Biggest Ideas in the Universe

Sean Carroll, Theoretical Physicist and Professor at Johns Hopkins University, has a passion to understand the workings of the universe, and has dedicated his career to sharing his understanding with the public. His 2022 book, The Biggest Ideas in the Universe (Penguin Random House, 2022), is his latest contribution. The book is based on a series of conversational videos he produced during the pandemic. The videos and his book are about the fundamental ideas underlying modern physics’ understanding of nature’s reality. Per Carroll, the goal of this book is to fill the gap between what you generally get as a college level science student, and what you get as an interested layperson. Carroll does expose us to equations but uses them to explain the underlying physics in a way that anyone who has had high school algebra can understand. In this study group, each week we will read assigned material beforehand; we will then view Carroll’s corresponding videos together during our Zoom meeting. As we watch the videos, we will call on each other, as Carroll’s surrogate, to answer questions, explain, and discuss the ideas, in our version of peer learning. Please join us. It should be informative, revealing, and fun.