OLLI@DU / 2023 FALL / COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Impacts of Climate Change STEM 1001

Tuesday

Dates: 9/19 to 11/7 (8 weeks)

Time: 9:30–11:30 AM

Facilitators: Jim Kunkel, Senior Facilitator/ Timothy Steele, Master Facilitator

Location: 1st Universalist

Class Limit: 25 Participants

Sponsoring Site: Central

Widespread, rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have and continue to occur. The changes to many aspects of the climate system are unprecedented in history. Human influence is very likely the driver of High Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and the warming of the global upper ocean. This ocean warming has accounted for over 91% of the heating in the climate system and has increased steadily over the past century. Human influence is also very likely the driver of the global retreat of glaciers. And it is certain that human-caused CO2 emissions are the main driver of current global acidification of the surface open ocean water.

Come join us for interactive discussions of these critical issues.

James Webb Space Telescope Part 2: Review and Update STEM 1002

Tuesday

Dates: 9/19 to 11/7 (8 weeks)

Time: 1–3 PM

Facilitator: Ronald Knox

Location: Columbine United Church Class Limit: 35 Participants

Sponsoring Site: South

This course is about how the stunning images we see are created, how technologies are used to develop, launch, and keep the James Webb Space Telescope in space. We will discuss and explore:

• the JWST development timeline

• JWST technical equipment capabilities, and the Hubble telescope

• why the JWST is positioned at the L2 orbit

• how the telescope determines the distance to the stars and galaxies

• the use of the gravitational lens

• how the JWST hunts for black holes

We will also cover the relationship between the telescope and Earendel and its relationship to Big Bang. The impact on homo sapiens status in the universe will also be discussed. Participant questions will generate topics to explore for ongoing class sessions.

James Webb Space Telescope Update: Operations & Astronomical Discoveries

STEM 1010

Thursday

Dates: 9/21 to 11/9 (8 weeks)

Time: 9:30-11:30 AM

Facilitators: Ronald Knox/Charles Holt , Platinum Facilitator

Location: Columbine United Church

Class Limit: 35 Participants

Sponsoring Site: South

The James Webb Space Telescope is an orbiting infrared observatory that complements and extends the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, with longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity. Looking much closer to the beginning of time, it is searching, and finding, evidence of the first galaxies or luminous objects formed after the Big Bang. It is beginning to measure the physical and chemical properties of planetary systems and observe the first stages to the formation of stars and planetary systems. The class will cover and examine these and other discoveries in this magnificent effort to understand the universe and our place in it.

Major Advances in Science and Our View of Reality

STEM 1003

Tuesday

Dates: 9/19 to 11/7 (8 weeks)

Time: 9:30–11:30 AM

Facilitator: Dan Putnam, Master Facilitator

Location: Online

Class Limit: Unlimited

Sponsoring Site: West

While the term “revolution” has been debated as it applies to science, clearly there have been revolutionary changes in the way we understand our place in the universe and how we understand ourselves. We obviously cannot cover all the changes in science, but we will cover areas like earth’s place in the universe, evolution, the profound change that relativity brought to our understanding of time, space, and gravity, and what the strange results in quantum physics might mean for our understanding of “knowledge.” We will also look at how psychology has changed our understanding of ourselves in the past 150 years. How we comprehend ourselves and the world around us has changed (and continues to change) in ways our ancestors would have viewed as unbelievable.