Catalog Search Results
Publisher
WGBH Boston Video
Pub. Date
c2005
Physical Desc
1 DVD (approx. 112 min.) : sd., col. , Dolby stereo. ; 4 3/4 in.
Description
Einstein arrived at his 1905 discovery that the realms of matter and energy are linked. Reveals the roots of this breakthrough in the human stories of scientists Michael Farady, Antoine Lavoisier, and Lise Meitner, whose innovative thinking helped lead to E=mcp2s, and ultimately unleashed the power of the atom.
2) The Great Questions of Philosophy and Physics: Episode 1,Does Physics Make Philosophy Superfluous?
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (30 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
Trace the growth of physics from philosophy, as questions about the nature of reality got rigorous answers starting in the Scientific Revolution. Then, see how the philosophy of physics was energized by a movement called logical positivism in the early 20th century in response to Einstein’s theory of relativity. Though logical positivism failed, it spurred new philosophical ideas and approaches.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (31 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
Compare proof for the reality of atoms with evidence for the existence of Santa Claus. Both are problematic hypotheses! Trace the history of atomic theory and the philosophical resistance to it. End with Bas van Fraassen’s idea of “constructive empiricism,” which holds that successful theories ought only to be empirically adequate since we can never know with certainty what is real.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (35 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
If the point of physics is to explain reality, what counts as an explanation? Professor Gimbel goes deeper to probe what makes some explanations scientific and whether physics actually explains anything. Along the way, he explores Bertrand Russell’s rejection of the notion of cause, Carl Hempel’s account of explanation, and Nancy Cartwright’s skepticism about scientific truth.
5) The Great Questions of Philosophy and Physics: Episode 9,Waves, Particles, and Quantum Entanglement
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (30 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
Quantum mechanics rests on an apparent category mistake: Light can’t be both a wave and a particle, yet that’s what theory and experiments show. Analyze this puzzle from the realist and empiricist points of view. Then explore philosopher Arthur Fine’s “natural ontological attitude,” which reconciles realism and antirealism by demonstrating how they rely on different conceptions of truth.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (32 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
The laws of physics have been invoked on both sides of the debate over the existence of God. Professor Gimbel closes the series by tracing the history of this dispute, from Newton’s belief in a Creator to today’s discussion of the “fine-tuning” of nature’s constants and whether God is responsible. Such big questions in physics inevitably bring us back to the roots of physics: philosophy.
7) The Great Questions of Philosophy and Physics: Episode 10,Wanted Dead and Alive: Schrödinger’s Cat
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (29 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
The most famous paradox of quantum theory is the thought experiment showing that a cat under certain experimental conditions must be both dead and alive. Explore four proposed solutions to this conundrum, known as the measurement problem: the hidden-variable view, the Copenhagen interpretation, the idea that the human mind “collapses” a quantum state, and the many-worlds interpretation.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (27 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
Continue exploring time by winding back the clock. Was there a beginning to time? Einstein’s initial equations of general relativity predicted a dynamic universe, one that might have expanded from an initial moment. Einstein discarded this idea, but since then evidence has mounted for a “Big Bang.” Is it sensible to ask what caused the Big Bang and what happened before?
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (373 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
The Great Questions of Philosophy and Physics guides you through the concepts, theories, and speculations that underlie our understanding of reality. In 12 stimulating episodes, award-winning teacher and philosopher Steven Gimbel covers the fundamental ideas of modern physics, highlighting the role of philosophy in setting ground rules, interpreting the results, and posing new questions.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (33 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
What’s left when you take all the matter and energy out of space? Either something or nothing. Newton believed the former; his rival, Leibniz, believed the latter. Assess arguments for both views, and then see how Einstein was influenced by Leibniz’s relational picture of space to invent his special theory of relativity.
11) The Great Questions of Philosophy and Physics: Episode 2,Why Mathematics Works So Well with Physics
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (35 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
Physics is a mathematical science. But why should manipulating numbers give insight into how the world works? This question was famously posed by physicist Eugene Wigner in his 1960 paper, “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences.” Explore proposed answers, including Max Tegmark’s assertion that the world is, in fact, a mathematical system.
12) The Great Questions of Philosophy and Physics: Episode 8,Quantum States: Neither True nor False?
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (29 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
Enter the quantum world, where traditional philosophical logic breaks down. First, explore the roots of quantum theory and how scientists gradually uncovered its surpassing strangeness. Clear up the meaning of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which is a metaphysical claim, not an epistemological one. Finally, delve into John von Neumann’s revolutionary quantum logic.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (31 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
After the dust settled from the quantum revolution, physics was left with two fundamental theories: the standard model of particle physics for quantum phenomena and general relativity for gravitational interactions. Follow the quest for a grand unified theory that incorporates both. Armed with Karl Popper’s demarcation criteria, see how unifying ideas such as string theory fall short.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (29 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
Consider the weirdness of time: The laws of physics are time reversable, but we never see time running backwards. Theorists have proposed that the direction of time is connected to the order of the early universe and even that time is an illusion. See how Einstein deepened the mystery with his theory of relativity, which predicts time dilation and the surprising possibility of time travel.
15) Cosmic voyage
Publisher
Warner Home Video
Pub. Date
2002
Physical Desc
1 DVD (36 min.) : sd., col. ; 4 3/4 in.
Description
Combines live action with state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery to pinpoint where humans fit in our ever-expanding universe. Explore scientific theories, some of which have never before been visualized on film, from the birth of the cosmos and solar system to the nature of black holes and exploding supernovas.
17) Speed
Publisher
MacGillivray Freeman Films
Pub. Date
2021.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (30 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
A look at the role of SPEED in man’s life from the dawn of time to the farthest reaches of the conceivable future, Speed introduces us to daredevils—racers, test pilots, astronauts—the people who live and breathe speed on the frontier of human capabilities. But at the heart of this film is a thoughtful, soft-spoken man, known not for the speed at which he traveled, but for his imagination. Albert Einstein enlarged the frontiers of human potential...
18) The Evidence for Modern Physics: How We Know What We Know: Episode 18,The Case for Cosmic Inflation
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (30 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
Unlike the well-founded theories you've studied so far in this series, turn to one that is as-yet-unproven -- but mindboggling in its implications. Cosmic inflation proposes that a period of explosive expansion occurred in the first instants of the Big Bang. This startling idea accounts for two puzzling features of today's universe: the observed uniformity of matter and the flat geometry of space.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (31 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
Scientists did not know the exact composition of the Moon until astronauts brought back rocks. So how do we know what the unimaginably more distant stars are made of? Get a short course in astrophysics as you explore the secrets of starlight, which reveal stellar temperature and elemental composition to observers on Earth. Then apply the lessons of nuclear physics to the life cycle of stars.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2021.
Physical Desc
1 online resource (streaming video file) (28 minutes): digital, .flv file, sound
Description
Learn how Dr. Lincoln routinely conducts experiments that show the bizarre effects of Einstein's special theory of relativity, which come into play at speeds approaching that of light. Like quantum theory, relativity strains credulity, but clocks really do slow down and length contracts at relativistic speeds; we just don't notice these effects in our relatively slow-moving lives.
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