USNA 287A Term Paper Topic Ideas
This list is offered as a help to spark ideas for potential term paper
topics. It is neither required nor exhaustive. Indeed, it is intentionally
very far from either: these are more hints than proper ideas. You are
encouraged to think outside this box!
- Cosmology in Culture
- The detailed physical cosmology of the ancient philosopher of your
choice. (e.g., why did Anaximander choose a cylindrical world model of size
3:1?). You might also compare & contrast the cosmologies of several
philosophers. You need not confine your attention to the Ancient Greeks;
it might be refereshing to explore what the Chinese (for example) had to
say on these matters.
- Compare & contrast the cosmologies of different societies (either at
comparable times in different geographic locations, or in the same place
over time).
- How has progress in cosmology infulenced religious thinking?
- What is the impact of modern cosmology on modern popular culture?
(I noticed a reference to dark matter in the recent Battlestar Galactica
series.)
- Peruse
AIP
cosmology site for further ideas along these lines.
- Cosmology in Science
- How do we measure cosmological parameters? eg., explore measurements
of one of
- The Hubble constant
- The density parameter
- The age of the universe and its contents
- Supernovae and the cosmological constant
- The microwave background
- Big bang nucleosynthesis
- Problems with modern cosmology
- dark matter
- dark energy
- MOND
- fine tuning during Inflation (e.g., the Graceful Exit Problem)
- How do the cosmologies of Milne or Hoyle differ from the standard
Big Bang?
- Related Topics
- Black Holes
- Exoplanets
- Life on alien worlds
Again, these are only a few off-the-cuff ideas. Hopefully they get you
to thinking of something even better.