What's New

Student in Discovery Course invents ChronoZoom, now a finalist for SXSW award
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Discovery Course professor Geoff Marcy is appointed to the first-ever endowed chair to support the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
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Saul Perlmutter (in a tux!) receives his Nobel prize in Stockholm.
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Discovery Course professor Saul Perlmutter wins Nobel Prize in Physics
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On April 7 Discovery Course Professor Saul Perlmutter will give the Faculty Research Lecture:
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Discovery Course faculty members engage in the ambitious "Berkeley Earth" project:
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Discovery Course professor Saul Perlmutter shares Einstein Medal:
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Discovery Course professor Claire Kramsch wins a prize for her book The Multilingual Subject:
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Discovery Course professor Hubert Dreyfus has just published a provocative new book:
Read a review from the NYT

Discovery Course Professor Rosemary Joyce has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship:
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Discovery Course professors Geoff Marcy and RIch Muller were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences:
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Physics for Future Presidents is one of the top-tem most-watched educational videos, according to the New York Times. checki it out.
see the pdf

Discovery Course professor Alex FIlippenko wins his fourth major teaching award:
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Discovery Course professor Walter Alvarez will be delivering the 97th Annual Faculty Research Lecture on April 29:
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Discovery Course professor Robert Reich speaks out about the public option.
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Discovery Course professor Geoff Marcy, who's helped find 70 of the 100 so-called "exoplanets" - planets orbiting stars other than the sun - has won the 2009 Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization.
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(April 26, 2009) Discovery Course professor Rich Muller's Physics for Future Presidents wins Northern California book award:
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Discovery Course Professor Walter Alvarez's new book combines geological with personal history.
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(July 22, 2008) Discovery Course professor Saul Perlmutter discusses the role dark energy plays in the expansion of the universe.
See Video

News Archive

Past Discovery Course news items - Click Here

Student Testimonials

• "I love the Discovery Courses-this is my 3rd! I feel it contributed greatly to my understanding of the world and to my education."
• "This Discovery Course inspired me to take classes in the future that I had not planned to take."
• "Very enriching--I would not take a course like this if I were only sticking to major requirements."
• "I think this class exemplifies the tremendous opportunities to expand one's academic horizon through some of these breadth courses, that most people would otherwise not have considered taking."
• "This course was my best this semester because it taught me how to simply live in and understand the world. Great!"
• "It allowed me to take a class mostly because I'm interested in it, not because it was for a major or any other reason."
• "As always, Discovery Courses make me think about an entirely different field and issues that I've never been exposed to."

Our Benefactors

The Letters & Science Discovery Courses are made possible by the generous support of the Barbara Joan Gummerson Fund, the Cynthia C. Railton Fund for the Liberal Arts, and the L&S Leadership Fund.