About this course: We have learned a lot recently about how the Universe evolved in 13.7 billion years since the Big Bang. More than 80% of matter in the Universe is mysterious Dark Matter, which made stars and galaxies to form. The newly discovered Higgs-boson became frozen into the Universe a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang and brought order to the Universe. Yet we still do not know how ordinary matter (atoms) survived against total annihilation by Anti-Matter. The expansion of the Universe started acceleration about 7 billion years ago and the Universe is being ripped apart. The culprit is Dark Energy, a mysterious energy multiplying in vacuum. I will present evidence behind these startling discoveries and discuss what we may learn in the near future. This course is offered in English.
Who is this class for: Completion of this course requires introductory physics knowledge (qualitative understanding of concepts such as force, energy, etc.) and some basic math (basic algebra and geometry). To audit the course, no prior knowledge is required.
Taught by: Hitoshi Murayama, Director, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU), Todai Institutes for Advanced Study (TODIAS)
MacAdams Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
| Level | Beginner |
| Commitment | 2-4 hours/week |
| Language | English, Subtitles: Russian |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
- Video: Course Preview
- Video: Introduction
- Reading: Course Description
- Reading: Syllabus
- Video: 1-1 Night and Day, and Four Seasons
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 1-1
- Video: 1-2 Revolution of the Earth
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 1-2
- Video: 1-3 Why Elliptic?
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 1-3
- Video: 1-4 Why Does Everything Fall the Same Way?
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 1-4
- Video: 1-5 Beginning of the Universe Look Far into the Past I
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 1-5
- Video: 1-6 Beginning of the Universe Look Far into the Past II
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 1-6
- Video: 1-7 Beginning of the Universe Look Far into the Past III
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 1-7
- Video: 1-8 Beginning of the Universe Look Far into the Past IV
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 1-8
- Video: 1-9 Beginning of the Universe Look Far into the Past V
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 1-9
- Video: 1-10 Cosmic Expansion
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 1-10
- Reading: About Optional Challenge Problems
- Video: 2-1 Birth of Elements I
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 2-1
- Video: 2-2 Birth of Elements II
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 2-2
- Video: 2-3 Birth of Elements III
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 2-3
- Video: 2-4 Birth of Elements IV
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 2-4
- Video: 2-5 Birth of Elements V
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 2-5
- Video: 2-6 Higgs Boson Frozen into the Universe I
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 2-6
- Video: 2-7 Higgs Boson Frozen into the Universe II
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 2-7
- Video: 2-8 Higgs Boson Frozen into the Universe III
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 2-8
- Video: 2-9 Higgs Boson Frozen into the Universe IV
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 2-9
- Video: 3-1 Power Spectrum
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 3-1
- Video: 3-2 Dark Matter I
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 3-2
- Video: 3-3 Dark Matter II
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 3-3
- Video: 3-4 Nature of Dark Matter I
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 3-4
- Video: 3-5 Nature of Dark Matter II
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 3-5
- Video: 3-6 Neutrinos and Anti-Matter I
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 3-6
- Video: 3-7 Neutrinos and Anti-Matter II
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 3-7
- Video: 3-8 Neutrinos and Anti-Matter III
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 3-8
- Reading: About Optional Challenge Problems
- Video: 4-1 Inflation and Uncertainty Principle I (Inflation)
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 4-1
- Video: 4-2 Inflation and Uncertainty Principle II (Uncertainty Principle I )
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 4-2
- Video: 4-3 Inflation and Uncertainty Principle III (Uncertainty Principle II )
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 4-3
- Video: 4-4 Fate of the Universe
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 4-4
- Video: 4-5 Dark Energy
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 4-5
- Video: 4-6 Big Rip
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 4-6
- Video: 4-7 Future Observations
- Practice Quiz: Practice Quiz 4-7
- Video: 4-8 Wrap-up
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
Connect with thousands of other learners and debate ideas, discuss course material, and get help mastering concepts.
Earn official recognition for your work, and share your success with friends, colleagues, and employers.
It's a great introductory course. Great explanatios too.
It is an interesting introductory course work. I enjoyed it. Thanks Coursera and Prof. Hitoshi Murayama for your kind help.
It changed me. At 65 years of age, I was thinking that I had become ancient. Thanks to this presentation on matter, anti-matter, dark matter and dark energy, it feels like my mind has undergone some inflation itself. The Professor is so good at simplification of what initially appeared so daunting a topic - quantum Physics and maths.
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I am really thankful to the University of Tokyo for helping me with financial aid to pursue this online course. I was indeed a very interesting course which was properly designed and organized in an effective way. The concepts discussed by Prof. Murayama were easily understandable and increased our perception and knowledge of the universe to a great extent. The practice questions provided at the end of each module involved critical thinking and sharpened my analytical and problem solving techniques. It was a very useful course for my career and education.