Knowing the Universe: History and Philosophy of Astronomy

Chris Impey
Spring 2022
Tuesdays |  
9 AM - 12 PM (AZ Time)
March 15, 22, 29, April 5, and 12, 2022
Course Format: Hybrid
Location: Main Campus
Tuition: $185

Attend In Person OR Online!
See Below for full details about our new Hybrid courses

This course will cover the history of the oldest field of science, from prehistory and the ancient Greeks to research on the earliest instants of our 14-billion-year-old universe. We will be looking at the history of ideas and discoveries and the more profound questions of how knowledge is created. This class addresses fundamental issues of time, space, and our place in the universe.

NEW – Hybrid Course Format

  • All classes will be delivered both in person and online via live video streaming. Students will enroll in their preferred format during registration.
  • In person classes will be held in the Rubel Room at the University of Arizona’s Poetry Center (1508 E Helen St, Tucson, AZ 85721). Enrollment for in person classes is limited by classroom capacity and offered on a first come, first served basis. All students attending on campus will observe the relevant University of Arizona policies designed to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 (more information here). Students who enroll to attend in person will also have complete online access to the course including all class recordings.
  • Online students may attend all classes via live video streaming and will be able to participate in all course Q&A sessions with the professor in real time. Students may also access class recordings for a limited time to assist those who may not be able to attend the live class times. Online access will be password protected and only available to enrolled students.

Registration Will Open Online:
Monday, November 22, 2021 at 8 AM (AZ Time)

Syllabus
Required Reading
  • No textbook is required. All materials will be distributed to students electronically.
  • Rather than readings, a set of YouTube videos are recommended for enrichment.
Recommended Reading
  • Ferris, Timothy. Coming of Age in the Milky Way. New York, NY: Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2003.

Meet Your Instructor

Chris Impey

University Distinguished Professor

Department of Astronomy

CHRIS IMPEY is a University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. He has more than 450 publications on education, observational cosmology, quasars, and galaxies, and his research has been funded by $20 million in NASA and NSF grants. He has received eleven teaching awards and has taught four online courses with over 420,000 students enrolled and 8 million minutes of video lectures viewed. Chris Impey is a former Vice President of the American Astronomical Society, and he has received its Career Education Prize. He has also been an NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Carnegie Council’s Arizona Professor of the Year, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. He has authored over 120 popular articles on cosmology, astrobiology, and education, two textbooks, a novel titled Shadow World, and ten popular science trade books.

Ted and Shirley Taubeneck Superior Teaching Award 2022

Location

POETRY CENTER
Dorothy Rubel Room
1508 E Helen
Tucson, AZ 85721
United States

Located on the SE corner of Helen Street and Vine Avenue, one block north of Speedway and three blocks west of Campbell Ave.

Street map image of Poetry Center

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