#24 Physics of the Impossible

Friday – 10:00 a.m.                                                       Winter Term 2009 (14 weeks)
Coordinator:  Donald Spuehler                                Co-coordinator:  Mike/Michelle Dennis

Course Description
To a person in the 19th Century, space flight and commercial jets, television, the Internet, robotic surgery and cloning were in the realm of fantasy and science fiction.  Renowned physicist, Michio Kaku, argues that, given the remarkable advances in science in the past century, the impossible is relative.  Kaku makes a reasonable case for the eventual development of technology which exists today only in the realm of fictional imagining.  Chapter by chapter, Kaku uses seemingly fantastic ideas, such as teleportation, to elucidate the science behind bringing the concept into reality.  History and humor and examples from Plato to Woody Allen make Kaku a pleasure to read.  His core book will expand our minds as we are tantalized and entertained.  Each topic should lead to abundant discussion and speculation.

The core book will be Physics of the Impossible, Michio Kaku.  Doubleday 2008.

Topics
1.   Force fields.
2.   Invisibility.      
3.   Phasers and Death Stars.
4.   Teleportation.
5.   Telepathy.
6.   Psychokinesis.
7.   Robots.
8.   Extraterrestrials and UFOs.
9.   Starships.
10. Antimatter and Anti-universes.
11. Faster than light.
12. Time Travel.
13. Parallel universes.
14. Perpetual Motion Machines.
15. Precognition.

Bibliography
Core Book:
Kaku, Michio.  Physics of the Impossible.  Doubleday, 2008.

Others:
Barrow, John.  Impossibility: The Limits of Science and the Science of Limits.  Oxford             University Press, 1988.
Greene, Brian.  The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the       Ultimate Theory.  Norton, 1999.
Hawking, Stephen.  A Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded 10th Anniversary Edition.           Bantam, 1996.  (Essays on Quantum Mechanics, elementary particles and string theory)
Hawking, Stephen.  Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays.  Bantam, 1993.
Kaku, Michio, and Trainer, Jennifer.  Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Quest for the Theory of the          Universe.  Bantam, 1987.
Kaku, Michio.  Parallel Worlds:  A Journey through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of             the Cosmos.  Doubleday, 2006.
Parker, Barry.  Albert Einstein’s Vision:  Remarkable Discoveries That Shaped Modern          Science.  Prometheus Books, 2004.
Seife, Charles.  Alpha & Omega:  The Search for the Beginning and End of the Universe.      Penguin, 2003.
Wolf, Fred Alan.  The Yoga of Time Travel:b How the Mind can Defeat Time.  Quest Books, 2004.

Pre-Meeting:  Friday, December 12, 2008; 10:00 a.m.