Biggest Ideas in the Universe
by Sean M. Carroll · first published 2022
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Physics intro that fills the gap between math-free pop science and university lectures: includes real equations and a crash course in the needed math, assumes no prior physics, and suits curious non-specialists.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Immense, strange and infinite, the world of modern physics often feels impenetrable to the undiscerning eye - a jumble of muons, gluons and quarks, impossible to explain without several degrees and a research position at CERN. But it doesn't have to be this way! Allow world-renowned theoretical physicist and bestselling author Sean Carroll to guide you through the biggest ideas in the universe. Elegant and simple, Carroll unravels this web of theories and formulae equation by equation, getting to the heart of the truths they represent. In Space, Time and Motion, the first book of this
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The Biggest Ideas in the Universe by Sean Carroll, an intro to modern physics, including homotopy and quantum field theory. He does some math but you'll follow if you've finished high school. Don't miss the Q&A videos in between the 26…
on “Ask HN: Long-form info-dense videos on YouTube you would recommend to anyone?” ↗…Sixty Symbols, The Royal Institution, Harry Rogers, Ben & Lois Orford, 3Blue1Brown, David Butler, PBS Eons (and PBS channels are nice in general), Adam Ruins Everything, OverSimplified, Sean Carroll's The Biggest Ideas in the Universe, Economics Explained, minutephysics, ElectroBOOM, NileRed, Stuff Made Here, GreatScott!, Electrician U, The Honest Carpenter, Fermilab, my mechanics, Hand Tool Rescue, Technology Connections, Practical…
on “Ask HN: YouTube Channels for the Intellectually Curious” ↗I understand the analogy you're trying to make, but that particular one doesn't track. Dark matter is required by quantum mechanics. Sean Carroll had a great explanation of this in his Biggest Ideas in the Universe video series. The models of particle creation in the early universe require there to be something with the characteristics of a class of particles holding the label "dark matter." "Structural racism,"…
on “Science magazine touts the existence of strong and ubiquitous “implicit bias”” ↗Sean Carroll's Biggest Ideas in the Universe is a nicely-structured survey of the field. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxZJcWcrxH3j...
on “Do We Need a Theory of Everything?” ↗The Biggest Ideas in the Universe A physics tour de force by Sean Carroll https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI09kat_GeI&list=PLrxfgDEc2N...
on “Ask HN: What educational YouTube channels do you watch?” ↗The author is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_M._Carroll Shortly after Covid19 started last year, he started a series of videos called "The Biggest Ideas in the Universe", playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI09kat_GeI&list=PLrxfgDEc2N... I've watched quite a lot of this so-called 'popular' hard science material on youtube, and this series was by far the…
on “Reality as a Vector in Hilbert Space” ↗I'd also recommend Sean Carroll. His "Biggest Ideas in the Universe" series is really great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI09kat_GeI&list=PLrxfgDEc2N... I'd also recommend his podcast, Mindscape.
on “PBS SpaceTime” ↗Sean Carroll's Biggest Ideas in the Universe series [0] is a pretty cool introduction to Physics, somewhere in between math-heavy university level lectures and popular science expositions without any math. Someone already mentioned Ben Eater's…
on “Ask HN: What's the best lecture series you've ever seen?” ↗Also a good series bot focusing more on the higher level (but without dissolving into woo) is Sean Carroll's Biggest Ideas in the Universe series https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxZJcWcrxH3jyj...
on “What the Higgs boson tells us about the universe” ↗Yoy may want to check out Sean Carroll's book "The Biggest Ideas in the Universe" vol. 1. He explains a bit of calculus, how to read and understand equations etc. Basically, this book contains a crash course in physics-related math smeared out across a few chapters. Perfect for noobs…
on “Simulating Fluids, Fire, and Smoke in Real-Time” ↗The Biggest Ideas in the Universe 1: Space, Time and Motion by Sean Carroll Very approachable introduction to the math behind classical physics.
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you've read so far in 2024?” ↗Carroll's latest book "Quanta and Fields: The Biggest Ideas in the Universe" is about all this quantum field theory, and I think it perfectly covers the gap between pop-sci and academic material for people with some math exposure. While other authors just keep shy of equations…
on “How the Higgs field gives mass to elementary particles” ↗Sean Carroll’s Biggest Ideas in the Universe YouTube series is fantastic. Just enough math to be interesting but nothing requiring a math degree. https://youtu.be/HI09kat_GeI
on “Noether's Theorem Revolutionized Physics” ↗Thanks for the kind words! For anyone curious to dive deeper into the crazyness that is quantum mechanics I can highly recommend a few resources: - Sean M Carroll's work, in particular his Biggest Ideas in the Universe books: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/biggestideas/ - Artur Ekert, basically the father of Quantum Cryptography has an amazing course for free on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ArturEkert .…
on “But good sir, what is electricity?” ↗I can’t recommend enough Sean’s “Biggest Ideas in the Universe” video series [1] It’s a series of 24 1-2 hour lectures + Q&A/recitations that assumes no prior knowledge of physics and aims to get you roughly to the knowledge level of a modern undergrad BA physics.…
on “Wormhole Tunnels in Spacetime May Be Possible, New Research Suggests” ↗