Taught by Professor Gary Felder of Smith College, this course covers the history of the early universe starting with the Big Bang and continuing to the formation of the first stars and galaxies hundreds of millions of years later. Professor Felder also looks ahead to the ultimate fate of the universe and to speculation on what may have happened before the Big Bang.
The Big Bang and Beyond: Exploring the Early Universe
Is our universe one of many? Are there extra dimensions we can’t see? Explore the deepest mysteries of the cosmos with a scientist looking for answers.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
James Kotow from
This Course Deserves A 6 Out Of 5 Rating.
Gary Felder deserves much credit for this excellent course. In twelve lectures he put together wonderfully clear presentations of some very difficult concepts. Every minute was a pleasure to watch.
Date published: 2024-11-01
Rated 5 out of
5
by
edfactor6 from
Accessible, mind-blowing, fascinating
WOW. This course was incredible. I listened to the whole thing while jogging. Yes, I used the audio version. The professor was so good at explaining it, I didn't even need the diagrams. He was incredible. It was hard to believe the things he teaches in this course, but I learned to trust him. I will never think about our universe in the same way. I am also grateful to know what actual scientists think about wormholes and multiverses, instead of just going with what Star Trek and Marvel Comics thinks.
The ending of the class was so mind-blowing I am still thinking about it a few days later. If you are even SLIGHTLY interested in this stuff, I'd recommend it. I wish I could give this class ten-to-the-millionth-power stars ;-)
Date published: 2024-07-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
lhlynn from
Excellent presentation and material
This is a very well organized and presented course on a fairly abstract topic. Prof Felder's inflection and delivery actually help clarify the material, and the illustrations are very useful. He often comes back to the question "How do we know this", which I'm always looking for. The course, like the universe, shifts from examining microseconds and seconds to examining hundreds of million and the billions of years, but Felder pulls it off. I found his explanation of Cosmic Inflation particularly good.
I will make one critical comment not specific to this course - the new style videography, moving from a head on shot with no background to a close up examination of the side of his face is distracting and pointless
Date published: 2024-06-04
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Thanuja from
Excellent course!
This is an excellent course by a renowned professor. It is pretty detailed presentation on the complex subject of Cosmology. From the Big Bang theory, string theory to cosmology, professor explained nuances with ease and depth to my surprise. It is indeed a great course for students of cosmology, astronomy and related fields and for general public.
Date published: 2024-04-16
Rated 1 out of
5
by
danthony1 from
No Excuse for Mispronouncing "Planck" as "Plank".
I'm a bit of a stickler for the pronunciation of prominent names, like Max Planck. For a subject matter expert to repeatedly disgrace Max Planck, not Max Plank, when referencing Planck Density is as inexcusable as it is easily avoidable. This type of name butchery is unfortunately quite common in the United States, especially amongst lay people, but for a pedigreed physicist??? Wondrium should demand better given the untold number of folks that can be exposed to this material. Let's teach folks correctly, not incorrectly.
Date published: 2024-03-22
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Chi_Mar from
Complex Subject Well Presented
I thought the course was very well organized in presenting what we know or theoretically know, about distinct phases that occurred after the "Big Bang.".
I had wondered how such a complex subject could be presented satisfactorily when the average viewer (like me), while usually educated, likely would not have specialized knowledge in the area. Since the series was created recently (within two years of this review), it also covers more recent theories and knowledge. Obviously a deep dive into the subject would require full knowledge of theoretical physics, and the math involved, but the subject was presented lucidly through
1) clear understandable explanations by Professor Felder, and
2) animations that visually depict concepts while he describes them.
I watched some of lectures in this course in detail, several times for full impact, because every.. single.. word.. was meaningful, and each repetition added a new dimension to understanding.
Well done! I hope new courses will take advantage of newer technologies for this format, where appropriate. I have wondered for some time why newer courses do not take advantage of newer technologies.
Date published: 2024-03-20
Rated 5 out of
5
by
KJBritt from
Very Accessible
Very accessible for the non-specialist. The professor has a wonderful way of using simple - but still meaningful - analogies to explain this high-level material to a general audience. The material is insightful enough to keep more advanced learners interested.
Date published: 2023-12-09
Rated 5 out of
5
by
HJRT from
Excellent and Understandable
Professor Felder is an excellent lecturer and presents the subject matter in a manner that makes it easy to understand. Excellent graphics accompany the lectures for clarity. I am half-way through the course and enjoying it very much. It is a bit like reading a 'page-turner' mystery story.
Date published: 2023-11-14
Overview
About
Gary Felder is a Professor of Physics at Smith College. He earned his BA in Physics with high honors at Oberlin College and Conservatory and his PhD in Physics at Stanford University. He completed postdoctoral work at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics in Toronto.
Gary has published papers in cosmology, nuclear physics, and education. One of his papers was selected as a highlight of the year by the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, and another won the William Elgin Wickenden Award for the best paper of the year in the Journal of Engineering Education. He is the coauthor of two physics textbooks: Mathematical Methods in Engineering and Physics and Modern Physics.
Gary has given hundreds of public lectures, school demonstrations, and traveling science shows to audiences ranging from elementary schools to retirement communities. He has won grants from the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and bp. He received the Smith College Faculty Teaching Award, the only teaching award at Smith administered by students.
Trailer
01: The Big Bang Changes Everything
Explore the highlights of the Big Bang model, which says that the universe evolved from an initial hot, dense state billions of years ago. Find that the Big Bang wasn’t a moment when the cosmos had zero size, it didn’t take place at a special point in space, and it wasn’t necessarily the beginning of the universe. Rather, it was the energetic start of the expansion phase that is still underway.
33 min
02: The First Few Minutes of the Universe
Beginning a hundred-billionth of a second after the Big Bang, trace events as the universe quickly cooled from a quadrillion degrees. Learn about the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, and the fundamental particles—all of which precipitated from the seething cauldron of energy, even as matter and antimatter were mutually annihilating. Within 3 minutes, hydrogen and helium nuclei had begun to form.
28 min
03: First Galaxies, First Stars, and Dark Matter
Continue the story of the early universe by exploring such highlights as the formation of the first atoms at 370,000 years, when space transitioned from opaque to transparent; the accretion of hydrogen and helium gas into protogalaxies after millions of years due to the gravitational influence of dark matter; and the collapse of the gas into ever denser balls eventually leading to the first stars.
31 min
04: How Big Was the Big Bang?
Is it possible to calculate the size of the universe at the instant of the Big Bang? Assemble the clues that scientists use to address this question. In the process, discover a number of remarkable properties of the universe, including that it must be bigger that what we can see, extending beyond the boundary that limits our knowledge due to the finite speed of light and the age of the universe.
31 min
05: Mysteries That Reshaped the Big Bang Model
Evaluate three mysteries connected to the Big Bang model that baffled theorists beginning in the late 1960s. Why was the early universe so uniform? Why does the universe obey the laws of geometry we teach in high school? And how did the universe come to be made of the kinds of particles we see and not others? A single solution to all three questions seemed too much to hope for, yet one turned up.
31 min
06: Inflation! The First Fraction of a Second
Dig into the bizarre theory of inflation developed by physicist Alan Guth, which holds that for a fraction of a second just after the Big Bang the universe expanded at a mind-boggling rate, making the cosmos effectively infinite. Analyze how this idea solves the three puzzles introduced in Lecture 5. Learn about associated concepts, such as the scalar field and its decay, known as “reheating.”
32 min
07: What Caused Inflation: The Scalar Field
Can inflation possibly be true? See how a concept called a scalar field may be the inconceivably high-energy medium that spontaneously triggered inflation, leading to the observable universe—and more—in a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. Probe a rival theory that the Big Bang was caused by the collision of two universes in four-dimensional space.
31 min
08: More than One Big Bang in a Multiverse?
At one time, Earth was considered the center of the cosmos. Might the idea that the Big Bang was the beginning of everything be just as parochial? Take a mindboggling trip through the theory of eternal inflation—that our observable universe is a nearly infinitesimal speck inside a much larger, older, and eternally growing multiverse, in which inflation continually sprouts new universes like ours.
30 min
09: Other Universes across Other Dimensions?
Many physicists believe that our universe really isn’t three dimensional, but only appears so to us. Explore what it would mean if there are extra dimensions that we can’t see. Learn how to visualize this counterintuitive state, and examine what it implies for Big Bang theory and the concept of a multiverse. One set of ideas that calls for at least nine dimensions is string theory.
31 min
10: The Origins of the Constants of Nature
Constants of nature, such as the gravitational constant, appear to be fine-tuned to make life possible. Is this a coincidence of astronomical unlikelihood, an expected outcome of the nature of the universe, or does it imply that ours is one of many universes with different properties? Consider this question in light of the anthropic principle which takes the existence of observers into account.
30 min
11: From the Big Bang to the Universe’s Fate
Learn that the ultimate fate of the universe is tied to its beginning—to the as-yet-unknown conditions that preceded the Big Bang. Focus on the importance of dark energy, an enigmatic force discovered in the 1990s that is causing the universe to expand at an accelerating rate. Compare three scenarios that lead to either infinite expansion or eventual collapse in a Big Crunch.
31 min
12: The Future of Early Universe Cosmology
Conclude the course by reviewing the history of the universe, highlighting the major gaps in our knowledge. Then turn to four promising areas of experimental research that may provide answers. Let your imagination soar by contemplating theoretical possibilities such as this one: Could we exploit inflation to create a baby universe in the lab? Do we, in fact, live in someone else’s baby universe?
34 min
