2020-21 Catalog: First-Year Seminars

Why do we have 60 minutes in an hour? How did we invent writing? How do we transmit ideas to future generations? The goal of the class is to learn how to enjoy ignorance, be curious and try and discover the origins and the evolutionary processes that led to the ideas and artifacts that are a part of our life. The class is collaborative and interactive: You will teach as much as you will learn-you will learn as much as you will teach. Freshmen only; limited enrollment.

This course is an intuitive introduction to waves. Have you ever wanted to break a wineglass with sound? Or make your own hologram? Or stand under a powerline with a fluorescent light tube? Ever wondered what a soliton wave or a vortex is? Come do this and more, as we dissect various types of wave phenomena mathematically and then see them in action with your own experiments.

This course will focus on the physics of sound, how musical instruments make it, and how we hear it, including readings, discussions, demonstrations, and student observations using sound analysis software. In parallel we will consider what differentiates music from other sounds, and its role psychically and culturally. Students will do a final project of their choice and design, with possibilities including a book review, analysis of recordings of actual musical instruments, or instrument construction and analysis. Freshmen only; limited enrollment.

Freshmen are offered the opportunity to enroll in this class by submitting potential solutions to problems posed in the fall term. A small number of solutions will be selected as winners, granting those students permission to register. This course demonstrates how research ideas arise, are evaluated, and tested and how the ideas that survive are developed. Weekly group discussions and one-on-one meetings with faculty allow students to delve into cutting edge scientific research. Ideas from physics are used to think about a huge swath of problems ranging from how to detect life on extrasolar planets to exploring the scientific underpinnings of science fiction in Hollywood films to considering the efficiency of molecular machines. Support for summer research at Caltech between freshman and sophomore years will be automatic for students making satisfactory progress. Graded pass/fail. Freshmen only; limited enrollment.

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions constitute some of the world's major natural hazards. What is the science behind prediction and/or rapid response to these events? We will review the current understanding of the science, the efforts that have been made in earthquake and volcano forecasting, and real-time response to these events. We will learn about advances in earthquake preparation in Southern California, and volcanic eruption forecasting and hazard mitigation elsewhere. There is a required field trip to visit faults and volcanoes somewhere in southern California. Freshmen only; limited enrollment.

To paraphrase a Caltech engineering colleague: "In terms of Earth and the Environment, although fascinating, until recently our species had been nothing more than the hood ornament on a really interesting car. We should be studying what's under the hood, the microbial world, if we want to understand the engine". We will examine striking examples of microbes and microbial activities in the environment. There is one required field trip to visit sites of microbial interest somewhere in southern California. Freshmen only; limited enrollment.