YC to Offer Summer Physics and Culture Course in Italy

As part of the new Yeshiva College Honors Program, a physics course is being offered this summer that will allow students to spend two weeks in Florence, Italy to study both the physics of Galileo and Italian Jewish Culture of the Renaissance Period. The five credit course will satisfy one of the science requirements of YC and SSSB (3 credits) and will count as an Humanities elective (2 credits). The course will commence on the Main Campus of Yeshiva College (June 14 through July 2), and will be followed by a second component in Florence, Italy (July 12 through July 25).

The local component of the course will concentrate on ideas of Physics and Astronomy from the ancient world to the Galilean revolution in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It will further examine the work of the new science from Galileo to Kepler to Sir Isaac Newton, exploring the development of rational celestial and terrestrial mechanics - the concepts that have shaped contemporary views of the universe.

The Italian component, based in Florence, will give participants the opportunity to encounter the cultural world from which Galileo Galilei emerged. Visits to the actual locations where Galileo lived and worked in Pisa and Padua will be complemented by tours of the Museum of Science and the Modern European Laboratory of Non-Linear Spectroscopy.

The course will be taught and directed by Dr. Gabriel Cwilich, Professor of Physics. A RIETS student will accompany the participants to Italy and will help to ensure that Kosher facilities, shabbat arrangements, and synagogue access are priorities for the course. This spiritual director will also teach a shiur to the students each morning.

Dr. Cwilich confirmed that there are currently fifteen students interested in the program. He said, "This is a very interesting opportunity for YU students to learn science in a unique cultural and social environment...I've discussed this program with physics professors at other universities and they wished they could enroll."

The program is being offered to all YC and SSSB students regardless of their major or previous science experience. Students interested in only attending the Italian component may do so, and will be required to write an essay on their impressions of Jewish Italian art and culture. These students will receive 3 credits instead of five.

The cost of the program is approximately $1500 for the Italian component (the cost of airplane tickets is not included) or $2170 for both the Italian and local components. Interested students should contact Dr. Cwilich.