This is hands down the best introduction to the Special Theory of Relativity I have ever found. The instructor really explains everything so lucidly that even lay audiences without a strong math or physics background can grasp the theory. I would really love to see a course by this instructor on the General Theory of Relativity as well!

Thanks a lot

Very Nice

Best course to understand the basis of the Special Theory of Relativity, mainly for such guys who mean to understand this theory only by using mathematics.

Amazing course!!! Thanks a lot! Wonderful course and teacher!

Superb course. Engrossing from start to finish!

Great course. The instructor goes slow and repeats important points for maximum retention. Key equations are rigorously derived (requiring only high school algebra) but are rarely required in the weekly quizzes. After completing this course I have a better understanding of special relativity and (thanks to the final week) better understand its relationship to general relativity.

Dieser Kurs war für mich als Neueinsteigerin genau richtig. Es wurde sehr verständliches Englisch gesprochen und die Begleitmaterialien waren ausführlich und hilfreich. Im Forum wurde auf Fragen immer sofort ausführlich geantwortet. Mir hat der Kurs sehr gefallen und ich habe viel gelernt.

Great couse!

There is certainly more to Einstein than merely his theories of special and general relativity.

Exceptional course with an exceptional instructor. Easy to understand, concise, yet incredibly informative.

Very good !

Excellent course. I enjoyed it immensely

Great to begin to learn special theory of relativity. Love the way of everything flows.

This was a very well explained and demonstrated course.

It was a lot of fun to learn all this!

Very thoughtful and interesting. Also not very hard to understand.

very nice course

the course was very easy

Excellent course and teacher; it helped me expand and put together previous scattered knowledge I had on this topic. It has motivated me to continue my learning on astrophysics and music with Coursera.

Professor was very thorough in explaining the various aspects regarding the Special Theory of Relativity. The tests and problem sets were well related to what I learned in the videos, and helped me apply what I learned. A terrific course.

Literally the BEST course I've ever taken online! Perfectly structured, very detailed, very accurate and informative. I am a dozen steps closer to my dream of getting properly educated in the field of physics and the realm of exact sciences about the Universe. I enormously admire Prof. Lagerstrom as he's obviously put a lot of effort in preparing all necessary materials, making it all vivid and human with the help of quotes, stories and remarks about Einstein, always making sure the students understand the material and receive and remember it logically structured. Prof. Lagerstrom seems extremely charismatic and engaging to me, I regret this is the only course of his on Coursera. Thank you so much!

Loved this course!

This was my first course through Coursera that I completed in full :) and I'm glad I did it. I always was a bit interested in Astrophysics and even had LOTS of books on my shelf in the hope that someday I would start reading and learning - all by myself. But I couldn't gather enough motivation - and so it never really worked out. But after taking up the course and going through the different topics - I feel that I can begin a more serious approach to studying Relativity and can tackle some of the standard books on the subject.

I don't have a background in Physics, but that didn't prove to be a problem while going through the course. I was able to complete each week's contents by spending around 45mts-an hr each day. Was also maintaining my own set of notes - I'm sure I might be looking at them again someday when I'm exploring the subject bit more in depth. The quizzes were somewhat easier that I expected and I'm happy I was able to get some of my doubts clarified promptly through the forums.

My only concern was that a) I would have liked the course to be bit more technical/mathematical and b) I wish I had completed the 'optional problems' too at the end of each week :). But these are not really so critical as it was an introductory course and I didn't have any basic understanding of Relativity prior to this.

Overall I'm happy to have completed my first course , having gained an insight into Einstein's work and taken my first baby steps towards understanding Astrophysics/Cosmology ! Looking forward to see some more related/advanced courses in the same area. Thanks to the Faculty, all the timely help on the Forums & Coursera!

P.S.

Can't wait to show-off my Certificate to everyone !!!

Regards

Anand

An excellent course for those who want to have a basic understanding of the special theory of relativity without the scary math that one usually associates with the theory.

I have always wanted to understand how relativity works and how did Einstein go about developing this theory and this course provided a brilliant opportunity and the professor delivered this a manner that allowed me to understand the process and the theory.