Free Lectures on Einstein

In case you haven't filled up your Memorial Day weekend yet...here's an idea. From Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution:

The Teaching Company is offering two free lectures to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the year that Einstein, then an unknown patent clerk, published five revolutionary papers on the atomic nature of mattter, quantum physics and special relativity. You can stream the audio or even download an MP3 to listen to on your morning jog. Highly recommended but addictive.

The lectures, presented by Professor Richard Wolfson, are on "Einstein's Miraculous Year" and “Relativity in a Nutshell.”

In “Einstein's Miracle Year,” you will learn about 1905, when the great physicist published major works in diverse areas of physics. Two of them—on the quantum nature of light and on special relativity—laid the groundwork for much of 20th-century physics. Others presented final convincing evidence for the reality of atoms and molecules.

Einstein's name is most closely associated with the Theory of Relativity. In “Relativity in a Nutshell,” Dr. Wolfson outlines the essence of relativity and hints at why the theory requires a radical restructuring of our notions of time and space.

I really hope he discusses Einstein's general theory of relativity. I mean, the special theory is just so simple - betcha that even those little ladies at Harvard could understand it.