We are a way for the universe to know itself.
Carl Sagan, "Cosmos; A Personal Voyage", PBS, 1980
Carl Sagan, "Cosmos; A Personal Voyage", PBS, 1980
Welcome
to Gale Rhodes's course, Discuss "Cosmos: Possible Worlds", a distance-learning course offered over the fall 2020 and winter 2021 terms at the Osher Lifelong Learning Center, University of Southern Maine (OLLI-USM). Course meetings are on Zoom software, Mondays, 9:30 - 11:30 AM in fall term, and Wednesdays 9:30 - 11:30 AM in winter term.
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If you are not experienced with Zoom, watch for
notices from OLLI about training sessions.
See "Tools" at lower right for some tips.
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Cosmos: Possible Worlds is the third Cosmos television series, following Cosmos: A Personal Voyage with Carl Sagan (1980, PBS), and Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey with Neil deGrasse Tyson (2014, National Geographic and FOX). Each series gives broad coverage of current science, with historical background, clear explanations, and lavish illustration. For information about access to all three series, click "How Can I Watch Cosmos?" in the right-hand column.
In this course, students (hereafter, you) will watch one episode each week, whenever and however you can access it (click "How Can I Watch Cosmos?" in the right-hand column), and then meet with Gale Rhodes (hereafter me, or I if that's the case) for a Zoom discussion. In each meeting, I will summarize sections of the episode as a means to elicit your questions, and then try to help you understand as much as possible. Class meetings will be recorded for use by anyone who misses class or wants to review part or all of the discussion.
REPEAT: We will not watch episodes in class because all forms are not available for sharing with Zoom. You will need to find your best way to watch them.
The 2020 Cosmos series comprises 13 episodes, so our course will continue into winter term. I plan to cover episodes 1-7 in the Fall 2020 term, and 8-13 in Winter 2021 term. You may take both courses, or either one separately.
Background in science is not a requirement for this course; it is a goal of this course. No question is too basic to be worthy of class attention.
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Assigned Materials and Resources
At this web site, I will provide all supplementary materials for the course, weekly assignments, a means to share email questions and answers with all students, and access to recordings of past meetings.
IMPORTANT: As you watch each episode, jot down questions that occur to you, and make notes of ideas you would like to discuss or know more about.
It will help me immensely in my planning if I know some of your questions beforehand. Submit your questions in the form at the bottom of any class page. I will put these questions at the top of the appropriate class page. Thank you for this input.
The menus at the right side of this page provide links to supplemental readings or videos for each episode, other assignments, and useful tools.
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INTRODUCING Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of "Cosmos"
In February 2017, Neil deGrasse Tyson was on NPR's "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" Listen to it (or read it) HERE.
Watch this video of Neil deGrasse Tyson, speaking on the crisis facing science in the United States.
The host of this television series is a scientist — not an actor, not a journalist, not an historian of science, not a philosopher of science, but a working scientist who can talk about science as a participant or practitioner. Practically no actors or journalists and very few historians and philosophers of science have ever set foot in a scientific research laboratory, and thus are not equipped to talk about science from experience. A sideline observer, no matter how deeply interested, misses much of what goes on in science, and will always have serious gaps in their understanding of how science works. In addition, sideline observers are usually deaf to the provisional language that underlies all scientific discourse.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is not a sideline observer.
Poet Walt Whitman knew what I mean by provisional language:
I like the scientific spirit—the holding off, the being sure
but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when
the evidence is against them: this is ultimately fine—
it always keeps the way beyond open.*
Neil deGrasse Tyson is currently Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and Research Associate in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. He lists his research fields as physical astronomy and astrophysics. Physical astronomy entails using the tools of physics, such as detailed analysis of energy (such as light) received through telescopes, antennas, or other kinds of detectors, to study astronomical objects like planets, stars, and galaxies. Astrophysics is the study of the physics of astronomical processes themselves, such as the mechanisms of energy production in stars, and the gravitational effects that produce stars, planetary systems, galaxies, and larger structures. Tyson has been involved in research on star formation, exploding stars, and the structure of galaxies, including dwarf galaxies and our home, the Milky Way galaxy.
Tyson's education includes a degree from The Bronx High School of Science; BA in physics, Harvard University; MA in astronomy, University of Texas; and MPhil and PhD in astrophysics, Columbia University, New York. He has been involved in research at Princeton University, the University of Maryland, and Hayden Planetarium, where he established a research wing that began with 15 full-time research scientists. He says, “Right now the public stuff takes up most of my time. But I want to get back to more research. That’s what fuels me.”
To learn more, see the following:
Neil deGrasse Tyson's curriculum vitae.
Neil deGrasse Tyson at Wikipedia.
An article about Tyson by Rebecca Mead, entitled "Star Man", appeared in the September 17-24, 2014 issue of The New Yorker (subscription might be required for online access).
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The Three Seasons of the "Cosmos" Series
1) Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, PBS, 1980, available available at YouTube, and on disk as Carl Sagan's Cosmos.
2) Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, National Geographic and Fox Network, 2014, available on disk or streaming.
3) Cosmos: Possible Worlds (subject of this course). Broadcast on FOX Network in fall 2020. Available for streaming at Amazon Prime Video. The text of this series is also available: Cosmos: Possible Worlds by Ann Druyan. Possibility still available (but with commercials you cannot bypass) from your cable service among selections for FOX on Demand.
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* Quoted in Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden (1906), Vol. 1, 101, cited HERE.
