Michael E. (Mike) Brown

Ge 103. Introduction to the Solar System. 9 units (3-0-6); third term, 2025-26. Prerequisites: instructor's permission. Formation and evolution of the solar system. Interiors, surfaces, and atmospheres. Orbital dynamics, chaos, and tidal friction. Cratering. Comets and asteroids. Extrasolar planetary systems.
Instructor: Brown

Ge/Ay 11 c. Introduction to Earth and Planetary Sciences: Planetary Sciences. 9 units (3-0-6); third term, 2025-26. Prerequisites: Ma 1 ab, Ph 1 ab. A broad introduction to the present state and early history of the solar system, including terrestrial planets, giant planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and rings. Earth-based observations, observations by planetary spacecraft, study of meteorites, and observations of extrasolar planets are used to constrain models of the dynamical and chemical processes of planetary systems. Although Ge 11 abcd is designed as a sequence, any one term may be taken as a standalone course. Physicists and astronomers are particularly welcome.
Instructor: Brown

FS/Ge 20. First-Year Seminar: Life in the Universe. 6 units (2-0-4); first term, 2025-26. For now, Earth remains the only place in the universe where life is known to exist, but recent advances in planetary exploration and astronomical observation could change that in the near future. We will explore the conditions that led to life on Earth and will investigate the history of our own biosphere. We will look at the current techniques used to understand where conditions might be amenable for life to have arisen elsewhere, and we will discuss the prospects for detection of such life in the future at places including Mars, Europa, Titan, and planets around other stars. This course will bring in ideas and techniques from biology, geology, planetary science, and astronomy to allow us to address -- and perhaps some day answer -- the millennia-old question of whether or not we are alone in the universe. First-year (undergraduates) only; limited enrollment.
Instructor: Brown

Ge 103. Introduction to the Solar System. 9 units (3-0-6); second term, 2024-25. Prerequisites: instructor's permission. Formation and evolution of the solar system. Interiors, surfaces, and atmospheres. Orbital dynamics, chaos, and tidal friction. Cratering. Comets and asteroids. Extrasolar planetary systems.
Instructor: Brown

Ge/Ay 11 c. Introduction to Earth and Planetary Sciences: Planetary Sciences. 9 units (3-0-6); second term, 2024-25. Prerequisites: Ma 1 ab, Ph 1 ab. A broad introduction to the present state and early history of the solar system, including terrestrial planets, giant planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and rings. Earth-based observations, observations by planetary spacecraft, study of meteorites, and observations of extrasolar planets are used to constrain models of the dynamical and chemical processes of planetary systems. Although Ge 11 abcd is designed as a sequence, any one term may be taken as a standalone course. Physicists and astronomers are particularly welcome.
Instructor: Brown

FS/Ge 20. First-Year Seminar: Life in the Universe. 6 units (2-0-4); first term, 2024-25. For now, Earth remains the only place in the universe where life is known to exist, but recent advances in planetary exploration and astronomical observation could change that in the near future. We will explore the conditions that led to life on Earth and will investigate the history of our own biosphere. We will look at the current techniques used to understand where conditions might be amenable for life to have arisen elsewhere, and we will discuss the prospects for detection of such life in the future at places including Mars, Europa, Titan, and planets around other stars. This course will bring in ideas and techniques from biology, geology, planetary science, and astronomy to allow us to address -- and perhaps some day answer -- the millennia-old question of whether or not we are alone in the universe. First-year (undergraduates) only; limited enrollment.
Instructor: Brown

Ge 108. Applications of Physics to the Earth Sciences. 9 units (3-0-6); first term, 2023-24. Prerequisites: Ph 2 and Ma 2 or equivalent. An intermediate course in the application of the basic principles of classical physics to the earth sciences. Topics will be selected from: mechanics of rotating bodies, the two-body problem, tidal theory, oscillations and normal modes, diffusion and heat transfer, wave propagation, electro- and magneto-statics, Maxwell's equations, and elements of statistical and fluid mechanics.
Instructor: Brown