Syllabus
This page contains the required texts, assessment information
and lecture plan for PHYS 1905. THE FORMAT HAS BEEN MODIFIED
(21-OCT-2006)! Hopefully, the reading assignments will be clearer.
Required texts:
- David C. Cassidy: Einstein and Our World, 2nd edition
(Ahmerst: Humanity Books), 2004.
- Jeremy Bernstein: Albert Einstein and the Frontiers of Physics
(Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1996.
- Kip S. Thorne: Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous
Legacy (New York: Norton), 1993.
Assessment:
Grades will be determined on the basis
of weekly quizzes (multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank; 60%)
an in-class group presentation (15%) and a poster (to be presented
at a poster session in JFB 334; 25%).
There will be no comprehensive midterm or final exams.
Tentative Lecture plan:
| Week and topic |
|---|
Week 1 (23-Aug-2006)
Introduction and overview
Quiz 1
(meet your instructors!)
|
Week 2 (28-Aug-2006)
Whirlwind tour of physics up to 1905
Quiz 2
HANDOUTS: Singh, S. [2004] "Big Bang", Ch. 1
Lightman, A. [2004]: "Einstein and Newton, Compared", Scientific American Special Edition.
|
Week 3 (4-Sep-2006)
Newton's physics
Quiz 3
READINGS: Cassidy, D. : Chapters 1 & 2; Bernstein, J.: Preface and Chapter 1;
HANDOUTS: Einstein, A. [1930, 1931]: "Johannes Kepler" and "Maxwell's Influence on the Evolution of the Idea of Physical Reality"
|
Week 4 (11-Sep-2006)
Faraday and Maxwell on electromagnetism; Aether!
Quiz 4
READINGS: Cassidy, D.: Chapters 3; Bernstein, J.: Chapter 2;
HANDOUTS: Thomas Levenson, "Einstein's Gift for Simplicity," and
Walter Isaacson, "No Mere Genius" (in Discover, Sept. 2004)
|
Week 5 (18-Sep-2006)
The 19th century scientific setting and the 1905 papers
Quiz 5 :
READINGS:
Bernstein, Appendix: "The Michelson-Morley Experiment", pp.
174-182
HANDOUTS:
Michael Guillen, "Class Act" in Five Equations that Changed the World, [1996], Hyperion.
|
Week 6 (25-Sep-2006)
The photoelectric effect
Quiz 6:
READINGS:
Bernstein, J: Chapter 3, "the Strange Story of the Quantum", pp. 67-87;
HANDOUT: Holton, G: Ch. 8, "Of Physics, Love, and Other Passions", in
Einstein, History and Other Passions [1996] Addison-Wesley
| Week 7 (02-Oct-2006)
Quantum mechanics and the reality of atoms
Quiz 7:
READINGS: Thorne, K: Black Holes and Time Warps, Prologue and
Chapter 1 ("The Relativity of Space and Time").
NOTE: quiz on this material will take place on Wed-05-Oct.
| Week 8 (09-Oct-2006)
Special relativity
Quiz 8:
Einstein, A: sections 1--4 (or more if you want!) of "On the
electrodynamics of moving bodies," Annalen der Physik, 1905
(available on-line in html or pdf formats).
| Week 9 (16-Oct-2006)
Toward E = mc2
Quiz 9:
READINGS:
Cassiday, Ch. 4, "Impact on Physics: Relativity", pp. 57-77.
Einstein, A., "What is the Theory of Relativity" in the London Times, 1919,
reprinted here.
REVIEW:
Bernstein, Ch. 2, "The Miracle Year", pp. 38-65.
| Week 10 (23-Oct-2006)
General Relativity
Quiz 10:
READINGS:
Thorne, K: Black Holes and Time Warps, Chapters
2-4:
"The warping of space and time", pp. 87-120;
"Black holes discovered and rejected", pp. 121-139;
"The mystery of the white dwarfs", pp. 140-163;
Bernstein, J: Chapter 4, "Professor Einstein's Happiest Thought",
pp. 88-100.
| Week 11 (30-Oct-2006)
Einstein the celebrity, and the prelude to war
Quiz 11:
READINGS:
Cassidy, D.: Chapter 6, "Relativity Reaches the Public", pp. 93-110;
Chapter 7, "Cultural Resonances", pp 111-124;
Thorne, K: Black Holes and Time Warps, Chapters 3 & 4,
"Black holes discovered and rejected" and
"The mystery of the white dwarfs"
| Week 12 (6-Nov-2006)
WWII and the importance of E=mc2
Quiz 12:
READINGS:
Thorne, K: Black Holes and Time Warps, Chapters 5 & 6,
"Implosion is compulsory" and
"Implosion to what?"
NOTE: quiz will cover lecture topics, not reading material.
| Week 13 (13-Nov-2006)
The aftermath: Post-war science and Einstein's death
Quiz 13:
READINGS:
Bernstein, J: Chapter 7, "112 Mercer Street", pp. 145-167;
Cassidy, D.: Chapter 8, "Science and Conscience", pp 125-138;
Thorne, K: Black Holes and Time Warps, Chapter 7,
"The Golden Age"
Russell Einstein Manifesto
| Week 14 (20-Nov-2006)
Einstein's legacy: cosmology
(no quiz)
READINGS:
Bernstein, J: Chapters 5 & 8,
"Einstein's Cosmology" and "Einstein's Legacy"
Thorne, K: Black Holes and Time Warps,
Chapters 8 & 9, "The Search", pp. 300-321
and "Serendipity", pp. 322-356.
| Week 15 (27-Nov-2006)
Einstein's legacy: Science in the 21st Century
Quiz 14:
Lecture material.
| Week 16 (04-Dec-2006)
PHYS 1905 symposium
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