Week 1
In anticipation of the coming weeks, you should begin to peruse the textbook, A Student's Guide through the Great Physics Texts, Volume 1: The Heavens and the Earth. In particular, you should read the Preface (pp. vii - xv) and browse through the table of contents (pp. xix - xxvii) in order to familiarize yourself with the organization and features of the book. You might also want to finger through the chapters to get a feel for the book....see course materials for this unit.
Week 2
In anticipation of next week, you should begin reading Nature, Number and Substance (Chap. 1) and The Shape and Motion of the Heavens (Chap. 2). If it's a bit too challenging, please don't get overwhelmed. We will be discussing these next week together in class. They'll also be covered in the course videos. Nonetheless, it is a good idea for you to give these a good "College try" at first on your own....see course materials for this unit.
Week 3
Read: Harmony and Complexity (Chap. 3) and Earth at the Center of the World (Chap. 4). This week we will be discussing Aristotle's On the Heavens during class....see course materials for this unit.
Week 4
Read: The world of Ptolemy (Chap. 5), Measuring the Tropical Year (Chap. 6) and Geometrical Tools (Chap. 7). (Actually, why don't we skip Chap. 6. We also may not get to Chap. 7…)...see course materials for this unit.
Week 6
Read: From Astronomy to Cartography (Chap. 9) and Climates and Continents (Chap. 10). Actually, you can skip Chap. 10....see course materials for this unit.
Week 7
Read: Heliocentrism: hypothesis or truth? (Chap. 11) and Earth as a Wandering Star (Chap. 12)...see course materials for this unit.
Week 8
Fall Break on Monday and Tuesday
Read: Re-ordering the heavenly spheres (Chap. 13) ...see course materials for this unit.
Read: Re-ordering the heavenly spheres (Chap. 13) ...see course materials for this unit.
Week 9
Read: Celestial physics (Chap. 14), Broken spheres (Chap. 15), Kepler's third law (Chap. 16) and Kepler's first and second laws (Chap. 17). Actually, this is probably too much; just read the introductions, and skim the chapters if you are tight on time. ...see course materials for this unit.
Week 10
Read: Mountains on the moon (Chap. 18) and The Medician stars (Chap. 19)...see course materials for this unit.
Week 11
Read: The luminosity of variable stars (Chap. 20) and Galactic spectra (Chap. 21)...see course materials for this unit.
Week 13
Thanksgiving break; no class on Thursday or Friday.
Read: A new theory of gravity (Chap. 23). We'll spend some time on this reading from Einstein on Monday, and then move on to some light reading from Gamow's Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland for Wednesday....see course materials for this unit.
Read: A new theory of gravity (Chap. 23). We'll spend some time on this reading from Einstein on Monday, and then move on to some light reading from Gamow's Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland for Wednesday....see course materials for this unit.
Week 14
Read: The structure of the universe (Chap. 26) and Measuring the potentially infinite (Chap. 27)...see course materials for this unit.
Week 15
Read: The birth of the big bang (Chap. 28) and The primeval atom (Chap. 29)...see course materials for this unit.
Week 16 Final Exam
There will be a comprehensive final examination on week 16.
...see course materials for this unit.
...see course materials for this unit.