Guide to the Cosmos Making the Wonders of our Universe Accessible to everyone Video Lecture Series

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Available Now Can Life be Merely an Accident?  (running time: approx 1 hour) $9.95 More info Journey to the Dark Side: Dark Matter & Dark Energy (running time: approx 50 min) $9.95 More info Einstein for Everyone (running time: approx 1 hour) $9.95 More info Einstein & Light (running time: approx 55 mins) $9.95 More Info Available for sale now Coming Soon World Without Einstein (total running time: approx 8 hours: 4 DVD's, 2 hours each) $11.95 each or $39.95 per set More info Einstein for Everyone (total running time: approx 8 hours: 4 DVD's, 2 hours each) $11.95 each or $39.95 per set More info Cosmology for Everyone Our Universe, the Known & the Unknown (total running time: approx 8 hours: 4 DVD's, 2 hours each) $11.95 each or $39.95 per set More info Journey to the Microworld (total running time: approx 8 hours: 4 DVD's, 2 hours each) $11.95 each or $39.95 per set More info Descriptions Can Life be Merely an Accident? presents what modern science has learned about the many conditions necessary for the existence of any form of life, and how likely it is that those conditions could occur accidentally. Life is very special: what are the odds it arose by random chance? How special is a viable universe? Good planets are hard to fine - Why is Earth special? How special is a genetic code? Explore the Dark Side: Dark Matter & Dark Energy Dr Piccioni discuses what we know, and what we don't know, about the Dark Side 95% of the universe is invisible and mysterious. What is Dark Matter and were did this stuff come from? What is Dark Energy and what do virtual particles have to do with it? Gravitational Lensing What does the CMB say about our universe? The evidence for Dark Energy and alternate theories Einstein for Everyone This is intended for Everyone, even those who fear physics or are allergic to math. How did a young rebel, who seemed doomed to fail, overcome rejection to become the world’s most famous scientist in history and Time Magazine’s “Person of the Century”? What do his theories really mean? How do his discoveries impact our lives through DVDs, GPS, digital cameras, computers, and smarter energy? How can his theories help us solve some of today’s most pressing challenges? Principle of relativity Time is Relative Einstein says Gravity is the curvature of space/time The odd Nobel Prize Einstein & Light What is light? Atomic Fingerprints in Light Gravity Bends Starlight Red Shifts Open the Universe Measureing Distance with Light Einstein & Lasers Future Lecture Series Cosmology for Everyone Our Universe, the Known & the Unknown A scientific theory of the universe began to emerge about 100 years ago, and it is still a work-in-progress. We will discuss: What is “Our Universe”? How Large and how old is it? How much does it contain and how did it become this way. What came before? What can we learn from starlight? Is the universe expanding, and if so: what is expanding and what isn’t? What does “Big Bang” really mean? What does the future hold? How did we learn all this and how sure can we be? What don’t we know yet and what may we never know? World Without Einstein Einstein’s discoveries touch almost every facet of our technology-driven society. We examine how everyday products and capabilities evolved from Einstein’s ideas, including DVDs, GPS, lasers, digital cameras, computers, telecommunications, superconductors, solar cells, and nuclear power. We also examine how Einstein changed our world-view of atoms, light, mass, space, time, uncertainty, unity, and the universe. Journey to the Microworld of Particles and Quantum Mechanics Deep within our everyday world lurks the micro-world of molecules, atoms, and even smaller particles—all very elementary. This nether world is completely different from our own and much stranger than fiction. Yet it is precisely this bizarre nature of the micro-world that makes our lives possible. We explore this fascinating realm, meet exotic creatures, and study their shocking rituals. No visas, vaccinations, or math skills required. Syllabus: 1. The search for nature's smallest Particles—elementary and not-so-elementary. 2. The four Forces of nature and how they act. 3. Discovery of Quantization—staircases instead of ramps. 4. Particle-Wave Duality makes atoms stable and gives them unique fingerprints. 5. It's all definitely Uncertain: what is knowable and what can we never know? 6. Quantum Superposition and Interference: Schroedinger's Cat, Two-Slits, and when are two paths worse than one? 7. The anti-social particles of matter and the gregarious particles of light lead to the Periodic Table and Lasers. 8. Are Virtual Particles real or just a physicist's bad dream, and is Nothing controlling the fate of Everything?