Understanding science: what we cannot know

Overview

Is the universe infinite? Do we know what happened before the Big Bang? Where is human consciousness located in the brain? Are there more undiscovered particles beyond the Higgs boson?

In the modern world, science reigns supreme: weekly headlines proclaim the latest scientific breakthroughs, and numerous mathematical problems, once indecipherable, have now been solved. But are there limits to what we can discover about our physical universe?

This free course, Understanding Science: What We Cannot Know, investigates the boundaries of our understanding across numerous scientific fields. It explores whether it’s possible that we will one day know everything, or if some knowledge will always lie beyond the bounds of human comprehension.

This course has been created in collaboration with Marcus du Sautoy, Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and author of What We Cannot Know. Here’s Marcus to introduce the course.

This OpenLearn science course was produced with the kind support of Dangoor Education, the educational arm of The Exilarch's Foundation. This course is accredited by the CPD Standards Office, and successful completion will earn you 24 CPD points. Evidence of your CPD achievement is provided on the free Statement of Participation awarded on completion.

Anyone wishing to provide evidence of their enrolment on this course can do so by sharing their Activity Record on their OpenLearn Profile, which is available before completion of the course and earning the Statement of Participation.

Enrolling in the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Though badges are not accredited by The Open University, they are a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject, your commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.

Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation – which also displays your Open University badge.

The Open University would greatly appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin in our start-of-course survey. Once you complete the course, we would also value your feedback and suggestions for future improvement in our end-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential, and we will not pass on your details to others.

University: The Open University

Provider: OpenLearn

Categories: Particle Physics Courses, Quantum Physics Courses

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