The Origin of the Universe

Instructor: V. Celli, Room 311D Physics Bldg, Tel. 924-6573, vc@virginia.edu
Office hours: Wed 11-12, Fri 11-12

Textbook: Hawking, Stephen, The Illustrated A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantham, 1996)

Other recommended books:

• Barrow, John D., The Origin of the Universe (New York: Basic Books, 1994). This was the textbook last year. It treats its subject in greater depth than Hawking's book, but does not have color pictures.
• Ferguson, Kitty, Stephen Hawking: Quest for a Theory of Everything (New York: Bantham, 1993). This will help understand some difficult pages of A Brief History of Time and also gives Hawking's life story. Very readable.
• Weinberg, Steven, The First Three Minutes (New York: Basic Books, 1978). This is the classic account "for the general public" of what was known in 1976, with an added update to '82. Hawking's book gives only a summary of the "standard Big Bang cosmology" described in this book.

• Course Description
  
• Course Organization: grading policies, syllabus
  
  • Class presentations: titles and dates
    
• Links to Web sites, with fine pictures and recent lectures (viewing may be slow)
  
• Notes, slides and downloaded Web files (fast viewing)
  
• Questions and Answers. See below for easy-mail form.