Fall 2025 Astronomy UN1610 section 001

THEOR-UNIVERS:BABYLON-BIG BANG

THEOR-UNIVERS:BABYLON-BIG

Call Number 12552
Day & Time
Location
MW 1:10pm-2:25pm
To be announced
Points 3
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Frederik Paerels
Type LECTURE
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description

Milestones in the science of cosmology over the past 6000 years. Skylore and observation in ancient cultures. The twin revolutions of the Greeks: Pythagoras and Ptolemy; and Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Great Chain of Being. The scientific revolution: the impersonal and deterministic world-order of Newton, Laplace, and Kelvin. The erosion of that world-order by mathematics and experiment in the 20th century (relativity, quantum physics, dark matter, and the expanding universe). Todays searches for a new grand order in the Universe, which can cope - or maybe not - with these blows to yesterdays comfortable wisdom.

Web Site Vergil
Department Astronomy
Enrollment 0 students (60 max) as of 11:36PM Thursday, April 10, 2025
Subject Astronomy
Number UN1610
Section 001
Division Interfaculty
Open To Barnard College, Columbia College, Engineering:Undergraduate, Global Programs, General Studies, Journalism, Professional Studies
Section key 20253ASTR1610W001