Home

Welcome!

You are viewing the home page of the Google Site at address: http://sites.google.com/site/thecontinuingquest/ . (Please note that, in general, Web addresses are case-sensitive, so if you enter this address directly into your Web browser, you will have to enter it exactly as shown above.)

This course is a continuation of my The Quest for the Ultimate Theory course from the Fall of 2008. In The Quest, I did not cover as much of 20th Century physics (i.e. Modern Physics) as I had hoped.

So, this course -- The Continuing Quest -- will focus on modern Physics and Cosmology – that is, 20th and 21st century discoveries and theories.

NOTE: My "The Quest for the Ultimate Theory" course is not a prerequisite for this course. In other words, you need not have attended, or otherwise be familiar with, that course in order to attend this course.

We will be talking about Einstein’s Relativity theories, the Quantum theory, and many things beyond.

NOTE: Students will not be expected to have any mathematical knowledge beyond elementary algebra (and very little even of that). However, I will show mathematical formulae when appropriate, even showing calculus and beyond -- sometimes, it is important to appreciate the form of equations and their implications, if not their content or detailed meaning. I do not expect students to understand these formulae at any deep level.

We will be talking about both the history and the concepts, culminating in discussions of String Theory, the Big Bang, the Expansion of the Universe, Dark Matter and Dark Energy, and (of course!) the Higgs Boson.

Let's see how much we can cover...