General Relativity, Black Holes, and Cosmology

3 points · University catalogue

CC/GS: Partial Fulfillment of Science Requirement Einstein's General Theory of Relativity replaced Newtonian gravity with an elegant theory of curved spacetime. Einstein's theory led to unforseen and unnerving predictions of singularities and cosmological instabilities. Nearly a century later, these mathematical oddities have been confirmed astrophysically in the existence of black holes, an expanding universe, and a big bang. The course will cover Einstein's General Theory, beginning with special relativity, with an emphasis on black holes and the big bang.