CONFRONTING THE BIG QUESTIONS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE PODIUM

COURSERA: MASSIVELY OPEN ONLINE COURSE

Confronting the Big Questions: Highlights of Modern Astronomy

With astrophysicist Adam Frank

•  Number of stars •  Number of planets •  Habitable •  Life •  Intelligence •  Communication (Civilization)

HOT JUPITER (ARTIST’S CONCEPTION)

HABITABLE ZONE SIMULATOR

•  http://astro.unl.edu/naap/habitablezones/animations/stellarHabitableZone.html

QUESTION OF LIFE

EXTREMOPHILES (TARDIGRADE)

WEEK 2: STARS

Stars: -Star formation -Fusion and stellar middle age -Black holes -Stellar death

Herzsprung-Russell diagram

WEEK 3: GALAXIES

-  Galaxy types -  Active Galactic

nuclei -  Clusters of

clusters of galaxies

WEEK 4: COSMOLOGY

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES, 9/25/2014

QUESTIONS BEYOND THE BIG BANG

-  Where did the universe come from?

-  What’s going to happen to it?

-  How did it begin?

TEXTS FOR HONORS 102

The First Three Minutes, Steven Weinberg

A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking

The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene

A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson

A Universe from Nothing, Lawrence Krauss

Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Lisa Randall

“The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless. … The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.”

Weinberg

““These are very close to religious questions,” Andrei Linde, quoted in Bryson

“I find oddly satisfying the possibility that, in either scenario, even a seemingly omnipotent God would have no freedom in the creation of our universe. No doubt because it further suggests that God is unnecessary – or at best redundant.”

Krauss

Natural theology: proof of God drawn from nature 1.  Species so well adapted (design) 2.  Something can’t come from nothing (first cause)