Sunday 1 January 2012

It's time to learn... everything.

I've always liked learning, but recently I've started noticing just how much stuff I have previously learnt, but subsequently forgotten.  Someone will start talking about eigenvectors and eigenvalues, and even though I can still spell the words, I have no idea what they mean.  My retired Dad starts talking about the basic equations of Higher Physics and while they look familiar, it's all lost in the mists of time.

Thankfully, access to information is easier today than it has ever been.  My wee brother pointed my Dad at the MIT OpenCourseWare Physics lectures, and he's become so engrossed in them that he's just ordered an old edition of the set text online.

So in 2012 I'll be scouring the net for information in order to better understand the world around me, to relearn things I once knew and to find out things that I never knew about before.

I'm starting off by revisiting a series of short videos produced by the Open University on some physics fundamentals and the philosophy of science by one of the best guys I've ever seen talk on the topic, Professor Russell Stannard.  Stannard's an unusual guy -- an award-winning teacher and science writer, a children's author and a keen sculptor.

Here's the first video in the series of 10 -- you can follow on from that video to the rest of the series on YouTube.  Enjoy!

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