Waking Up in the Universe

Even early humans looked up at the sky and wondered what they were seeing. The skies are inextricably tied to our spiritual understanding of ourselves and our surroundings. Modern science’s explanation of the universe is very different from those before, though perhaps not any less strange. Starting with the “cosmologies” of various cultures a few thousand years ago, I’ll describe and explain the history of the various observations, insights, and tests that have led to the current — very empirical — conception of the universe.

Faculty Bio

Professor Emeritus Gibor Basri taught in the Astronomy Department at UC Berkeley for 35 years. His favorite classes were the introductory courses for non-majors and small freshman seminars. He enjoys making science accessible to the general public and received the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization in 2016. 

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Member Praise for "Waking Up in the Universe"

Class and instruction over-the-top outstanding. Clear and level-appropriate descriptions of esoteric phenomena that were not always intuitive. Hard subject delivered with finesse. (I'm a nuclear physicist.) 

Professor Basri's relaxed folksy teaching style made a sometimes complex subject exciting, and his voice was warm and engaging. So many other teachers get lost in the details, but Basri never lost the human dimension of the subject, especially that the first astronomers were Africans!

Faculty Q&A

• Read an interview with Gibor Basri from our archive.