On the Shoulders of Giants is a short course of eight weeks for freshmen in mathematics. The aim is an introduction in classical mechanics from a historical perspective, with an emphasis on geometric reasoning. After three weeks of review of the necessary Euclidean geometry and differential calculus we tell the story of our giants: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galilei and Newton. It starts in the antiquity of Egypt and Greece until step by step Newton in 1687 wrote his Principia Mathematica, in which the theory of planetary motion is explained in the modern way. Our exposition deviates from the usual treatment in a freshmen course on classical mechanics, by putting more emphasis on the underlying geometric ideas, and not just doing calculations in calculus.
This is a basic course for students in the first year of the bachelor. The first semester linear algebra and calculus is all that is required, but even that is reviewed for the most part in the first three weeks of the class.
Written exam: April 12, 2012, 8:30-11:30 h in Lin 4 Second exam: May 3, 2012, 8:30-11:30 h in HG00.071
Every week students can hand in homework exercises. The average mark for the homework exercises is dived by 10 and added to the mark for the written exam, with a maximum of 10.
There is a text book in the Dutch language (Maris van Haandel and Gert Heckman, Op de Schouders van Reuzen, Epsilon Uitgaven Utrecht, 2009), which can be bought in the first class for 10 Euro from the lecturer. Additional lecture notes, which are an extension of the dutch text book, can be found here.