Word: holton
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...work is supported largely by a grant from the Office of Naval Research. Myths about federal direction of basic research are another cause for lay suspicion of science, Holton thinks. But he notes that at Harvard, government relations have never been a major problem. For one thing, Harvard never contracts for classified government research; for another, "Harvard antedates the federal government, and they know that we could say no to their terms if we wanted to, and still survive...
Until last year, Holton was on one of the advisory panels of the National Science Foundation, which in 1963 called 40 physicists from across the country to Washington to discuss the decreasing number of students taking physics courses. NSF asked the scientists to submit some solutions to the problem. Holton's proposal, the one that was accepted, became a new introductory physics course called Harvard Project Physics. It involves 30 physicists throughout the U.S. and is being tried out for the first time this fall by 2600 students in various forms in colleges, junior colleges, and high schools...
This project, too, is an experiment; as with his gen ed course, Holton is reluctant to issue mid-term progress reports. "We always want to leave open the option to say, at the end, that we failed," he says. "But I think we're on the right track." The new course, he says, tries to focus on "the basic and beautiful ideas of physics, to show why anybody -- I mean everybody -- should take them seriously...
...will have more than enough opportunity to develop new courses as the gen ed program moves into full operation. Holton, who was a member of the Doty Committee for a year, and was on sabbatical and didn't sign the report, is happy about the outcome of the two-year Faculty debate. "They got it right when they decided to let the ideology come after the courses. It makes sense, because, after all, you don't first decide what nature is and then impose a rigid pre-conception on your experiments...
...Holton ,as vice-chairman of the Gen Ed Committee and head of the sub-committee on science, is optimistic about the future of the program. "It will help ensure the excellence of Harvard College education as well as Harvard departmental education. If there is not balance and interaction between these two, a college atrophies. Harvard must keep providing the tools for an education as well as for a trade." He notes that increasing numbers of Faculty members have already been induced by the system's flexibility to offer new courses...