This course provides a clear and bracing overview of the entire scientific world from the laws of motion first formulated 300 years ago by Sir Isaac Newton to the latest marvels of contemporary genetic research.
The course is keyed to the National Science Education Standards, published by the National Academy of Sciences. The instructor, Professor Robert M. Hazen of the Carnegie Institution and George Mason University, helped draft these standards and is the author of several best-selling books on science for non-scientists.
Concepts covered include the scientific method, magnetism, electricity, gravitation, relativity, atoms, isotopes and radioactivity, nuclear fission, plate tectonics, the Big Bang, the nebular hypothesis, volcanoes, the atmospheric cycle, proteins, DNA, evolution, ecosystems, and the ozone hole.