In 2012 the CERN scientists announced that a Higgs Boson had been created in the Large Hadron Collider. At the time I wondered what it was all about. This week, in the mood for some nonfiction, I happened on this Great Courses offering about the Higgs Boson and checked it out on Libby. The course has 12 1/2 hour lectures by Sean Carroll that cover some basic physics, the history of the Higgs Boson, and where physicists want to go from here. It assumes about a high-school level of physics understanding and covers the current (as of the creation of the lectures) state of the wave theory of elementary particles and how the Higgs Boson is similar and different from other bosons. It was a good level for me, though I did occasionally get lost in lingo. I was happy to get updated on current physical science, since I hadn't had a class in it in 30 years. The lecturer is engaging and not at all condescending even though he seems to be a leader in the field. I talked about the course enough to my husband who got an undergraduate degree in physics, that he put it on hold. Not all the "Great Courses" offerings are well done, but many are, including this one. I am glad so many are now available on Libby. (2013, 6 hours 20 minutes)
No comments:
Post a Comment