Splash Biography
MARCELLO DELGADO, second year who reads, cooks, and maths
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Major: Math Bio College/Employer: University of Chicago Year of Graduation: 2011 |
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Brief Biographical Sketch:
Born in Northern Cuba (South Florida), Marcello is a math/bio double who enjoys long walks on the beach and Threadless. Currently living in Shoreland, he spends his weekends downtown or in the library sacrificing small vegetables to the math gods. He loves living in Chicago, and made it a personal quest over spring break to find the best used bookstore and hole-in-the-wall restaurant. His guiding principle is taken straight from Strunk and White: "concision, concision, concision." Past Classes(Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)C205: The History of Pseudoscience, or Vice Versa in Splash! 2008 (Oct. 04, 2008)
We look at the history of all those "sciences" that either paved the way to modern science or were just entirely wrong, but are still fun to laugh at. From phlogistons, to ether, to eugenics, to astrology, the admirable history of progress began from a sequence of ridiculous ideas, some of which served as catalysts that lead to real scientific progress later on. More importantly, we'll consider what logical mistakes and aspects of human psychology lead people to believe in these pseudosciences. Time allowing, we'll also look at the phenomenon of pseudohistory in modern times, using the modern examples of Holocaust Denial and Afrocentrism . Some of the ideas discussed will be taken from Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions and from Michael Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things, which students do not need to have read beforehand.
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