Day 1

22 english letters and 2 greek letters. That's how many different variables and labels we saw on day one. Why? I am taking a class called "Measuring Ancient Light" at Illinois Wesleyan University during the month of May. That's right, it's one subject, 5 hours a day, 17 days of class including finals. "Then why the title," you ask. Well, the good doctor Perera has professed that he will relieve us of his presence for 1.5 days. That leaves the 10 bewildered students with 15 and a half days to persuade Perera to drop the final so we don't have to stress out over learning 24 variables.

 

These variables compose about two dozen equations and principles, from the simple (F=ma) to the highly technical (Friedmann's Equation... due to certain symbols I don't even have the capability to type it out). Throw in a few time derivatives, a deep understanding of newtonian mechanics, electromagnetism, and about one page on the theory relativity and what you get is a fluid equation that by its complexity must explain a substance that is completely alien to anything I'm used to. What happens when we use the fluid equation to help find the derivative of Friedmann's equation? The answer: We get homework.

Velocity flow, inertial frames, Birkoff's theorem, cosmological time, Hubble's "constant", this random variable k which keeps popping up: I don't know if there is time enough to understand the principles expressed on day one, let alone a entire semester of cosmology.

Despite this, I have hope. I, a miniscule observer living on a puny blue planet in a homogeneous, isotropic, finite universe who sees distant large bodies of mass continually moving further and further away even as my gravity feebly attempts to pull even massless light towards me, have hope.

 

See, I learned something already.