The Joy of Science is a popular video and audio course series, consisting of 60 lectures, each 30 minutes long, presented by Robert Hazen of the George Mason University and the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The course, first introduced in 2001, is part of The Great Courses series, and is produced and distributed by The Teaching Company, located in Chantilly, Virginia, in the United States. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
As the Clarence B. Robinson Professor at George Mason University, Robert Hazen developed innovative courses to promote scientific literacy in both scientists and non-scientists. [8] In a collaboration with physicist James Trefil, he wrote three undergraduate textbooks: The Sciences: An Integrated Approach (1993), [9] The Physical Sciences: An Integrated Approach (1995), [10] and Physics Matters: An Introduction to Conceptual Physics (2004). [11] Hazen used these as the basis for a 60-lecture video and audio course called The Joy of Science. [12] [8]
| No. | Title | No. | Title | No. | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | The Nature of Science | 21 | Introduction to Chemistry | 41 | The Atmospheric Cycle |
| 02 | The Scientific Method | 22 | The Chemistry of Carbon | 42 | The Rock Cycle |
| 03 | The Ordered Universe | 23 | States of Matter and Changes of State | 43 | What Is Life? |
| 04 | Celestrial and Terrestrial Mechanics | 24 | Phase Transformations and Chemical Reactions | 44 | Strategies of Life |
| 05 | Newton's Laws of Motion | 25 | Properties of Materials | 45 | Life's Molecular Building Blocks |
| 06 | Universal Gravitation | 26 | Semiconductors and Modern Microelectronics | 46 | Proteins |
| 07 | The Nature of Energy | 27 | Isotopes and Radioactivity | 47 | Cells–The Chemical Factories of Life |
| 08 | The First Law of Thermodynamics | 28 | Nuclear Fission and Fusion Reactions | 48 | Gregor Mendel, Founder of Genetics |
| 09 | The Second Law of Thermodynamics | 29 | Astronomy | 49 | The Discovery of DNA |
| 10 | Entropy | 30 | The Life Cycle of Stars | 50 | The Genetic Code |
| 11 | Magnetism and Static Electricity | 31 | Edwin Hubble and the Discovery of Galaxies | 51 | Reading the Genetic Code |
| 12 | Electricity | 32 | The Big Bang | 52 | Genetic Engineering |
| 13 | Electromagnetism | 33 | The Ultimate Structure of Matter | 53 | Cancer and Other Genetic Diseases |
| 14 | The Electromagnetic Spectrum, Part I | 34 | The Nebular Hypothesis | 54 | The Chemical Evolution of Life |
| 15 | The Electromagnetic Spectrum, Part II | 35 | The Solar System | 55 | Biological Evolution – A Unifying Theme of Biology |
| 16 | Relativity | 36 | The Earth as a Planet | 56 | The Fact of Evolution – The Fossil Record |
| 17 | Atoms | 37 | The Dynamic Earth | 57 | Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection |
| 18 | The Bohr Atom | 38 | The Plate Tectonics Revolution | 58 | Ecosystems and the Law of Unintended Consequences |
| 19 | The Quantum World | 39 | Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Plate Motions Today | 59 | The Ozone Hole, Acid Rain, and the Greenhouse Effect |
| 20 | The Periodic Table of Elements | 40 | Earth Cycles–Water | 60 | Science, the Endless Frontier |
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.
Geomicrobiology is the scientific field at the intersection of geology and microbiology and is a major subfield of geobiology. It concerns the role of microbes on geological and geochemical processes and effects of minerals and metals to microbial growth, activity and survival. Such interactions occur in the geosphere, the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. Geomicrobiology studies microorganisms that are driving the Earth's biogeochemical cycles, mediating mineral precipitation and dissolution, and sorbing and concentrating metals. The applications include for example bioremediation, mining, climate change mitigation and public drinking water supplies.
Geobiology is a field of scientific research that explores the interactions between the physical Earth and the biosphere. It is a relatively young field, and its borders are fluid. There is considerable overlap with the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, microbiology, paleontology, and particularly soil science and biogeochemistry. Geobiology applies the principles and methods of biology, geology, and soil science to the study of the ancient history of the co-evolution of life and Earth as well as the role of life in the modern world. Geobiologic studies tend to be focused on microorganisms, and on the role that life plays in altering the chemical and physical environment of the pedosphere, which exists at the intersection of the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and/or cryosphere. It differs from biogeochemistry in that the focus is on processes and organisms over space and time rather than on global chemical cycles.
Frank Christopher Hawthorne is an English-born Canadian mineralogist, crystallographer and spectroscopist. He works at the University of Manitoba and is currently distinguished professor emeritus. By combining graph theory, bond-valence theory and the moments approach to the electronic energy density of solids he has developed bond topology as a rigorous approach to understanding the atomic arrangements, chemical compositions and paragenesis of complex oxide and oxysalt minerals.
Ho-Kwang (Dave) Mao is a Chinese-American geologist. He is the director of the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Shanghai, China. He was a staff scientist at Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science for more than 30 years. Mao is a recognized leading scientist in high pressure geosciences and physical science. There are two minerals named after him, Davemaoite and Maohokite.
The branches of science, also referred to as sciences, scientificfields or scientific disciplines, are commonly divided into three major groups:
James Stanley Trefil is an American physicist and author of nearly fifty books. Much of his published work focuses on science for the general audience. He has served as Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia and, since 1988, as Robinson Professor of Physics at George Mason University. Among his books is Are We Unique?, an argument for human uniqueness in which he questions the comparisons between human intelligence and artificial intelligence. Trefil has also given presentations to judges and public officials about the intersections between science and the law.
The Carnegie Institution for Science, also known as Carnegie Science and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is an organization established to fund and perform scientific research in the United States. The headquarters of this institution is in Washington, D.C. As of June 30, 2020, the Institution's endowment was valued at $926.9 million. In 2018, the expenses for scientific programs and administration were $96.6 million. Eric Isaacs is president of the institution.
Hazenite is a hydrous phosphate mineral with chemical formula of KNaMg2(PO4)2 · 14 H2O, therefore a hydrous alkali magnesium phosphate. It is a member of the struvite group.
Earth system science (ESS) is the application of systems science to the Earth. In particular, it considers interactions and 'feedbacks', through material and energy fluxes, between the Earth's sub-systems' cycles, processes and "spheres"—atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, geosphere, pedosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and even the magnetosphere—as well as the impact of human societies on these components. At its broadest scale, Earth system science brings together researchers across both the natural and social sciences, from fields including ecology, economics, geography, geology, glaciology, meteorology, oceanography, climatology, paleontology, sociology, and space science. Like the broader subject of systems science, Earth system science assumes a holistic view of the dynamic interaction between the Earth's spheres and their many constituent subsystems fluxes and processes, the resulting spatial organization and time evolution of these systems, and their variability, stability and instability. Subsets of Earth System science include systems geology and systems ecology, and many aspects of Earth System science are fundamental to the subjects of physical geography and climate science.
Robert Miller Hazen is an American mineralogist and astrobiologist. He is a research scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington's Geophysical Laboratory and Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University, in the United States. Hazen is the Executive Director of the Deep Carbon Observatory.
Harold Joseph Morowitz was an American biophysicist who studied the application of thermodynamics to living systems. Author of numerous books and articles, his work includes technical monographs as well as essays. The origin of life was his primary research interest for more than fifty years. He was the Robinson Professor of Biology and Natural Philosophy at George Mason University after a long career at Yale.
The Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) is a global research program designed to transform understanding of carbon's role in Earth. DCO is a community of scientists, including biologists, physicists, geoscientists and chemists, whose work crosses several traditional disciplinary lines to develop the new, integrative field of deep carbon science. To complement this research, the DCO's infrastructure includes public engagement and education, online and offline community support, innovative data management, and novel instrumentation development.
An organic mineral is an organic compound in mineral form. An organic compound is any compound containing carbon, aside from some simple ones discovered before 1828. There are three classes of organic mineral: hydrocarbons, salts of organic acids, and miscellaneous. Organic minerals are rare, and tend to have specialized settings such as fossilized cacti and bat guano. Mineralogists have used statistical models to predict that there are more undiscovered organic mineral species than known ones.
The Carbon Mineral Challenge is a citizen science project dedicated to accelerating the discovery of carbon-bearing minerals. The program launched in 2015 December with sponsorship from the Deep Carbon Observatory. The project ended in 2019 September, with 31 new carbon-bearing minerals found from 27 locations.
Although diamonds on Earth are rare, extraterrestrial diamonds are very common. Diamonds so small that they contain only about 2000 carbon atoms are abundant in meteorites, and some of them formed in stars before the Solar System existed. High pressure experiments suggest large amounts of diamonds are formed from methane on the ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune, while some planets in other planetary systems may be almost pure diamond. Diamonds are also found in stars and may have been the first mineral ever to have formed.
Mineral evolution is a recent hypothesis that provides historical context to mineralogy. It postulates that mineralogy on planets and moons becomes increasingly complex as a result of changes in the physical, chemical and biological environment. In the Solar System, the number of mineral species has grown from about a dozen to over 5400 as a result of three processes: separation and concentration of elements; greater ranges of temperature and pressure coupled with the action of volatiles; and new chemical pathways provided by living organisms.
Stephen George Brush is a scholar in the field of history of science whose career spanned the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. His research resulted in hundreds of journal articles and over a dozen books.
Charles Thompson Prewitt was an American mineralogist and solid state chemist known for his work on structural chemistry of minerals and high-pressure chemistry.
