A course of 35 lectures, given at
the Flinders University of South Australia from 2004 until my retirement in 2006.

This web site presents the material for Science, Civilization and Society as it was developed for the course. The material is constantly upgraded, and changes can be expected as time goes on. Major changes (i.e. changes that go beyond corrections to spelling mistakes, improved layout etc) are documented in the accompanying blog.

A condensed version of the material is available in book form. It can be downloaded in pdf format.

Comments, corrections and suggestions are always welcome; please email me at