The Board of History and Philosophy of Science give notice that the prescribed sources for the essay component of the Natural Sciences Tripos, Part II, in History and Philosophy of Science, 2009-10, are as follows:
| Paper 1 | Galileo, Sidereus Nuncius (The Sidereal Messenger, or, Starry Messenger). |
| Paper 2 | Sir John Pringle, Six discourses delivered on the occasion of six annual assignments of Sir Godfrey Copley's Medal (1783). |
| Paper 3 | Charles Darwin's letters: http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/. |
| Paper 4 | Larry Laudan (1981), 'A Confutation of Convergent Realism', Philosophy of Science 48: 19-48. |
| Paper 5 | The International Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Synthesis Report: http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr.pdf. |
| Paper 6 | M. Foucault, Abnormal [1974-5], London, Verso, 2003. |
| Paper 7 | Helkiah Crooke, Microcosmographia (1615), Book 4. |
| Paper 8 | John Snow, 'On the Mode of Communication of Cholera' (1849, 1855). |
| Paper 9 | C. P. Snow, The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution [1959], Cambridge 1993, and F. R. Leavis, Two Cultures? The Significance of C. P. Snow, London 1962. |
Each source will have four hours of seminars. The seminars for each source will be held in the first half of Michaelmas Term 2009. Candidates are advised to attend seminars for four Primary Sources. These will normally be those sources associated with the three papers they are offering plus one other. Candidates will be required to write essays on two sources, which must be submitted to the Examiners on 31 January 2010. Each essay should be not more than 3,000 words in length (including footnotes, but excluding bibliography).
J. W. NICHOLLS, Registrary
END OF THE OFFICIAL PART OF THE 'REPORTER'