Closing Remarks

This trimester is slowly coming to a close, and I feel that it was only yesterday that I stepped into this class without a clue as to what to expect. I have expanded my physics and historical knowledge in terms of international science problems and inventions, as well as, have a greater understanding of various physics concepts. Initially, I had an unsure feeling about this class as I am not a strong physics student, but I slowly learned that I was able to grasp concepts and now I have a better understanding of how the world works. In terms of history, I have never really learned about international history in depth especially in terms of Russia. Russia and the US have been fighting a scientific and political battle for many years. One of the most interesting pieces of information that I learned was about Albert Einstein's impact on science and politics. I never saw him as a political leader or involved with history, but rather just a man who invents thing. His political stances were quite controversial in terms of him being pro Israel. He was also quite controversial because he was Jewish in Germany at the beginning of the "Aryan Physics" era.

Heisenberg was another scientist who had a difficult time trying to get his peers to respect him and listen to his scientific innovations. One of his greatest contributions to physics was the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle which stated that it is impossible to precisely measure two measurables such as position and speed at the same point in time. This is in contradiction to classical physics because we have always believed that we can measure everything at a given moment, and there are no unanswered questions in physics. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle proves this notion wrong. Throughout this course I have learned about the physics of everyday interaction and now I look at everything from a new perspective.

This week one of our readings was George Bush's State of the Union Address and the other was U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's February 5, 2003 address to the U.N. Security Council. In both speeches they talked about Iraq. President Bush's speech was interesting because he talks about everything he has accomplished a few short months after 9/11, and his speech seems uplifting to the common American. He talks about terrorists who we captured, and how the American troops freed innocent Afghans. He also mentions that the government found out that the enemy has diagrams of our nuclear power plants and making chemical bombs. His tone makes it seem that through his leadership we will fight this war on terrorism and with the government's hard work we have arrested tons of terrorists. The world is becoming a better place with the persistent action of the government. He also talks about weapons of mass destruction and his goal is to get rid of them. Bush wants to increase military spending in order to deter Iraqi production of weapons of mass destruction. Bush pledges to win the war, protect the homeland, and revive the economy, but now from a current perspective one can laugh at his pledges. I believe that he has successfully accomplished one of those, which is to protect the homeland. We have been in Iraq for what seems like an eternity and we have not proven anything except that we are destroying their land and destroying many innocent lives. The Iraq situation is almost analogous to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty situation in Europe. In both cases we want to deter nuclear weapons and are trying to find the best ways to defeat the enemy. In the Iraq War we are trying to get other countries to support us and aid us in fighting this war. Similarly, for the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty the US wanted to get specific countries on their side to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. It seems that we have always been involved in trying to stop the potential of having a nuclear war. In terms of Colin Powell's address he spoke about Resolution 1441, which was to disarm Iraq of its nuclear weapons. In our efforts to stop the war on terror we have given Iraq multiple opportunities to comply, but nothing has worked. His speech talks about how the US has given Iraq many chances, but they have been reluctant to do anything, thus we must take stern measures. His speech also talks about how we are not only worried about the weapons, but what terrorists can do with these weapons who will use it against innocent people. He denotes a very strong message in his speech; that being the American people and government will not stop until Saddam is stopped and the US can't run the risk of the American people being hurt. Throughout his speech, as well as, throughout Bush's speech his words are strong and puts up a fierce facade for his audience. From the start of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and continuing to the present time, we have had a strong stance against other countries and nuclear weapons, as we are fearful of the destruction that can be done to our country.

In terms of politics and history, I have learned how various presidents have dealt with international conflict and how different scientists have dealt with oppression and being ousted from their science communities. For not being a science person, I never realized how great a role science plays in the international community, and without one country essentially the entire link is broken. International relations are key in every discipline, not just politics which was always my assumption. Of course political international relations affects history and how things are done, but every country is reliant on each other for information. This class has showed me the extent to which the country is a global community and has opened my eyes up to thinking of science in a whole new way.