INTR-D 127 - Light in Art and the Cosmos

3 Credit(s) | Lecture | Graded or pass/fail
Course can be counted for credit once

Description:
In this course, we will use our own, original pictures and metaphors together with present-day explorations of light and deep space, we will show how the physics of light can influence our experience of Art, which, in turn, can help us understand classic and cutting edge concepts in physics, and, in particular, Cosmology, the Science devoted to the origin and evolution of the Universe. In this on-line course we will study the physics of light and of spacetime, in order to attain a basic understanding of LIGO – the Laser Interferometer Wave Observatory, which in 2015 inaugurated a whole new era in the history of Science. The greatest revolution in Cosmological observations since Galileo pointed a telescope up to the sky 500 years ago, LIGO has enabled us to sense a whole new set of events in the Universe that we couldn¿t sense before, when we relied only on the detection of electromagnetic radiation (light) from the Cosmos. Instead of detecting light, LIGO uses an enormous light-based instrument to detect waves in the fabric of spacetime itself. In other words, instead of observing things waving in space, we observe the very space that our bodies occupy contracting and expanding due to events like the collision of massive Black Holes billions of years ago.

Course Attribute(s):
Distribution Area: Natural Sciences

Enrollment Requirements:
Corequisite: MATH 114QR

041565:1