PHYS 150 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Current Events and Further Reading
Physics of the Headlines
One of the great things about this course is that the things you're learning show up in the news all the time. Throughout the course I'll intermittently link to articles that pertain to the material we're covering. Feel free to send suggestions!
- Nov. 29, 2016 (BBC): The colossal African solar farm that could power Europe
- Nov. 29, 2016 (NYT): Giant Arch, a Feat of Engineering, Now Covers Chernobyl Site in Ukraine
- Nov. 4, 2016 (NYT): Elon Musk Says SpaceX Rocket Launches Might Resume Next Month
- Oct. 31, 2016 (Bloomberg): No One Saw Tesla's Solar Roof Coming Home battery packs and solar roofs.
- Oct. 31, 2016 (NYT): Canary Islands Are Alternate Site for Planned Mauna Kea Telescope Controversy and colonialism in locating the largest telescope in the world.
- Oct. 28, 2016 (Vox): America isn't using nearly as much renewable energy as Americans think
- Sep. 5, 2016 (ESA): ESA/Rosetta news: Philae Found! Finding a lost comet landing craft, after some unplanned low-gravity bouncing.
- Sep. 1, 2016 (CNN): 1970s spy satellite 'better than Google Earth' Spy satellite resolution... and film drops from space.
- Aug. 29, 2016 (NYT): Japan’s $320 Million Gamble at Fukushima: An Underground Ice Wall. Sealing in the meltdown site
- Aug. 29, 2016 (Vox): Millions of used electric car batteries will help store energy for the grid. Maybe.. What to do with old electric car batteries?
- Aug. 24, 2016 (Vox): The falling costs of US solar power, in 7 charts.Coming to your roof soon?
- Aug. 23, 2016 (Vox): Here’s how solar roofs fit into Elon Musk’s master plan
- Aug. 22, 2016 (LAT): Nuclear accident in New Mexico ranks among the costliest in U.S. history. Be sure to read the part about the kitty litter...
- July 29, 2016 (NYT): Does the Disappearance of Sea Ice Matter? A taste of the complexities of climate modeling.
Some Further Reading
If you liked the material in this course and want to learn more, here are some suggestions for further reading. If something specific piqued your interest, ask the professor for where to learn more!
Energy, Power, and Alternative Energy
- Energy for Future Presidents, Richard Muller
- The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, Daniel Yergin
Atoms and Heat
- The Disappearing Spoon: and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements, Sam Kean
Gravity, Force, and Space
- ... The Heavens and the Earth: A political history of the Space Age, Walter McDougall
Chain Reactions, Nuclear Reactors, and Atomic Bombs
- The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes
- Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, Eric Schlosser
Climate Change
- Up-to-date intro at climate.nasa.gov
Relativity
- Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy, Kip Thorne
- Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps: Empires of Time, Peter Galison
The Universe
- Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos: The story of the scientific quest for the secret of the Universe, Dennis Overbye
- Heart of Darkness: Unraveling the mysteries of the invisible Universe, Jeremiah Ostriker and Simon Mitton