What is Modern Science? with Alex Meredith, PhD, Med ‘78 (MA)

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What is Modern Science?
Instructor: Alex Meredith, PhD, Med ‘78 (MA)
November 10 - November 17 (2 Sessions)
Mondays, 6:00PM - 8:00PM ET
Virtual va Zoom

Brought to you by Odyssey  

Course Description: How did humanity move from stone tools and ancient myths to modern science and the Scientific Method? This two-part course traces the remarkable history of human understanding, from prehistoric toolmakers and the first writing systems to the Scientific Revolution and the technological world of today. Along the way, we will explore the contributions of Greek philosophers, Roman engineers, Islamic scholars, Renaissance thinkers, and pioneering astronomers such as Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton. Participants will discover how observation, reasoning, experimentation, and evidence gradually transformed humanity’s understanding of nature and consider the challenges and opportunities facing science in the future.

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ABOUT Alex Meredith, PhD, SOM '78 (MA)
Professor emeritus of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine

Alex Meredith, PhD is professor emeritus of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, VA. His research laboratory focused on the neuroscience of neuronal processing of multi sensory information and resulted in 100 peer-reviewed publications and more than 20 graduate students. Dr. Meredith also has more than 45 years of experience teaching Neuroscience and Gross Anatomy, over which he has impacted thousands of Medical, Dental and Graduate students. He has several publications describing innovations for teaching anatomy online (a pandemic necessity) as well as multiple teaching awards. But his scientific career began in an unusual way, as a freelance biomedical illustrator (JHU Art in Medicine, 1978). Creating effective visual depictions of medical or scientific processes was fascinating, but in 1980 Alex was moved by a series of lectures on the Hodgkin-Huxley model of neuronal conductance, which implied that ion fluxes across cell membranes could account for all human action, thought and consciousness. Indeed, his subsequent research was based on neuronal information processing, but his recent interests have expanded to include the epistemological bases for science itself. Accordingly, Alex’s favorite quotation (by Einstein): “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.”

 Event Date
Starts:
Tuesday, November 10, 2026
6:00pm EST

Ends:
Tuesday, November 17, 2026
8:00pm EST

 Contact
Odyssey
Alumni Relations Lifelong Learning
800-JHU-JHU1 (548-5481)
odyssey@jhu.edu

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