Theory of General Relativity

In this course, our goal will be to gain an understanding of the concept of Einstein’s General Relativity, which explains the behavior of space and time, delves into the origins of gravitational force, and ultimately predicts the existence of black holes and gravitational waves. During lectures, I adopt a more intuitive approach, utilizing mathematics that most high-school students are already familiar with. We will explore Einstein’s motivation for developing this new theory, which goes beyond classical theory of gravity. By the end of the course, students will gain a different perspective on the world and find the intricacies of life in our Universe even more fascinating.

1 | Revision of Mathematics
– In the first lecture, I will ensure that we are all on the same page with our mathematical tools, introducing some new formulas essential throughout the course.

2 | Seeking the Ultimate Clocks
– Before Einstein formulated his theory of General Relativity in 1915, he had discovered the concept of Special Relativity in 1905 and understood that it might not present a complete picture.
– Special Relativity explores how time behaves when objects travel very close to the speed of light, explaining that there is no ultimate clock in the universe.

3 | Curved Spaces
– Until the 19th century, Euclidean geometry was the only type of geometry considered. To understand general relativity, we need to go beyond and comprehend how shapes and spaces behave when they become curved.
– We will use the everyday globe used in geography classes to rethink the Pythagorean theorem and ultimately build a new curved Universe.

4 | Beyond Vectors
– While most high school students are familiar with vectors that give us direction and magnitude of physical quantities, in this class, we will extend our knowledge to tensors, understanding their usefulness not only for general relativity but also in other fields of physics.

5 | From Newton to Einstein
– We will derive Einstein’s Field Equations and compare them with the standard Newton’s law of gravity taught in high school.
– Observe how this new concept of General Relativity explains gravity, electromagnetism, and even incorporates the special relativity taught in Lecture 2.

6 | Black Holes
– The new theory of gravity will be taken to extremes as we explore the concept of Black Holes.
– We will demonstrate how time and space behave in such conditions and attempt to simulate a Black Hole, as shown in the film Interstellar, using the knowledge gained in previous lectures.

Bohdan Glisevic

Bohdan is a final-year physics student at University College London, where he explores the applicability of optical and electrical traps for sensing extremely small forces. While his main focus is on experimental physics, he is also very interested in the theory of modern research, applied mathematics, and computer science. During his high school years, he was a very active participant in the International Young Physicists‘ Tournament, as well as many other physics-oriented competitions and seminars. His passion for physics was reflected through participation in internships at renowned research institutes such as CERN or the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. In the future, he plans to stay in research that experimentally explores the boundary between classical and quantum physics. For Bohdan, science communication is very important, and in his lectures, he tries to present seemingly difficult concepts of General Relativity that convey the behavior of time and space in our Universe through an intuitive approach. He believes that no matter how scary the formula might look, it must have roots in simple ideas that anyone can learn. When Bohdan is not working in the lab, he spends time with his friends, watches movies, swims, or can be found creating some aesthetic graphs.

Session D

Art Against the Mainstream

Štěpán Folget

Biological Psychiatry

Aleksa Petković

Contagion: infectious disease and society

Jana Lohrova

Cross-cultural studies 101

Mwika Kiarie

Defending Human Rights

Mirek Crha

History from Liberty to Liberation

Emma Nabi-Bourgois

Law and Morality

Eva Hamašová

Medicine

Soňa Feciskaninová

Neuronal Biophysics

Sara Banovska

Positive psychology

Laura Opletalová

Sound, music, and science

Sol Johansen

Sustainable Cities of the Future

Tereza Zoumpalova

Sustainable design

Mariana Ochodková

Theory of General Relativity

Bohdan Glisevic