions—from Newton’s mechanics to quantum theory and relativity—and explore how their development was tied to shifts in experimental technique, theory-building, and technological change. Moving from the smallest scales of quantum physics to the vast distances of the cosmos, we will also consider how scientists study worlds they cannot directly reach. Exoplanet research and the search for possible signs of extraterrestrial life provide a particularly fascinating case study: How can we know anything about the atmospheres, environments, and potential habitability of planets many light-years away? And where is the boundary between scientific evidence, inference, and speculation?

This course is designed for first-year students in the CDS program, but students from other departments are warmly welcome, space permitting. No prior background in science is required—you are welcome whether you are a physics newbie or a quantum aficionado.

To successfully complete this course, students are required to attend regularly (with a minimum attendance of 80%) and actively participate in group discussions. Each participant will give one seminar presentation during the semester, accompanied by a written paper (approximately 3 pages). The course will conclude with an oral examination.

Students from other departments who do not require a grade are also welcome to join, space permitting, and may participate without completing the graded assignments.