A Short Non-credit Course on "Atomic Science for Poets"

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State Presents:
A non-technical 6-week class with Professor Andrew Fraknoi
The Mysterious World Inside the Atom: Atomic Science for Poets
Tuesdays from 12:30 to 2:30 pm via Zoom (Oct. 7 – Nov. 11, 2025)
Space is Limited: Register Early
Join us for a 6-week, richly illustrated tour of the atomic world that lies beneath our everyday conception of reality. Using historical anecdotes, analogies from everyday life, thought experiments, and touches of humor, we’ll explore atomic theory from the Greeks to today, and look especially at the revolution in our understanding of the world of the very small that was begun by Einstein and others at the start of the 20th century.
We’ll focus particularly on quantum mechanics, and its bizarre, yet experimentally verified, ideas of how things work inside the atom. We’ll cover the work of Einstein, Rutherford, Schroedinger, Heisenberg, among others, all explained in everyday language. We will conclude with an introduction to quantum black holes, with which Stephen Hawking combined two wildly different arenas of science that were thought to be incompatible. No background in science or math will be assumed or necessary, but some of the ideas might just make your brain sizzle.
Three easy steps to register:

1. Sign in or create a free account at: https://www.campusce.net/sfsu/account/signin.aspx
2. Join the Institute at: https://www.campusce.net/sfsu/course/course.aspx?catId=14 (a modest fee)
3. Register for the class at:
   https://www.campusce.net/sfsu/course/course.aspx?C=559&pc=138&mc=0&sc=0
   Andrew Fraknoi retired as Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College in 2017. He was chosen the California Professor of the Year in 2007 by the Carnegie Endowment and has won several national prizes for his teaching. He is the lead author of OpenStax Astronomy, a free, electronic textbook, which is now the leading astronomy textbook in North America. Recently, he has been writing science fiction stories with good astronomy in them; 11 of his tales have been published so far. He appears regularly on local & national radio, explaining astronomical ideas in terms everyone can understand. The International Astronomical Union has named Asteroid 4859 Asteroid Fraknoi to recognize his contributions to the public appreciation of science. See: http://fraknoi.com for more information about his work.
   The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State is a community of inquiring adults, age 50+, offering non-credit courses, lectures, and interest groups. Many are held remotely, so you don’t need to reside in San Francisco to participate. You must become a member of the Institute to take the class, but the cost is quite reasonable.