The
Internet truly is wonderful. Today I’d like to introduce readers to the
possibility of viewing a complete undergraduate course at the University of California
at Los Angeles
One would
need to have a deep interest in the subject and/or rather a lot of time at his
or her disposal in order to watch the whole course. However, the introduction
video is well worth viewing, all by itself.
It is easy
to imagine that it is only in relatively recent times that a clear distinction
has arisen between the three elements in the title of this course: Isaac
Newton, who discovered gravity, who defined mechanics and the laws of motion
that bear his name, and who invented the Calculus, was an ordained clergyman
who spent a good deal of his time practicing alchemy, the means by which many
people of his day believed base metal could be turned into gold. Johann Kepler,
who developed the laws that define the motion of the planets in their orbits
around the Sun, had a steady sideline in the preparation of astrological charts
which were supposed to tell the fortune of the person who commissioned them. In
the Middle Ages astrology was taken so seriously that it was made a capital
offence for anyone to attempt to tell the fortune of the King of England.
These
videos have an added bonus in that Professor Raia is a joy to watch. She’s a
supremely confident lecturer who uses her hands, in particular, to beautiful
effect.
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