| Course Title: Uranium |
| Start Date: 01/27/2026 End Date: 05/12/2026 |
| Term: Spring Semester 2026 |
| Description: From the A-bomb to zircon, uranium has revolutionized humanity's destructive potential and wisdom about time. Uranium is the planet's heaviest naturally occurring element, and it transforms by both radioactive decay and nuclear fission. This course explores these two transformations and what we make of them, specifically: nuclear power, nuclear weapons, nuclear wastelanding, radiation and health, and research on deep time. We use modeling to explore high-precision dating of recent geologic and climate events as well as the age of the oldest rocks on earth. Some math is involved. Writing and reading assignments focus on science communication for a general audience. |
| Distribution(s): II - Math & Sciences |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Michelle Markley | 413-538-2814 | mmarkley@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 01/27/2026 - 05/12/2026 | Lecture | Tuesday and Thursday | 01:45PM - 03:00PM | CLAP - Clapp Laboratory | 301 | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| Prereq: One course in Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Geology, Math, Physics, or Statistics. | Take previously | Required |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Course Tags | ||
| ENVST-NS | ENVST-NS: Env Studies pre-2024 Minor - Natural Science | This course has been approved to count towards the Environmental Studies minor Natural Science area. |
| ENVST-CRSE | ENVST-EL: Env Studies Electives | This course is an approved elective for the Environmental Studies major and minor. |
| GEOL0001 | GEOL-1: Geology major and minor | This course counts toward the Geology major and minor. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Open | Capacity: 20 | Enrollment: 19 | Available: 1 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| Title: Strange Glow; The Story of Radiation Author: Jorgensen, Timothy J. Copyright: 2017 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780691178349 Publisher: Princeton |
Required | 20.00 |
| Title: Nuclear Power Explained Author: Eidemüller, Dirk Copyright: 2021 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9783030726690 Publisher: Springer |
Required | 38.00 |
| Additional Book Comments |
| Instructor's comments about the book list: Purchase not required! I expect that both of of these books will be available online through LITS at no additional cost. Here is the link that I hope will work for the Jorgensen book: https://www-jstor-org.proxy.mtholyoke.edu:2443/stable/j.ctvc776px Here is the link that I hope will work for the Eidemuller book: https://link-springer-com.proxy.mtholyoke.edu:2443/book/10.1007/978-3- 030-72670-6 |