History of Science and Technology

Students who intend to apply to graduate school or professional programs (such as medicine, law, or journalism) are encouraged to take an honours degree which requires a higher quality of work than other undergraduate programs.

In HOST you must pursue a Combined Honours degree (that is a degree integrating courses from two disciplines) by combining your HOST degree with a program from Dalhousie’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (for a BA), a program from Dalhousie’s Faculty of Science (for a BSc), or a degree in Journalism (for a BJH).

To complete a combined honours in the History of Science and Technology, BA students must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours to a maximum of 48 credit hours in HSTC. BSc students may complete a minimum of 30 credit hours (or a minimum of 24, with the program’s approval) to a maximum of 54 credit hours in HSTC.

Within these credit hours, the program’s four 3 credit hours “core” courses must be included:

• HSTC 2001.03 or equivalent
• HSTC 3001.03 or equivalent
• HSTC 4001.03 or equivalent
• HSTC 4600.03
• Note: With special permission from the Program Director, HSTC 3031.03 may be substituted for one of the core courses.

The requirements for the second honours subject are dependent on that department, and vary from program to program. In total, a minimum of 66 credit hours to a maximum of 84 credit hours in the two allied honours subjects must be completed. Students may fulfil the honours requirement in either of the two honours subjects. Usually this subject will be the one in which the student has taken more classes. In the HOST program, completion of the honours thesis (HSTC 4650.03) fulfils the requirement of the honours qualifying examination.

You can take a minor in HOST to complement your degree. Studying science through this humanities-based approach demonstrates your ability to think about science ‘outside the box’.

The Minor in HOST requires a minimum of 18 to a maximum of 27 credit hours taken at the 2000 level or above, including at least six credits hours taken from the following options:

• HSTC 2001.03 or equivalent
• HSTC 2211.03 & HSTC 2212.03 or HSTC 2200.06/SCIE 2001.03 & SCIE 2002.03 or SCIE 2000.06/HIST 2075.03 & HIST 2076.03 or HIST 2074.06
• HSTC 3001.03  or equivalent
• HSTC 4001.03 or equivalent

Discover the history of engineering. Learn about science fiction in film, science and the media, or science and religion. These are just some of the topics of elective courses open to students pursuing a King’s Honours degree or any program in King’s and Dalhousie shared Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Faculty of Science.

Using the combined resources of philosophical, historical and sociological methods, HOST traces the roots and trajectories of primary conceptions of nature and our place within it.