Second Assignment

Assigned: September 8, 2010

Due: Next meeting

Prepare a discussion of the material in tab 1 of the notebook

The Einstein Theory of Relativity, H. A. Lorentz

Ø  A perspective from an associate and highly regarded scientist written at the time 

Albert Einstein: A Laboratory in the Mind, Owen Gingerich

Ø What experiment was conducted during the eclipse

Ø  What are the 2 postulates upon which the special theory rests

Ø What was the ether assumed by James Clerk Maxwell

Ø Michelson-Morley experiment - what did it show

Ø  Moving rods: length and mass 

Ø  For what discovery did Einstein win the Nobel prize in 1905

Ø Einstein's arguments with Heisenberg regarding the uncertainty principle - his distress at the loss of determinism - God does not play dice

Third Assignment

Assigned: September 15, 2010

Due: Next meeting

1.  Prepare a discussion of the video: The Special Theory of Relativity, produced by Films for the Humanities and Sciences (in library)

2.  Review the Thought Experiments - we will discuss during our meeting

Fourth Assignment

Assigned: September 22, 2010

Leonard Suskind: Mathematics of Relativity

Due: Next meeting