Instructor Information

Instructor	Email	Office Location & Hours
Dr. Russell Herman	hermanr@uncw.edu	OS 2007J by appointment

General Information

Description

In this course we use Interstellar as a launching pad to explore the mysteries of the universe from its origins to the recent discoveries of gravitational waves spawned by colliding black holes, interstellar travel, and the portrayal of black holes and wormholes in film. We will read Kip Thorne's The Science of Interstellar as well as Interstellar: The Complete Screenplay, by J. Nolan and C. Nolan fill in the physics background from special and general relativity, quantum mechanics, and cosmology. How has our view of the universe changed over the last 100 years and what questions remain unanswered?

Required Text

The Science of Interstellar, Kip Thorne, 2014.

Interstellar: The Complete Screenplay, J. Nolan and C. Nolan, 2014.

Course Materials

Required Materials

Other readings and videos will be posted at the course website.

Optional Materials

More information will be posted on the web related to the topics we are studying. Links can be found with summaries to the material, homework assignments, additional audiovisual materials, etc. These will be accessible through the instructor's home page at people.uncw.edu/hermanr/interstellar.

Course Requirements

Participation/Attendance: You are expected to attend every class and to contribute to the class based upon your reading. After three excused absences, there will be a penalty of 2% for each absence from your total grade. Consideration may be given for COVID-19 based absences.

Papers: Throughout the semester you will be required to produce in-class and out of class written work. All class work will adhere to a set of guidelines that are specified at the website.

Presentation: You will prepare group presentations to be given to the class in the month of November. Criteria for the presentations and progress reports will be posted at the course website.

Exams and Grades: There will be a one in-class exam and a final exam. The exams will cover the basic material up to the date of the exam. The tentative dates for the exams are below.

Exam Schedule

Date	Subject
Oct. 6	Exam 1
Dec 3, 11:30	Final Exam

Your final grade will be based on the following:

Item	Percentage
Assignments	35%
Presentation	15%
Exam	20%
Final Exam	30%

89.5-100	A
79.5-89.5	B
69.5-79.5	C
59.5-69.5	D

This syllabus is subject to change!

Tentative Course Schedule

Classes	Topic	Reading
Aug 20	Introduction	Start Screenplay
Aug 25-27	The Universe as We Know It	Ch 2-3
Sep 1-3	Relativity and Tides	Ch 4
Sep 10	Black Holes, Gargantua	Ch 5-6
Sep 15-17	Orbits and Gravitational Lensing	Ch 7-8
Sep 22	Quasars and Accretion Disks	Ch 9, Finish Screenplay
Sep 24	Blight, Oxygen, Dust Bowl	Ch 11-12, Story Boards
Sep 29	Interstellar Travel	Ch 13
Oct 1	Screenplay/Story Board - discussion
Oct 6	Exam	Ch 1-13
Oct 8	Wormhole Physics	Ch 14-15
Oct 13	Gravitational Waves	Ch 16
Oct 15	Miller’s Planet	Ch 17-18
Oct 20	Mann’s Planet	Ch 19
Oct 22	Rotating Space Stations/Endurance	Ch 20
Oct 27	4^th and 5^th Dimensions	Ch 21-22
Oct 29	More Gravity	Ch 23-24
Nov 3	Professor’s Equation	Ch 25
Nov 5	Singularities and Quantum Gravity	Ch 26
Nov 10	The Tesseract	Ch 29
Nov 12-19	Student Presentations
Nov 24	Epilogue
Dec 3, 11:30	Final Exam	Cumulative

Additional Information

Academic Honor Code

"The University of North Carolina at Wilmington is committed to the proposition that the pursuit of truth requires the presence of honesty among all involved. It is therefore the institution's stated policy that no form of dishonesty among its faculty or students will be tolerated. Although all members of the university community are encouraged to report occurrences of dishonesty, each individual is principally responsible for his or her own honesty." Student Handbook. (This includes plagiarism, bribery and cheating.)

Student Disabilities

UNCW Disability Services supplies information about disability law, documentation procedures and accommodations that can be found at http://www.uncwil.edu/stuaff/disablty. To obtain accommodations the student should first contact Disability Services and present their documentation to the coordinator for review and verification.

Campus Respect Compact

UNCW has recently instituted a Respect Compact to affirm our commitment to a civil community, characterized by mutual respect. That Compact will soon be affixed to the wall of each classroom and can be accessed at: https://uncw.edu/diversity/src.html.

COVID Guidelines

Following CDC Guidelines, UNC System directives, and out of mutual respect as outlined in the UNCW Seahawk Respect Compact, all faculty, staff, and students will wear face coverings while inside buildings. Students who are unprepared or unwilling to wear protective face coverings will not be permitted to participate in face-to-face sessions and will need to leave the building. Noncompliant students will be referred to the Dean of Students for an Honor Code Violation. Any student who has a medical concern with wearing a face covering should contact the Disability Resource Center at (910) 962-7555.

Students who experience COVID-19 symptoms should immediately contact the Abrons Student Health Center at (910) 962-3280.