Splash Biography

What's so special about special relativity? That was the first draft for this course's title, but even after being a bit more serious about it, the question still applies. Einstein's (second) breakthrough in our understanding of the world is usually proclaimed as crazy, difficult, and crazy. In this class we'll see why one of the "crazy" should be replaced with special, starting with how the benign idea of light leads to time dilation, length contraction, and a universal speed limit -- all from a couple of symmetries that will make you say, "Duh." We will glimpse the mathematical structure beneath it, but won't let loose in it just yet -- this class is meant to set a foundation, not a Jenga tower. We'll look at how all of this is used in life and research, finishing with a short intro to the general theory, and how everything you've learned in this class could be wrong. All of this from one simple, special idea.

Time dilation, black holes, gravitational waves -- we've all heard about the sci-fi that Einstein's theory of relativity seems to be. In this course we will look at the math and physics behind one of the most monumental ideas in modern physics. While the full theory is considered beyond even the undergraduate level, that can't stop us from exploring what it says (and why) about space, time, and Lisa's birthday card that was "lost in an event horizon". From the fact that gravity is just another weird geometry problem to the expansion of the Universe that threatens to leave us even more alone, we will explore the implications of relativity, concluding with the advances we've made in and with the theory, along with its problems that continue to make physicists throw chalk at their walls.