Fall 2025
"We should take comfort in two conjoined features of nature: first, that our world is incredibly strange and therefore supremely fascinating. . . second, that however bizarre and arcane our world might be, nature remains comprehensible to the human mind."
- Stephen Jay Gould
"... until at last it came to me that time was suspect!" - A. Einstein (Shankland interview 1950)
| Instructor: |
Seth Major, smajor, x4919, Sci G052 |
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Office Hours:
After each class and Thursdays 2:00 - 5:00 PM.
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| Lectures: |
Tuesday and Thursday at 10:30-11:45 AM in Sci Ctr G041 |
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| Texts: |
Mermin, It's About Time |
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Styer, The Strange World of Quantum Mechanics |
News:
We meet on Tuesday - hopefully measuring the speed of light.
Course Info and Documents (pdf):
Guides (pdf):
Links for exploring:
These are identifed by topic: "SR" means special relativity, "GR" means general relativity, and "QM" means on the quantum world.
Relativity:
- SR: On Wikipedia, a quote of the "Galileo's ship" passage from Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
- SR: A translation of "Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", Einstein's original 1905 paper on special relativity. Here's a pdf (1.9 MB) of the original article in German pubished in Annalen der Physik.
- SR: A video highlighting the use reference frames in the Olympic coverage of the men's 200 meter event. See also the race at the London 2012 games. The interesting bit starts at about 3:30.
History
- SR: An online exhibit on Einstein hosted by American Insitute of Physics.
Additional Reading
- SR: Dan Styer, Relativity for the Questioning Mind
- SR and Einstein: Dennis Overbye, Einstein in Love (A ``1st half" biography of Einstein. It ends in 1915.)
- SR and Einstein: Abraham Pais, Subtle is the Lord (A full biography of Einstein that has a careful treatment of the science.)
- QM: Louisa Gilder, The Age of Entanglement
Last modified 28 August 2025
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