The International Herald Tribune reporter, Sara Rimer has written a great
story on Physicist Walter H. G. Lewin of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge.
The gist of the story is the availability of open source on-line physics courses offered by prestigious institutions of higher learning and their effect on the general public. Dr. Lewin has become a quartz star with a following that Mic Jagger would appreciate.
The effect is spectacular, and has provided a real second-life to golden years professors by introducing them to the general public. Individuals who for one reason or another were unable to attend a prestigious school, but nonetheless possess an exuberance for higher learning. This article surveys various on-line opportunities for learning more about science.
MIT Open Course Ware:
The MIT Open Course Ware project is funded by donations and is free to the public. In addition to Dr. Lewin´s courses, there are about 1800 on-line complete courses offered by MIT. Courses are available in the undergraduate and graduate division list of courses. Many are survey courses and introductory type classes easily accessible to any one with a quest for knowledge.
Examples:
Do you have an interest in wireless communications or a job in communication and would like to add depth to your knowledge base? Check out a complete introduction course on the subject. This is not a teaser version. This is the entire course that MIT allows you to take for no university credits, but at no charge. All that is necessary is to download the course on your computer and point and click your way to achieve a solid foundation in wireless communications. 6.452 Principles of Wireless Communications at http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb .
Are you interested in the Physics of Atmospheres and Oceans? This course was offered to students of MIT in the Fall of 2007. It is free of charge to the public and offered by MIT´s Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences with the eminent Professor John Marshall. The course lays out the laws of classical mechanics and thermodynamics. This vehicle allows you to explore how the dynamics of fluids combined with the rotating earth effect atmospheric winds, currents and climate of the earth. See: 12.003 Physics of Atmosphers and Oceans at http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Earth .
Have you ever pondered the basis of how we hear and see? If you are a programmer, game developer or amateur inventor, knowing the fundamentals of the neural system is essential. MIT's Brain and Cognitive Sciences offers a free course called, 9.04 Neural Basis of Vision and Audition. The course will give you the science behind the perception. The course may not have been in the average software engineers core curriculum, but it should have been. See: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Brain .
In conclusion, the old adage, Knowledge is Power, subsumes the most important aspect. A solid education prevents you from "knowing a whole lot of junk, that simply isn't true."
Related stories:
Study of malaria parasite in patient blood finds distinct physiological states
The malaria parasite has been studied for decades, but surprisingly, little is known about how it behaves in humans to cause disease. In a groundbreaking study published November 28 in the advance online edition of
Nature, an international research team has for the first time measured which of the parasite's genes are turned on or off during actual infection in humans, not in cell cultures, unearthing surprising behaviors and opening a window on the most critical aspects of parasite biology.
MIT develops lecture search engine to aid students
Imagine you are taking an introductory biology course. You're studying for an exam and realize it would be helpful to revisit the professor's explanation of RNA interference. Fortunately for you, a digital recording of the lecture is online, but the 10-minute explanation you want is buried in a 90-minute lecture you don't have time to watch.
Prominent U.S. Physicists Send Letter to President Bush
Thirteen of the nation’s most prominent physicists have written a letter to President Bush, calling U.S. plans to reportedly use nuclear weapons against Iran “gravely irresponsible” and warning that such action would have “disastrous consequences for the security of the United States and the world.”
Professors seeks to understand why birds sing
A better understanding of why birds sing has led David Rothenberg, PhD, a professor in the department of humanities at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), on a journey into the seemingly disparate worlds of science, poetry and music. The result is the publication this month of Why Birds Sing (Basic Books).
African students get web link to MIT labs
Students in Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria can now perform sophisticated engineering and science experiments at MIT--without ever getting on a plane.
"If you can't come to the lab, the lab will come to you," said Jesus del Alamo, co-principal investigator on the Africa project and a professor in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Students at three African universities will be able to access five MIT labs via the Internet, thanks to an iLab Project partnership between MIT's Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI), Makerere University (Uganda), the University of Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) and Obafemi Awolowo University (Nigeria).
MIT engineers work toward cell-sized batteries
(PhysOrg.com) -- Forget 9-volts, AAs, AAAs or D batteries: The energy for tomorrow’s miniature electronic devices could come from tiny microbatteries about half the size of a human cell and built with viruses.
CU to show off its 100-mpg car-in-progress at state fair
(PhysOrg.com) -- A car that gets 100 miles a gallon may sound far-fetched, but the biggest challenge in designing a high-mileage hybrid vehicle for the $10 million Progressive Automobile X Prize (AXP) competition in 2010 is not know-how, says Cornell's AXP team. The biggest challenges are space to work in, time and money.
Judge lifts gag on students over transit security
(AP) -- A federal judge has lifted a gag order on three MIT students who were barred from talking publicly about security flaws they discovered in the Boston transit system's automated fare network.
