Bulletin January 2018 (Vol. 19 No. 2)

major implications, shaking the church to its foundations and threatening upheaval in the structure of society. The absolute authority of the Pope, kings and emperors were questioned. “The book uses the historical development of astronomy to illustrate the process of rational reasoning and its effect on philosophy, religion and society. Because celestial objects followed regular patterns, astronomical observations gave humans some of the first hints that Nature was understandable. The complicated nature of these patterns also challenged our intellectual powers.” Professor Kwok is a strong advocate of HKU’s Common Core and was one of the first to develop a course for it, which is carefully framed to fit exactly the objectives – namely be interdisciplinary, as well as inter- and cross-cultural, and to promote students to think and analyse for themselves. The massive open online course (MOOC) titled ‘Our Place in the Universe’ will be available on edX in the spring term of 2018. He wants to reach non-scientists via both the book and the course. “The course attracts students from many disciplines, and the book can be read by anybody. But sometimes Arts students come to me worrying that they will be at a disadvantage on this course because they don’t have a maths background. I tell them it is the Science students who will be at a disadvantage, as they will embark on it with preconceptions – which can be misleading! There is no maths in the course, but there is deductive thinking. These are not complicated problems – if our ancestors could work them out 2,000 years ago, then so can you. “Over 5,000 years our understanding of the Universe has changed continuously, but never forget that at any given time within those 5,000 years people were as convinced then that they were correct as we are today.” He also goes on to say that modern man thinks he is smart, but in fact our ancestors knew more about the world around them than we do. They didn’t have so many distractions and they had time to figure things out. Now we are too busy to spend time thinking. Students’ reactions to the course are interesting. His favourite quote is: “In my 12 years of study, I’ve always been told to memorise. You’re asking me to think and I can’t do it.” But then that is the point – learning to think. By the end of the course most are totally enthusiastic. “Students say the course has helped them in work situations where they are presented with a sophisticated grasp of the structure of the Universe, even 2,000 years ago. “My point in looking back at their thinking is to demonstrate to students today that when it comes to facts, it is not what we know, but how we know it and that the model changes continuously as we learn new things.” What is interesting is how he approaches the subject by looking at historical changes in the perception of our place in the Universe as a result of astronomical development, while at the same time illustrating the development of the scientific method and how science has influenced the evolution of our philosophical thinking and cultural development. Albert Einstein reportedly said that the true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination, and his words could be a cornerstone of Professor Sun Kwok’s book, Our Place in the Universe . Based on his Common Core course of the same name, the book focusses on science and knowledge, but above all it teaches people to think for themselves. “Most science courses teach facts based on current theories,“ said Professor Kwok, HKU’s former Dean of Science and now Director of its Laboratory for Space Research. “I wanted to use the history of the science of astronomy to demonstrate the evolution of rational thinking. The first scientific ancestors knew a lot more than we tend to credit them with – they had a Astronomy in society “Scientific development also had effects beyond science,” he said, adding that in the Middle Ages, astronomy was firmly integrated into the hierarchy of European society. Aristotle, Ptolemy and the Bible were the basis of government, church, everything. It developed in parallel in the West and in China, where the emperor also used an astronomy model to justify his position and rule. “When Copernicus [the Polish astronomer who in the 16 th century developed the concept of a heliocentric solar system in which the sun rather than the Earth was the centre] came along, his thinking was revolutionary. What he did had The book uses the historical development of astronomy to illustrate the process of rational reasoning and its effect on philosophy, religion and society. Because celestial objects followed regular patterns, astronomical observations gave humans some of the first hints that Nature was understandable. Professor Sun Kwok Professor Sun Kwok’s book and Common Core course, Our Place in the Universe , take on the big questions and find answers in the discoveries of ancient astronomers. Ancient wisdom, MODERN thinking problem and can now look at it from new angles. The delivery of the course and the book is very different to other science textbooks which usually give you the correct theory, then deduce from that. I start with the observations, then ask what can you theorise from these? When new observations are made, how do you adjust your theory?” █ Professor Kwok (centre) meeting his readers at the book launch party. The first half of the content of the Common Core course ‘Our Place in the Universe’ was written up by Professor Sun Kwok and Our Place in the Universe was published by Springer in 2017. ‘Our Place in the Universe’, designed and taught by Professor Kwok, was among the first batch of Common Core courses offered in the academic year 2010–2011 and has since been offered every year for a total of seven times. 41 | 42 The University of Hong Kong Bulletin | January 2018 Books