Foothill Class: Physics for Poets

This spring quarter, Foothill College will be offering 
"Physics for Poets," the course that won the Innovation 
of the Year award for community colleges.  Andrew 
Fraknoi’s introductory Physics 12 course (sometimes 
affectionately called “Everything You’ve Wanted to Know 
about Einstein but Were Afraid to Ask”) is being presented 
in Foothill's lecture hall 5015 (with its superb new
audio-visual facilities.)

Although Albert Einstein died in 1955, his work continues 
to capture the imagination of scientists and the public.  In 
the last few years, astronomers have found new confirmation of some of Einstein’s most bizarre ideas -- including giant black holes, time itself slowing down under the right circumstances, and gravity acting like the distorting mirrors of an amusement park. In February 2010, the most accurate measurement of the slowing of time ever made was announced by a team that
included the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Nobel laureate Steven Chu.  And this past year, astronomers announced the discovery of two black holes that have each "eaten" enough material to make ten billion Suns!!

In the Physics 12 course, Fraknoi -- who was named 
California Professor of the Year in 2007 -- explains all these 
ideas and discoveries in everyday language -- using 
analogies, visuals, and humor instead of math. 
 
Physics 12 will be offered on Tuesday and Thursday evenings  from 6 to 8:30 pm, April 10 to June 26, 2012. Pre-registration is advised, but, if there is room, you can come hear the first  lecture and then register if you like the approach. The class  is held on the main campus of Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, just off Freeway 280.  (For adults who don't need college credit, arrangements can be made, after you register, to take the course without having to take the exams.)

For registration information for the Spring Quarter see:

http://www.foothill.edu/admissions.php 

Physics 12 emphasizes key ideas that form the basis of our 
modern concepts of space, time, matter, and energy:

* The theory of how atoms work
* Energy, heat, and the arrow of time
* The special theory of relativity: what happens when 
        you travel close to the speed of light
* The general theory of relativity: gravity, space-time warps, and 
        black holes
* Quantum mechanics: the bizarre rules that govern the 
        world inside the atom

In addition to examining the physics and physicists 
involved with these areas, the course also takes a
brief look at the effects that such physics ideas have had 
on the humanities -- including poetry, fiction, music, 
and the public view of scientists. 

The quarter concludes the course with a non-technical
introduction to the work of Stephen Hawking, whose innovative ideas combine many of these areas and take 
some of Einstein's ideas to the outermost limits of cosmic possibility.

For a course syllabus in pdf format, see:
www.foothill.edu/physics/Physics.12.Web.pdf 

For more about the instructor, see:
www.foothill.edu/ast/fraknoi.php