ISP 205, Section 3, fall 1999

Homework 1

Due: Wednesday, September 15, 1999

                                        Name: ________________________


                                        Student Number: ______________
Select ONE of the (three) topics below. Read TWO of the articles on the web referred to. Write THREE BRIEF paragraphs: (a) Define the question and give your opinion on this issue. (b) State whether you are convinced by the authors' evidence. (c) Give the reason why the authors' evidence does or does not convince you. EMAIL your answer to me at: steinr@pilot.msu.edu. Give the subject "HW1".

  1. The Beginning of the Universe.

    http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Cosmos/InTheBeginning.html
    http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/html/big_bang.html
    http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/hawking/BOT.html
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/linde.html
    http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/march96/universe1.html

  2. The Fate of the Universe.

    http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/html/geometry.html
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/omega.html
    http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/expand-forever.html
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/gravlens.html
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlkop/farflung.html

  3. Life in the Universe.

    http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/hawking/life.html
    http://www.newscientist.com/nsplus/insight/mars/life.html
    http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/marslife.html
    http://www.newscientist.com/nsplus/insight/astrobiology/lifeforce.html

Visions of the Universe
Bob Stein's home page , email: steinr@pilot.msu.edu