Physics For Future Presidents
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- Опубліковано 4 чер 2010
- / sciencereason ... This piece discusses UC Berkeley professor Richard Muller's aptly named the Physics for Future Presidents course. Designed to illuminate and educate the leaders of our future, whomever and wherever they may be, it teaches basic physics to non-science majors.
Richard A. Muller is professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a past winner of the MacArthur Fellowship. He is the author of "Nemesis" (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) and "Physics for Future Presidents" (Norton).
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s: What every world leader needs to know. An Introduction to the Essential Physics Every World Leader Needs to Know.
The course is dramatically different from the traditional "Physics for Poets" approach. Many people who have tried it have discovered that it is much more fun for both the students and the professor. Nothing excites a student more than the discovery that he/she is learning something important.
"Physics and Technology for Future Presidents" contains the essential physics that students need in order to understand today's core science and technology issues, and to become the next generation of world leaders. From the physics of energy to climate change, and from spy technology to quantum computers, this is the only textbook to focus on the modern physics affecting the decisions of political leaders and CEOs and, consequently, the lives of every citizen.
How practical are alternative energy sources? Can satellites really read license plates from space? What is the quantum physics behind iPods and supermarket scanners? And how much should we fear a terrorist nuke? This lively book empowers students possessing any level of scientific background with the tools they need to make informed decisions and to argue their views persuasively with anyone -- expert or otherwise.
Based on Richard Muller's renowned course at Berkeley, the book explores critical physics topics: energy and power, atoms and heat, gravity and space, nuclei and radioactivity, chain reactions and atomic bombs, electricity and magnetism, waves, light, invisible light, climate change, quantum physics, and relativity.
Muller engages readers through many intriguing examples, helpful facts to remember, a fun-to-read text, and an emphasis on real-world problems rather than mathematical computation. He includes chapter summaries, essay and discussion questions, Internet research topics, and handy tips for instructors to make the classroom experience more rewarding.
Accessible and entertaining, "Physics and Technology for Future Presidents" gives students the scientific fluency they need to become well-rounded leaders in a world driven by science and technology.
• muller.lbl.gov/teaching/Physic...
• press.princeton.edu/titles/922...
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The California Academy of Sciences is a world-class scientific and cultural institution based in San Francisco. The Academy recently opened a new facility in Golden Gate Park, a 400,000 square foot structure that houses an aquarium, a planetarium a natural history museum and a 4-story rainforest all under one roof.
The mission of the California Academy of Sciences is to explore, explain and protect the natural world.
• www.calacademy.org/
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MORE professors like him!!! I love to see such enthusiasm when the professor is teaching or talking about teaching his students! And you can see that his lectures are fun to listen to and that he is willing to explaint things to his students!
i really do highly recommend his classes. they are online, and anyone can benefit from them. he's a fantastic teacher.
This is my hope: that even if my 3yo daughter does not go into a science field (her father and I are scientists), that she will understand the concepts of science so she can comprehend the world around her.
This professor speaks to my heart and hopes for the future.
One of the world’s great teachers and scientists
I love his lectures.
I'd love to take a course like this one.
Science..yes..need more science..
Wow his whole chalkboard thing is on a swivel... thats nuts.
Sounds like a fun class. I wish I was still an undergrad.
Does the course also teach you to to say Nucilar in stead of Nuclear?
@batfly Damn right son. I was proud to fight for what I know in my heart is right.
@YourBrainOnReligion yeah, I was thinking what's with the special effects.
@batfly is the answer 2?
Physics - or at least our understanding of the universe as we currently understand it should be on everyone's agenda.
@sillygames Hey, I's kinda on da right and I's not oposed to edukation. What is cool though is that UC Berkeley has a large selection of webcasts w/ video of entire semesters of recorded lectures for many subjects for many different semesters going back quite a few years. Some are on youtube, many are not. There might be several semesters of this class on there if the one on youtube get old.
I took this class 3 years ago...IT WAS GREAT! Very pro-nuclear power...probably similar to the previous professor, Mr.Teller
If my physics lectures were half as interesting as what we saw here, I think attendance would have been near perfect, heh.
@batfly I thought the discussion was about whether it is in the oil companies' best interests to keep producing oil until the alternatives become cheaper. If not that then what? Baseless name calling?
@DoltMasher Part of the reason, yes. So, why do you think polar ice caps exists?
You said that effects of greenhouse gases is well understood.
Humans are causing increase of greenhouse gases in atmosphere, and we are seeing increase in global temperatures, and the effects of this increase.
And the main reason cannot be the sun because it hasn't shown increase in activity.
What a dude
@DoltMasher I was hoping that you would read about by yourself, the reason why we have icecaps now is because of ocean currents trap cold air at the poles, just like golf stream warms northern europe, cold ocean current around antarctica cool it down, currents were different in the past because of positions of continents.
Indeed CO2 isn't the only one, and humans are not releasing just CO2.
You average out the sunspot cycle, and you will notice that sun's activity has decreased since late 70's.
@batfly Son have you ever heard of a country called vietnam. Back in nam I was originally a chopper gunner. Eventually I transfered to the marine raiders. I saw some crazy things son. I took a bullet for uncle sam. I was damn proud to do it. I even saved it and mounted it on my wall in a frame as a memory of my service. Dont disrespect me.
@batfly I never said you were a witting tool, just a tool. A pawn, seeing as how you like chess metaphors.
The oil, gas, and coal companies will do whatever is most profitable for their shareholders, which is provide the cheapest service they can, and to foist costs off onto third parties if possible. Until consumers pay the full military, environmental, and health costs when they buy carbon-based energy, renewable energy will be more costly and less profitable in the short run.
Nice... a lecture hall with a Lazy Susan.
@batfly i can tell someone hasn't even entered the first year of physics yet... wanna guess who?
Well, there's one copy that will never be read.
I heavily doubt any future presidents will be taking physics classes when there are so many other more important classes for a politician.
@DoltMasher Position of Earth's continents affect climate, through ocean currents, read about why Earth does have polar icecaps now, and about 100 million years ago it didn't have those.
Human today are putting more than 100 times more CO2 into the air than all the volcanoes put together, for thousands of years CO2 levels were pretty stable, at 280 ppm or so, now it is 380 ppm, change has happened in a century. So this doesn't affect?
Sun has had a downward trend during last 30 years.
@batfly Son you need some morals. When I was just a boy the great ronald reagan protected us against the reds. I am damn happy to live in the good old U.S.A. rather than soviet russia. You should be as well.
Politicians are salesmen. I can't imagine any of them bothering to learn the mechanics of the universe...I'm sure they're more interested in manipulative psychology.
@sillygames "Why is the right so willfully ignorant and anti-education?"
Because when the truth disagrees with your world view, all you have to work with is lies
@batfly do you hate america son?
@sillygames Because Fox and the Bible told them so.