The Elegant Universe – Activities http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/

Watch it online! http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html

We will be watching “The Elegant Universe” in class. It is a 3 hour film about the quest for unification of the four fundamental forces. Each group (no more than three students to a group) will be assigned a topic. The film will present a great deal of information about the assigned topics. Your group’s goal is to collect information about your topic, and create a poster to present this information. The information in this film will be included on the next test.

Topics:

1. History of Progress Toward Unification (pre 1960)

Describe the works of Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr that advanced unification. What conflicts were presented and how were they resolved? What paradigm shifts affected the way physicists think?

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/21162

http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200512/history.cfm

http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=118

http://msc.phys.rug.nl/quantummechanics/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzZDlXji0e0

2. String Theory (1960s - today)

Describe the basic premise of string theory. Summarize the historical development of this theory and the problems that exist within it.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/everything.html

http://superstringtheory.com/basics/index.html

3. Contemporary Physicists Views on String Theory

Compare contemporary physicists views on String Theory.  Do all physicists agree or not?

http://online.itp.ucsb.edu/online/colloq/veneziano1/

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/science/15string.html

http://www.aip.org/pnu/2006/split/781-2.html

http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/Content/Chapters/AskAnExpert/Theories-en.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/viewpoints.html

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/09/71828

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1226142,00.html

http://www.physorg.com/news112545705.html

4. Hot off the presses! Published Nov 2007, A. Garrett Lisi’s “Theory of Everything”

        Research Garrett Lisi.  Who is he?  Why is his "Theory of Everything" controversial?  Which physicists support him?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Garrett_Lisi

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/02/ted_lisi

http://motls.blogspot.com/2007/11/exceptionally-simple-theory-of.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/14/scisurf114.xml

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/01/22/scieinstein122.xml

http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/11/16/garrett-lisis-theory-of-everything/

5. The Standard Model

Describe the basics of the standard model. Who has won Nobel Prizes for this model and when were they awarded?

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2004/illpres/2_standard.html

http://www-sldnt.slac.stanford.edu/alr/standard_model.htm

http://physicsworldarchive.iop.org/index.cfm?action=summary&doc=12%2F11%2Fphwv12i11a6%40pwa-xml&qt=

http://www.britannica.com/nobelprize