PredictionX: Omens, Oracles & Prophecies
3-5 hours a week • Start today
Individual Course
Course Length
1 week
3-5 hours per week
Featuring faculty from:
Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 99
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 99
PredictionX: John Snow and the Cholera Epidemic of 1854 is an online course from Harvard that explores the dataset that helped create the map that changed our understanding of cholera, public health, and epidemiology forever.
In 1854, a cholera epidemic swept through the London neighborhood of Soho. In the course of about three weeks, over 600 people died. This incident was, tragically, not unusual in London or the rest of the 19th century world as a whole. The scourge of cholera seemed unstoppable and, even worse, unpredictable. But one doctor -- ignored by the scientific community at large -- set out to prove that he knew how this infectious disease was spread.
Join us for this one-week, immersive learning experience. We will explore John Snow’s London, from the streets of Soho to the dataset that helped create the map that changed our understanding of cholera, public health, and epidemiology forever.
This course features interactive tools including an interactive ArcGIS map of the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak and a Timeline JS of John Snow’s investigation.
This module is a part of PredictionX, which looks at the history of attempts to predict the future. PredictionX courses will cover topics from omens and oracles in ancient civilizations to modern computer simulations.
Self-Guided
edX
Explore John Snow’s role in creating modern epidemiology
Explore a description of 19th century London life
These courses can be bundled together to receive a professional certificate at a discounted price.
Learn More3-5 hours a week • Start today
2-5 hours a week • Start today
Your Instructor
Alyssa Goodman is a physicist by training (Sc.B, MIT 1984, PhD, Harvard 1989), but an artist at heart. She combines her passions for science and art with interests in computing, archaeology, the history of science, and new technologies in her work, which spans astrophysics, data visualization, and new approaches to STEM education. She was named “Scientist of the Year” by the Harvard Foundation in 2015. The PredictionX effort began during Goodman’s sabbatical as “Scholar-in-Residence” at the WGBH media organization in Boston, and crystallized into the highly collaborative project you see today when HarvardX committed to creating re-usable, modular, online, multi-media content.
Ways to take this course
A Verified Certificate costs $99 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate.
Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums. Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.
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