Joy of Science

Dr. Hazen cites four reasons why you should strive to become scientifically literate:Scientific literacy helps you as a consumer make informed decisions-about health care, diet, nutrition, exercise, environmental issues, and the plethora of technological choices that we all face.Learning about science allows you to share the joy of humanity's greatest ongoing adventure of discovery and exploration. What You'll LearnPart I Highlights (Lectures 1-12):Dr. Hazen begins by explaining the four-step cycle that defines the "scientific method" of knowing. He introduces you to five pivotal figures in early-modern science: Nicolas Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton. Astoundingly, during a single rural sojourn in 1665-66, Newton discovered calculus, many of the basic laws of optics, the three laws of motion, and the law of gravity. Newton's discoveries unified the supposedly separate domains of terrestrial and celestial motions.Part II Highlights (Lectures 13-24):Dr. Hazen introduces you to H. C. Oersted, the little-known figure who paved the way for a revolution in technology with his finding that electricity can produce a magnetic field. Out of this discovery came the electromagnet, the telegraph, the telephone, the electric motor, the generator, and many other inventions. You will also learn how James Clerk Maxwell offered the first mathematically rigorous description of the close connection between electricity and magnetism-and how Einstein, pondering a paradox that arose from Maxwell's equations, proposed and explored the principle of relativity.Dr. Hazen shifts the focus of his lectures to the nature of matter, paying particular attention to atoms and quantum mechanics. He explains the chemical bonding of atoms, the different states of matter, and the principal force of change in the world of matter: chemical reactions.