In 2019 the Boulder Cosmology Group met at 6PM for DVD lectures on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month and reading discussions on third Mondays at the Main Library (Monday discussions were usually in the second-floor Flatirons Room and Wednesday lectures in the first-floor Boulder Creek Room). Changes from the normal pattern are noted below.
See http://www.sackett.net/cosmologyAll.htm for a list of all materials covered by the Boulder Cosmology Group since it began in 2003.
2019 Second and Fourth Wednesdays: Selected DVD lectures from Professor Steven Gimbel's course on “Redefining Reality: The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science”. This will be followed by the full 24 lecture course by Professor Benjamin Schumacher “Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”, then in October we will begin Professor Felix J. Lockman's course on “Radio Astronomy”, to be completed in 2020.
We will watch the 30 minute lectures using an “interruptus” format: at any point during the lecture anyone in the group can say stop and ask a question and the rest of the group will attempt to answer the question before proceeding. We will attempt to cover two lectures in each meeting. If we don't have time the next DVD lecture meeting will start with the second lecture (and this schedule will be adjusted).
Schedule with Monday book discussions flagged in bold:
January 9, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Steven Gimbel's course on
“Redefining Reality: The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science”,
Lecture 7: The Reality of Atoms,
and 8: Quantum Mechanics.
January 14, 2019 Book Discussion: Deep Down Things, by Bruce Schumm. Chapters 6 and 7. Study guide from Jeff.
Notes from Paul and Chela on Lie Groups in Physics for Chapters 6 through 8.
Note: This ^^^^ discussion is in the BOULDER CREEK ROOM and a week earlier than usual because of Martin Luther King Day.
January 23, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Steven Gimbel's course on
“Redefining Reality: The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science”,
Lecture 9: Quantum Field Theory,
and 10: Chaos Theory.
February 11, 2019 Book Discussion: Deep Down Things, by Bruce Schumm. Chapter 8 (Gauge Theory). Study guide from Jeff.
Notes from Paul and Chela on Lie Groups in Physics for Chapters 6 through 8.
Note: This ^^^^ discussion is a week earlier than usual because of Presidents Day.
February 13, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Steven Gimbel's course on
“Redefining Reality: The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science”,
Lecture 11: Dark Matter and Dark Energy,
and 12: Grand Unified Theories.
February 27, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Steven Gimbel's course on
“Redefining Reality: The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science”,
Lecture 13: Quantum Consciousness,
and 20: Brain and Self.
March 13, 2019
DVD Lectures - Meeting Canceled - Snowed Out!
March 18, 2019 Book Discussion: Deep Down Things, by Bruce Schumm. Chapters 9 and 10. Study guide from Jeff.
March 27, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 1: The Quantum Enigma,
and 2: The View from 1900.
April 10, 2019
Note: The cosmology group will not meet this week to avoid conflicting with the Conference on World Affairs.
April 15, 2019 Book Discussion: Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics is Different, by Philip Ball. Pages 1 to 195.
Cornell Professor David Mermin's review of Beyond Weird (Mermin is famous with us for
Is the moon there when nobody Looks?).
Notes from Bill Daniel on the first half of the book: http://sackett.net/ThoughtsOnBallPart1.pdf.
April 24, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 3: Two Revolutionaries - Planck and Einstein,
and 4: Particles of Light, Waves of Matter.
May 8, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 5: Standing Waves and Stable Atoms,
and 6: Uncertainty.
May 20, 2019 Book Discussion: Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics is Different, by Philip Ball. Pages 178 to 372.
May 22, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 7: Complementarity and the Great Debate,
and 8: Paradoxes of Interference.
June 12, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 9: States, Amplitudes, and Probabilities,
and 10: Particles That Spin.
Schumacher recommends Dan Styer's The Strange World of Quantum Mechanics as a book to
read along with this course.
June 17, 2019 Book Discussion: Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics is Different, by Philip Ball.
Selected pages with specific questions as a final review of the book: http://www.sackett.net/BandurianWeirdQuestions.htm.
June 26, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 11: Quantum Twins,
and 12: The Gregarious Particles.
July 10, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 13: Antisymmetric and Antisocial,
and 14: The Most Important Minus Sign in the World.
July 15, 2019 ArXiv Paper Discussion: Screams for Explanation: Finetuning and Naturalness in the Foundations of Physics, by Sabine Hossenfelder.
A paper referenced from her book Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray.
July 24, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 15: Entanglement,
and 16: Bell and Beyond.
August 14, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 17: Feynman Diagrams,
and 18: The Quantum Vacuum.
August 19, 2019 Book Discussion: Observational Cosmology, by Stephen Serjeant. Introduction and Chapter 1 (space and time).
Note from Steven Crow on page 19 in Chapter 1 with a rebuttal from Bill Daniel: http://sackett.net/SerjeantNote4Page19.pdf.
Errata from the cambridge.org site for the 2010 edition: http://sackett.net/Serjeant2010CosmologyErrata.pdf.
August 28, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 19: Quantum Cloning,
and 20: Quantum Cryptography.
September 11, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 21: Bits, Qubits, and Ebits,
and 22: Quantum Computers.
September 16, 2019 Book Discussion: Observational Cosmology, by Stephen Serjeant. Chapter 2 (the cosmic microwave background).
Notes from Dave Peterson on Chapter 2: http://sackett.net/SerjeantNotes4Chapter2.pdf.
September 25, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Benjamin Schumacher's course on
“Quantum Mechanics: The Physics of the Microscopic World”,
Lecture 23: Many Worlds or One?,
and 24: The Great Smoky Dragon.
October 9, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Felix J. Lockman's course on
“Radio Astronomy”,
Lecture 1: Radio Astronomy and the Invisible Universe,
and 2: Thermal Radio Emission: The Planets.
October 21, 2019 Book Discussion: Observational Cosmology, by Stephen Serjeant. Chapter 2 (Sections 2.6 to 2.17).
Notes from Dave Peterson on Chapter 2: http://sackett.net/SerjeantNotes4Chapter2.pdf.
October 23, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Felix J. Lockman's course on
“Radio Astronomy”,
Lecture 3: The Birth of Radio Astronomy,
and 4: The Discovery of Interstellar Hydrogen.
November 13, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Felix J. Lockman's course on
“Radio Astronomy”,
Lecture 5: Radio Telescopes and How They Work,
and 6: Mapping the Hydrogen Sky.
November 18, 2019 Book Discussion: Observational Cosmology, by Stephen Serjeant. Chapter 3 (the local universe).
Notes from Dave Peterson on Chapter 3: http://sackett.net/SerjeantNotes4Chapter3.pdf.
November 27, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Felix J. Lockman's course on
“Radio Astronomy”,
Lecture 7: Tour of the Green Bank Observatory,
and 8: Tour of the Green Bank Telescope.
December 11, 2019
DVD Lectures - Professor Felix J. Lockman's course on
“Radio Astronomy”,
Lecture 9: Hydrogen and the Structure of Galaxies,
and 10: Pulsars: Clocks in Space.
December 16, 2019 Book Discussion: Observational Cosmology, by Stephen Serjeant. Chapter 4 (the distant optical universe).
Notes from Dave Peterson on Chapter 4: http://sackett.net/SerjeantNotes4Chapter4.pdf.
For more information, e-mail group leader Jeff Grove: jeff1.grove@gmail.com.
This is http://www.sackett.net/cosmologySchedule2019.htm, last updated February 8, 2020.
