Our views of the universe have changed a lot in the past century, and in the last decades. Astronomers and
physicists have struggled to understand the beginnings of our universe. It is now believed that the universe
is expanding and that we only know a fraction of it while we begin the search for dark matter and dark
energy. If ones runs the history of the universe backwards, what do we find? What was the universe like in
the first three minutes? How does one do useful science about a time in which nobody existed? How did our
view of the universe get to this point and where are we headed? We will explore what is known and see that
there are theories that some cosmologists are hesitant to accept, gaps in our knowledge and in our data.

Reading from books such as in the list below, articles and newsworthy content related to recent discoveries
and explorations such as the James Webb Telescope. 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/origins.

Required Texts:

• The First Three Minutes, S. Weinberg,Basic Books; Updated edition (1993).
• Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe, S. Singh, Harper Perennial, (2005)
• Cosmology for the Curious, D. Perlov and A. Vilenkin, Springer, (2018)

Optional Texts

• A Briefer History of Time , S. Hawking and L. Mlodinow, Bantam, (2008).
• Foundations of Modern Cosmology, J. F. Hawley and K. A. Holcomb, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition (2005).
• Cosmic Origins: Science’s Long Quest to Understand How Our Universe Began, M. M. Waldrop,
  Springer; 1st ed. (2022).

people.uncw.edu/hermanr/origins

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.

Assignments: There will be periodic assignments possibly consisting of essays, electronic journals, or in-class short responses. These will be based upon the texts and assorted articles and videos.

Papers: Throughout the semester you will be required to produce in-class and out of class written work. All out of class work will adhere to a set of guidelines that are specified at the website. In particular, there will be one
long paper adhering to instructions to be provided later.

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

Your final grade will be based on the following:

This syllabus is subject to change!
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