In this course, students will learn about plasmas, the fourth state of matter. The plasma state dominates the visible universe, and is of increasing economic importance. Plasmas behave in lots of interesting and sometimes unexpected ways.
The course is intended only as a first plasma physics course, but includes critical concepts needed for a foundation for further study. A solid undergraduate background in classical physics, electromagnetic theory including Maxwell’s equations, and mathematical familiarity with partial differential equations and complex analysis are prerequisites.
The course introduces plasma phenomena relevant to energy generation by controlled thermonuclear fusion and to astrophysics, coulomb collisions and transport processes, motion of charged particles in magnetic fields, plasma confinement schemes, MHD models, simple equilibrium and stability analysis. It also covers two-fluid hydrodynamic plasma models, wave propagation in a magnetic field, kinetic theory, Vlasov plasma model, electron plasma waves and Landau damping, ion-acoustic waves, and streaming instabilities. A subject description tailored to fit the background and interests of the attending students is distributed shortly before and at the beginning of the subject.

The plasma state dominates the visible universe, and is important in fields as diverse as Astrophysics and Controlled Fusion. Plasma is often referred to as “the fourth state of matter.” This course introduces the study of the nature and behavior of plasma. A variety of models to describe plasma behavior are presented.

This course is intended as an introduction to the field of political economy. It is the first part of a two-part sequence in political economy, along with 14.773 Political Economy: Institutions and Development. Combined, the purpose of the two classes is to give you both a sense of the frontier research topics and a good command of the tools in the area.

The tools of probability theory, and of the related field of statistical inference, are the keys for being able to analyze and make sense of data. These tools underlie important advances in many fields, from the basic sciences to engineering and management.
This resource is a companion site to 6.041SC Probabilistic Systems Analysis and Applied Probability. It covers the same content, using videos developed for an edX version of the course.

This course provides an elementary introduction to probability and statistics with applications. Topics include basic combinatorics, random variables, probability distributions, Bayesian inference, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, and linear regression.
These same course materials, including interactive components (online reading questions and problem checkers) are available on MIT’s Open Learning Library, which is free to use. You have the option to enroll and track your progress, or you can view and use the materials without enrolling.

This course is an introduction to software engineering, using the Java™ programming language. It covers concepts useful to 6.005. Students will learn the fundamentals of Java. The focus is on developing high quality, working software that solves real problems.
The course is designed for students with some programming experience, but if you have none and are motivated you will do fine. Students who have taken 6.005 should not take this course. Each class is composed of one hour of lecture and one hour of assisted lab work.
This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.

This course presents aerospace propulsive devices as systems, with functional requirements and engineering and environmental limitations along with requirements and limitations that constrain design choices. Both air-breathing and rocket engines are covered, at a level which enables rational integration of the propulsive system into an overall vehicle design. Mission analysis, fundamental performance relations, and exemplary design solutions are presented.

This course is a survey of the scientific study of human nature, including how the mind works, and how the brain supports the mind. Topics include the mental and neural bases of perception, emotion, learning, memory, cognition, child development, personality, psychopathology, and social interaction. Students will consider how such knowledge relates to debates about nature and nurture, free will, consciousness, human differences, self, and society.
Course Format
This course has been designed for independent study. It includes all of the materials you will need to understand the concepts covered in this subject. The materials in this course include:

A full set of Lecture Videos by Prof. John Gabrieli.
Reading Assignments in several books, including one free online textbook and detailed notes on another book.
Assorted multiple choice and short answer questions to Check Yourself on the material in each session.
Supporting Discussion content that elaborates on the lectures and reading.
A rich collection of online resources for Further Study on each session’s topics.
A full set of Exams with solution keys, and extra practice questions for review.

This course surveys questions about human behavior and mental life ranging from how you see to why you fall in love. The great controversies: nature and nurture, free will, consciousness, human differences, self and society. Students are exposed to the range of theoretical perspectives including biological, evolutionary, cognitive, and psychoanalytic. One of the best aspects of Psychology is that you are the subject matter. This makes it possible to do many demonstrations in lecture that allow you to experience the topic under study. Lectures work in tandem with the textbook. The course breaks into small recitations sections to allow discussion, oral presentations, and individual contact with instructors.

This set of 10 lectures (about 11+ hours in duration) was excerpted from a three-day course developed at MIT Lincoln Laboratory to provide an understanding of radar systems concepts and technologies to military officers and DoD civilians involved in radar systems development, acquisition, and related fields. That three-day program consists of a mixture of lectures, demonstrations, laboratory sessions, and tours.
Online Publication

The goal of these videos is to provide students with tools and concepts for working with R, a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. The students will learn the basics of R, how to navigate the R interface and deal with different data formats, how to run and interpret linear models with R, and how to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in R. These practical sessions were developed as part of the course 1.845 Terrestrial Carbon Cycle and Ecosystem Ecology but will be useful for anyone looking to learn about R and GIS.

The goal of this course is to give an undergraduate-level introduction to representation theory (of groups, Lie algebras, and associative algebras). Representation theory is an area of mathematics which, roughly speaking, studies symmetry in linear spaces.

This course provides an overview of robot mechanisms, dynamics, and intelligent controls. Topics include planar and spatial kinematics, and motion planning; mechanism design for manipulators and mobile robots, multi-rigid-body dynamics, 3D graphic simulation; control design, actuators, and sensors; wireless networking, task modeling, human-machine interface, and embedded software. Weekly laboratories provide experience with servo drives, real-time control, and embedded software. Students will design and fabricate working robotic systems in a group-based term project.

This class introduces fundamental issues in sculpture such as site, context, process, psychology and aesthetics of the object, and the object’s relation to the body. During the semester Introduction to Sculpture will explore issues of interpretation and audience interaction. As a significant component to this class introductions to a variety of materials and techniques both traditional (wood, metal, plaster) as well as non-traditional (fabric, latex, found objects, rubber, etc.) will be emphasized.

This graduate level course presents a basic study in seismology and the utilization of seismic waves for the study of Earth’s interior. It introduces techniques necessary for understanding of elastic wave propagation in layered media.

Shape grammars are systems of visual rules by which one shape may be transformed into another. By applying these rules recursively, a simple shape can be elaborated into a complex pattern. This course offers an in-depth introduction to shape grammars and their applications in architecture and related areas of design. More specifically, it involves manipulation of shapes in the algebras Uij, in the algebras Vij and Wij incorporating labels and weights, and in algebras formed as composites of these. Discussions center on rules and computations, shape and structure, and designs.

Introduction to Solid State Chemistry is a first-year single-semester college course on the principles of chemistry. This unique and popular course satisfies MIT’s general chemistry degree requirement, with an emphasis on solid-state materials and their application to engineering systems.
Course Format
This course has been designed for independent study. It provides everything you will need to understand the concepts covered in the course. The materials include:

A complete set of Lecture Videos by Prof. Sadoway.
Detailed Course Notes for most video sessions, plus readings in several suggested textbooks.
Homework problems with solution keys, to further develop your understanding.
For Further Study collections of links to supplemental online content.
Self-Assessment pages containing quiz and exam problems to assess your mastery, and Help Session Videos in which teaching assistants take you step-by-step through exam problem solutions.

About OCW Scholar
OCW Scholar courses are designed specifically for OCW’s single largest audience: independent learners. These courses are substantially more complete than typical OCW courses, and include new custom-created content as well as materials repurposed from previously published courses. Learn more about OCW Scholar.

In this course, we will explore what makes things in the world the way they are and why, to understand the science and consider the engineering. We learn not only why the physical world behaves the way it does, but also how to think with chemical intuition, which can’t be gained simply by observing the macroscopic world.
This 2018 version of 3.091 by Jeffrey Grossman and the 2010 OCW version by Don Sadoway cover similar topics and both provide complete learning materials. This 2018 version also includes Jeffrey Grossman’s innovative Goodie Bags, Why This Matters, and CHEMATLAS content, as well as additional practice problems, quizzes, and exams.

This course has several purposes. The major concern will be the examination of Spanish culture including Spain’s history, architecture, art, literature and film, to determine if there is a uniquely Spanish manner of seeing and understanding the world - one which emerges as clearly distinct from our own and that of other Western European nations.

Geographic Information System (GIS) software manages data that represent the location of features (geographic coordinate data) and what they are like (attribute data); it also provides the ability to query, manipulate, and analyze those data. Because GIS allows one to represent social and environmental data on maps, it is a powerful tool for analysis and planning in various fields. This course is meant to introduce students to the basic capabilities of GIS.