Spring 2027

The Making of Modern Science

The Making of Modern Science covers major scientific trends from the 17th to early 20th centuries, emphasizing their broad cultural and social implications.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Yang Li

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Nicholas Jacobson

Nicholas Jacobson assigned two 20-30-page primary-source readings weekly, and counted rough drafts toward the grade.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and explain critical developments in how the natural world has been analyzed and understood in early modern and modern periods and cultures.

  • Identify and explain how science and its history have served a wide range of purposes in early modern and modern periods.

  • Recognize and evaluate how early modern and modern science has been deeply shaped by its historical, social, cultural, intellectual, and material contexts.

  • Interpret and evaluate historical sources to construct persuasive arguments concerning science and its history in the early modern and modern periods.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
HISTSCI 202

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.95 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=21 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CATHERINE JACKSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

DEVIN KENNEDY is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LYNN K. NYHART is recorded teaching in Spring 2013, Spring 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

NICHOLAS JACOBSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2023, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

YANG LI is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1520
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 180

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Catherine Jackson, Devin Kennedy

Past students described Catherine Jackson's engaging lectures and quizzes, while Devin Kennedy's lectures were easy to follow and his exams fair.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.64 GPA, 88.1% A/AB (n=59 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.72 GPA, 88.9% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.95 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=21 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Nicholas Jacobson

Nicholas Jacobson assigned two 20-30-page primary-source readings weekly, and counted rough drafts toward the grade.

Past student reviews · Devin Kennedy

Devin Kennedy's discussion sections were fun for some readings, but another student found the reading volume overwhelming and the group project poorly set up.

Topics

  • Major trends and developments in the sciences from the 17th century to the early 20th century.
  • Cultural and social implications of scientific developments.
  • Analysis and understanding of the natural world in early modern and modern periods.

Skills

  • Interpret historical sources and construct persuasive arguments about the history of science.
  • Evaluate how historical, social, cultural, intellectual, and material contexts shape science.
  • Explain the various purposes science and its history have served in different periods.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
HISTSCI 202 · Spring 2027

The Making of Modern Science

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:456:009620",
    "course_id": "HISTSCI 202",
    "course_uid": "course_a622c90f6034e5720e1afa5d",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "009620",
    "source_subject_id": "456",
    "title": "The Making of Modern Science",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "fc65fb71b98bf6000df2407bdfdf2170ec3557f01e49594b6e03782a0d87e368",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}