- Current section: Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Physics and the physical world
- 2 World-views
- 3 Appendix: Some highlights of physics
- 4 Suggestions for further reading
- References
- Acknowledgements
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The restless Universe
The restless Universe introduces you to major achievements and figures in the...
The restless Universe introduces you to major achievements and figures in the history of physics, from Copernicus to Einstein and beyond. The route from classical to quantum physics will be laid out for you without recourse to challenging mathematics but with the fundamental features of theories and discoveries described in sufficient detail to whet your appetite for further physics study.
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
- explain the meaning of all the emboldened terms introduced in this unit;
- explain what is meant by a physical world-view and describe some of the major world-views that have emerged during the evolution of physics;
- describe some of the major concepts of physics, give brief biographical sketches of some of the major contributors to the development of physics and name some of the major events that have helped to shape the subject;
- comment on some of the philosophical issues that are raised by the study of physics.
- Duration: 12 hours
- Published on: Tuesday 17th May 2011
- Level: Intermediate
- Posted under: Physics and Astronomy
Contents
The restless Universe
Introduction

This unit offers a fascinating overview of the ‘big ideas’ that have shaped physics from the time of Kepler to the present day. Using little mathematics, the unit surveys fundamental features of key physical theories and provides the essential context for the further study of physics.
This unit is an adapted extract from the course The physical world (S207) [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]
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- Creative-Commons: The Open University is proud to release this free course under a Creative Commons licence. However, any third-party materials featured within it are used with permission and are not ours to give away. These materials are not subject to the Creative Commons licence. See terms and conditions. Full details can be found in the Acknowledgements section.
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