Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Iowa State University
Voyages of Discovery: Copernicus to the Big Bang
September 2008 October 2008 November 2008
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In 1543, Nicolas Copernicus published, "On the Revolutions of
Heavenly Spheres", which began the first of three revolutions
in cosmology. This is where we begin our eight week course--
learning about some of the major players, discovering the
unfolding universe, and making the case for modern cosmology.
Nicolas Copernicus
o The Ptolemaic System
o The Copernican Principle
Tycho & Kepler
o The Science of Observation
o The Kepler's Three Laws - MU-21
o Harmonies of the World - Cosmos #3
Isaac Newton & the Kepler Problem
o The Kepler Problem - MU-22
o The Rise of the Mechanical Universe
o Inertia (Galileo) - MU-4
Miraculous Year (1905)
o The beginnings of Relativity
o The Beginnings of the Quantum Mechanics
o From Kepler to Einstein - MU-25
Hubble and the Expanding Universe
o Mysteries of Deep Space: To the Edge of the Universe
o When we look out in space, we look back in time!
o No Center
Runaway Universe
o Type Ia Supernovae
o Dark Energy
o Dark Matter
Black Holes are Major Players
o Monster of the Milky Way
o Galactic interactions
The Big Bang: Putting all the Pieces Together
o Origins: Back to the Beginning
o WMAP: Foundations of the Big Bang theory
o A Universe Hospitable to Life--What's Our Place?
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