Maria Valdes

For millennia, people have asked questions about the nature of the universe, its origins, and its history. Yet it is only recently that we have developed the tools to answer these questions through scientific observations. This class explores the cutting edge of our understanding of cosmology and the physics of the universe. What have we learned, and what are the remaining, open questions? We discuss the Big Bang, the expansion of the universe, the mysterious phenomena called Dark Matter and Dark Energy, and the methods that scientists use to study the farthest reaches of space and time.

For millennia, people have asked questions about the nature of the universe, its origins, and its history. Yet it is only recently that we have developed the tools to answer these questions through scientific observations. This class explores the cutting edge of our understanding of cosmology and the physics of the universe. What have we learned, and what are the remaining, open questions? We discuss the Big Bang, the expansion of the universe, the mysterious phenomena called Dark Matter and Dark Energy, and the methods that scientists use to study the farthest reaches of space and time.

About 9 billion years after the Big Bang, our Solar System's sun ignited from the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud. This course explores the 4.6 billion years of subsequent chemical evolution of the Solar System. Our tool of study, cosmochemistry, lies at the crossroads of chemistry, physics, geology, astronomy, and biology. As such, we can use it to help us answer some fundamental questions, including: What are the elemental and molecular building blocks of our Solar System? Under what conditions, and by which processes, did these building blocks assemble into planets, asteroids, moons, comets, meteorites, and interstellar dust? What is the Earth made of, how did it evolve over time, and why do we need to study extraterrestrial materials to understand our home planet? Where did water come from and what led to the rise of life on Earth? How can we use this knowledge to guide future space exploration?

About 9 billion years after the Big Bang, our Solar System's sun ignited from the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud. This course explores the 4.6 billion years of subsequent chemical evolution of the Solar System. Our tool of study, cosmochemistry, lies at the crossroads of chemistry, physics, geology, astronomy, and biology. As such, we can use it to help us answer some fundamental questions, including: What are the elemental and molecular building blocks of our Solar System? Under what conditions, and by which processes, did these building blocks assemble into planets, asteroids, moons, comets, meteorites, and interstellar dust? What is the Earth made of, how did it evolve over time, and why do we need to study extraterrestrial materials to understand our home planet? Where did water come from and what led to the rise of life on Earth? How can we use this knowledge to guide future space exploration?