Again with the Relativity

Sixteen months ago, I completed the Great Course Einstein's Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists and if you've been reading this blog for the past couple of months, you know that I started listening to it again. I have finished my second pass through the course, and I am amazed at the ability of Dr. Wolfson to explain complex topics so that people can understand them.  The definition of relativity is pretty easy to describe, when you get down to the basics, but it takes a good teacher like Wolfson to explain how the history of science (astronomy & physics) made it difficult for people to accept it as a likely description of reality.  And, while it is experimentally one of the most tested and proven concepts in the history of science, some of its implications are so counter-intuitive, it's also easy to see why people have trouble grasping it.

Another part of this course, though, is the description of Quantum Physics, and I believe I learned more about this sub-atomic science this second time around.  It, too, has some strange concepts.  For example, the idea that (at a micro level) you cannot know both the velocity and position of a particle implies an uncertainty which explains the world in ways classical (Newtonian) physics cannot, but it also forces particles to be waves, and waves to be particles -- at one and the same time -- this is strange stuff.  It's no wonder that even Einstein disbelieved some of its core concepts.

Sorry, readers -- I just made it sound complicated.  Dr. Wolfson does not.  By the time you are done with this Great Course, you will be amazed at what you've learned.