Explore the foundational concepts of Quantum Physics in this introductory course designed for autodidacts and those curious about the philosophical implications of quantum theory.
This course offers a clear and patient introduction to the foundational concepts of Quantum Physics, designed for curious learners without heavy technical backgrounds. It aims to demystify complex ideas and separate genuine Quantum Theory from misleading popular interpretations.
A primer on the conceptual foundations of Quantum Physics
Note: Take a look at the free lectures! Scroll down to the curriculum and click on 'Basics I'. The 'preview' lectures are free. That might help you to get a better feeling of what's about.
Why this course? This is an introductory course (Basics) that originates from my desire to share my knowledge of the mysterious and fascinating world of Quantum Physics. Considering how the media (sometimes also physicists) present Quantum Theory focusing only on highly dubious ideas and speculations backed by no evidence or, worse, promote pseudo-scientific hypes that fall regularly into and out of fashion, I felt it necessary to create a serious introduction to the conceptual foundations of Quantum Physics. The second part (Supplemental), which focuses further on some selected topics, can be found on the Udemy portal as well.
Who is it for? For the autodidact who is looking for a serious and rigorous introduction to the foundations of quantum physics and some of its philosophical implications. This course does not need a technical background except for some basics, such as elementary concepts of algebra, trigonometry, calculus, and statistics. It is easier than a university course but requires more effort than a popular science lecture. It might be easier for those having already some math background but a mathematical appendix is furnished for those who need a reminder.
Even though these lectures are not a replacement for college courses, they could complement it. University or college classes do not address the foundations and the philosophical aspects of Quantum Physics, teaching Quantum Mechanics mostly from the formal and mathematical perspective, which is something we will restrict only to the essential basics here. While in schools, colleges, and universities, Quantum Physics is taught with a dry and almost exclusively technical approach which furnishes only a superficial insight on its foundations, this course is recommended also to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students who would like to look further. Not only physicists could (re-)discover some topics but philosophers, engineers, IT students or historians of science could acquire with this course a basic preparation that is unlikely to be offered in most departments. This online course proposes itself also to become part of a faculty curriculum in departments or other institutions that would like to expand their interests toward the foundations of Quantum Physics (contact the instructor for details).
What is it about? A course on the conceptual foundations of Quantum Physics on topics that you won't find elsewhere explained at an introductory level. It will lead you by hand as clearly as possible from the abc of Quantum Mechanics to the most recent experiments and their implications.
We review the standard concepts like the wave-particle duality, Heisenberg`s uncertainty principle, Schrödinger`s cat, the vacuum zero-point energy, and virtual particles, among several others. Then we deepen the subject analyzing quantum entanglement, the so-called "EPR paradox" which questions our naive understanding of the meaning of reality and locality (for more details on the content look up the curriculum page).
My aim is to deliver the material necessary so that you will be able to distinguish by yourself between mere speculative (and more or less extravagant) interpretations in fashion, and the real Quantum Theory and its experimental facts as it is.
The conceptual foundations of Quantum Physics.
A comprehensive A-Z guide that will save you a ton of time in searching elsewhere trying to piece all the different information together.
Quantum Theory without falling into oversimplifications or hyped versions and yet conceived for an audience of non-physicists.
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Marco Masi (born 1965) attended the German School of Milan, Italy. He graduated in physics at the University of Padua, and later obtained a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Trento. He worked as a postdoc in universities in Italy, France, and Germany, and as a school teacher for three years. After he had authored several scientific papers (see...
So far, so good
b
This class helped me finally 'get it'
Very, Very hard, but well explained, appreciate that, thank you :)
Refresher course for me. Simple and well explained using graphs and charts and pointing them out as he speaks
This course is an excellent match for me.
Great intro to QM and particle physics with just enough math to take the course beyond a philosophical overview but not so much as to be discouraging for those without a background in physics.
A very informative introduction to quantum physics, giving a fair amount to fundamentals and history which I find extremely helpful to understand the subject. Thank you for this course!
A simple way of trying to bring order to information chaos
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Erik D.
Why did I rate this as 3, could be better? Tough I am enjoying the content and appreciate the clarifications like, light having the properties (after deduction) of a wave and never been seen as a wave, which turned on a lightbulb for me, pun intended, I find a lot of the crap that make the content, boring as watching paint dry, like Johnny Smellysocks that invented x or y. We don't care. We don't care enough and bringing up Thomas Young (1773-1829) etc. the whole time, it detracts from the meat and potatoes. It is like Dead poets society, where the dead people suck the marrow from the bones. I have to seriously fight to *not switch off and pick navel lint, as it is more interesting than dead people. Normal people do not talk about doctor peabody's toothpaste all the time, it's just toothpaste. While some people had issue with the instructor's accent, I had none, I suppose because English is not my first language either. The course does feel a bit like reading-off-a-powerpoint and fails to fully engage. I'm not done with the course, but it keeps popping up for me to rate it. So I'd say 4/5 on content and 2/5 for presentation.