The concept of infinity has occupied the minds of philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists since antiquity. We bump up against the very large (images from the Webb Space Telescope or the national debt) and the very small (DNA evidence in trials or the COVID virus) in our everyday lives. Descartes even used the idea of infinity to “prove” the existence of God! In this course we will explore the concepts and the paradoxes of the infinite. No math skills beyond those you learned in grade school are required, but a flexible and inquiring mind certainly is.
Instructor Theodore (Ted) Williams is Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers University and former Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory. He has a physics B.S. degree from Purdue University and astronomy Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology. Ted spent most of his career at Rutgers, where he pursued observational studies of galaxies and developed astronomical instrumentation, while teaching a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in physics and astronomy. He has spent innumerable nights at telescopes around the world, including observatories in California, Arizona, Texas, and Hawaii, as well as Chile, China, and South Africa, and an orbiting facility on the Space Shuttle (Ted stayed firmly on the ground). He has taught a number of astronomy courses for Coastal Senior College and currently serves as CSC President.