Catalog Search Results
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 20
Language
English
Description
Plunge into the subject of black holes, which are massive objects that have collapsed completely under their own gravity. Learn how black holes distort spacetime and explore the supermassive black holes that lie at the hearts of galaxies. Then ask: Are there such things as micro-black holes?
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 20
Language
English
Description
Stephen Hawking showed that black holes emit radiation and therefore have entropy. Since the entropy in the universe today is overwhelmingly in the form of black holes and there were no black holes in the early universe, entropy must have been much lower in the deep past.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 18
Language
English
Description
By developing a general theory of relativity incorporating gravity, Einstein launched a revolution in our understanding of the universe. Trace how his idea that gravity results from the warping of spacetime led to the discovery of black holes and the big bang.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 4
Language
English
Description
See how Newton was able to finish Kepler's revolution by formulating the law of universal gravitation, which says that every object exerts an attractive force on every other object. Also explore Newton's related discovery of the three laws of motion, which underlie the science of mechanics.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 24
Language
English
Description
Survey the greatest unsolved problem in theoretical physics: the search for a quantum theory of gravity. Examine string theory, loop quantum gravity, and also entropic gravity, which suggests a revolutionary link with thermodynamics. Close the course with a deepened appreciation for the connection between everyday features of gravity and the most exciting questions in physics and cosmology.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 1
Language
English
Description
Begin your exploration of gravity with Isaac Newton and the famous story of the apple. Why was it such a breakthrough to connect a falling apple with the faraway moon? Review the essential characteristics of gravity and learn why small asteroids and large planets have such different shapes.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 14
Language
English
Description
Einstein focused on gravity in his general theory of relativity. Hear about his "happiest thought"-the realization that a man in free fall perceives gravity as zero. This simple insight resolved a mystery going all the way back to Newton and led Einstein to the startling discovery that gravity affects light and time.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 21
Language
English
Description
Investigate what Einstein called his "greatest mistake"-his rejection of his own theory's prediction that spacetime should be dynamic and evolving. Chart the work of a group of scientists, including Alexander Friedman, Georges Lemaître, and Edwin Hubble, who advanced the realization that our universe is expanding from an apparent big bang.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 13
Language
English
Description
For the rest of the course, focus on the revolutionary view of gravitation launched by Albert Einstein. Review new ideas about fields that allowed physics to extend beyond Newtonian mechanics. Then see how Einstein modified Newton's laws and created the special theory of relativity.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 5
Language
English
Description
Learn how distances in the solar system were first determined. Then chart Henry Cavendish's historic experiment that found the value of Newton's gravitational constant. Cavendish's work allows almost everything in the universe to be weighed. Then see a confirmation of the equivalence principle, which says that gravitational and inertial mass are identical.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 2
Language
English
Description
Review three great discoveries by the "grandfather" of gravity research, Galileo Galilei. His most famous experiment may never have happened, but his principle of inertia, law of free fall, and principle of relativity are the basis for everything that comes later in the science of gravity-including key breakthroughs by Einstein.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 11
Language
English
Description
Consider the problem of gravitational interactions between millions of bodies, such as the countless stars in a galaxy. Amazingly, mathematics can reveal useful information even in these complicated cases. Discover how the analysis of the motions of galaxies led to the prediction of dark matter.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 19
Language
English
Description
The general theory of relativity predicts new phenomena of gravity analogous to those of electromagnetism. Discover how ultra-sensitive experiments have detected the gravitomagnetism of the Earth, and follow the search for elusive gravitational waves that travel through space.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 18
Language
English
Description
See how Einstein's general theory of relativity predicts the bending of light in a gravitational field, famously confirmed in 1919 by the British scientist Arthur Eddington. Learn how this phenomenon creates natural gravitational lenses-and how the bending of light reveals invisible matter in deep space.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 3
Language
English
Description
Drawing on ideas and observations of Nicolaus Copernicus and Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler achieved a great insight about gravity by discovering three laws of planetary motion, relating to the mathematics of orbits. The cause of planetary motion, he determined, must lie in the sun.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 23
Language
English
Description
Use a black hole to test the laws of thermodynamics, taking a deeper look at the capacity of gravity to pull matter together and increase entropy at the same time. Probe Stephen Hawking's most surprising discovery, and then learn that the same force that pulls the apple down and steers the stars in their courses is also nature's ultimate source of order and complexity.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 15
Language
English
Description
In an influential interpretation of relativity, Einstein's former mathematics professor Hermann Minkowski reformulated the theory in terms of four-dimensional geometry, which he called spacetime. Learn how to plot events in this coordinate system in cases where gravity is zero.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 12
Language
English
Description
Explore the physics of stars, which are balls of gas in a billion-year battle between the inward pull of gravity and the outward pressure produced by nuclear fusion. Follow this story to its ultimate finish-the triumph of gravity in massive stars that end their lives as black holes.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 9
Language
English
Description
For the next three episodes, study the effects of gravity on the motions of more than two bodies. Here, see how even very small orbital changes-small perturbations-are significant. Such effects have revealed the presence of unknown planets, both in our own solar system and around other stars.
Author
Series
Great Courses volume 6
Language
English
Description
Begin the first of several episodes that dig deeper into Newton's laws than Newton himself was able to go. In this episode, apply the key concepts of energy and angular momentum to study how gravity affects motion. As an example, use simple algebra to calculate the escape velocity from Earth.
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