Extraterrestrial Life Schedule

Printable schedule [pdf]

UGS 303

WEL 3.502

Spring 2015

 

Instructor

Teaching Assistants

 

Neal Evans

Wenbin Lu

Brian Mulligan

Kyle Kaplan

Office:

RLM 15.312A

RLM 16.312

RLM 16.216

RLM 15.310F

Phone:

471-4396

471-8275

471-0445

471-3647

Section:

MAI 220A

8, 9, 10

2, 3, 4

11, 12, 1

Hours:

TBA

W 4-5

TTh 2-3, or by appt

M 5-6

EMAIL: nje@astro.as.utexas.edu; kfkaplan@astro.as.utexas.edu; bwmulligan@astro.as.utexas.edu; wenbinlu@astro.as.utexas.edu

Website: https://www.as.utexas.edu/astronomy/education/spring15/evans/303.html

Schedule: Be sure to do the reading assignments before the class they are assigned for. Those who are prepared and ask questions or contribute to discussion will receive extra credit. If the scheduled office hours are not possible for you, we will make appointments for other times. Reading Assignments refer to chapters in the Class notes (Evans) or to the whole of the novel Contact by Carl Sagan. You should start reading Contact by about Spring Break, marking passages that discuss communications or travel ideas. Then review these before classes when those topics are discussed.

Date

Topic

Reading Assignments

Drake Equation Factor

1/20

Course Overview

1

 

1/22

Origin of Elements

2

 

1/27

Origin of Stars

3A-3C

R*

1/29

Origin of Planets

3D

fp

2/3

Nature of Solar Systems

3E

 

2/5

Habitable Planets

3F

ne

2/10

Habitable Planets

3F

 

2/12

Test 1 (Ch. 1-3)

 

 

2/17

Nature of Life

4A

 

2/19

Origin of Life

4B-C

fl

2/24

Origin of Life

4D

 

2/26

Alternatives

4E-4G

 

3/3

Life in Solar System

5A-B

 

3/5

Life in Solar System

5C-D

 

3/10

Test 2 (Ch. 4-5)

 

 

3/12

Biological Evolution

6A

Paper topics due

3/17

Spring Break

Start Reading Contact

3/19

Spring Break

Decide on paper topic

3/24

Origin of Intelligence

6B

fi

3/26

Cultural Evolution

7A

Paper outline, Para. 1

3/31

Evolution of World View

7B

fc

4/2

Lifetime

7C

L

4/7

Future of Civilization

7D

Paper due

4/9

Drake Equation

8

N, r

4/14

Test 3 (Ch. 6-7)

 

 

4/16

Communication

9A-D

 

4/21

Communication

9E

Papers returned

4/23

Contact (Communication)

Contact

 

4/28

Travel

10A-B

Paper rewrite due

4/30

Visitations?

10C

 

5/5

Contact (Travel, Reactions)

Contact

Course evaluation

5/7

Test 4 (Ch. 8-10 & Contact)

 

This test is required