ASTR 136 - Cosmologies Ancient and Modern (Honors)

3 Credit(s)

This course investigates the evolution of humankind’s conception of the universe from ancient Greek times until the present. The ideas, theories, and discoveries of such renowned figures as Pythagoras, Aristotle, Aristarchus, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Mach, Newton, Hubble, and Einstein are examined and compared. While the emphasis of this course is on history, some scientific concepts such as gravity, general relativity, and the uncertainty principle are also discussed. Students observe some of the more prominent celestial objects with the Widener Observatory 16-inch reflecting telescope. For nonscience majors in the Honors Program.