WTF? I didn't hear any of those students say anything about a highly elliptical orbit. What they said was that the seasons are caused by the earth being closer or further away from the sun during the seasons. Which is basically right. The northern hemisphere is closer to the sun during the summer, and is further away from the sun during the winter. F--k me, but I didn't see the Jeopardy set behind them requiring a specific phrase for the answer.

(Yes, I'm aware that the angle of incidence of sunlight is more relevant, but ffs, these are art students, according to the video's first few moments. I would not expect them to have solid mathematical understanding of astrophysical concepts.)

I disagree that you have to understand newtownian equations to get the basic concept of seasons.

In fact, their explanations were flat out wrong. There is a world of difference between the earth being closer, and the part of the earth being closer, due to a tilt.

And the fact that these are liberal arts, or even arts students is the point, I believe. They should know the answer, as this is in even elementary school textbooks.

What is the basic level of science understanding (that is, both knowing basic science facts/results, and understanding the scientific method) is required for a productive citizen, or at the very least, someone who claims to have a well-rounded education, which you expect from a Harvard graduate.

>> ^jonny:
The northern hemisphere is closer to the sun during the summer, and is further away from the sun during the winter.


I disagree, that would only be true if the center of the earth remained at the exact same distance away from the sun all year round but it does not.

Fair enough, longde. Their stated answers were wrong. I'd argue the editing helped that, but it's not really worth it. In any case, if this is grade school stuff, why would Harvard (or any college) professors be wasting their time teaching it to students. Wouldn't they assume their students have basic science knowledge? I think this falls under the "use it or lose it" principle. I studied geometry proofs in high school, but never really used it since. If someone walked up to me with a camera and asked me to give a proof for the equivalence of alternate interior angles, I'd probably be stumped too.

Right, SpaceDude - I fell into the trap of thinking in a hemisphere centric way. Perihelion will bring the southern hemisphere closer to the sun during the southern summer, but aphelion will put the northern hemisphere further away during its summer. I'm guessing it's just coincidence that perihelion and aphelion occur very close to the solstices. Precession of the earth's axis would change that over time, right?

(..looking up perihillion, precession, & aphelion in the dictionary)..

I concur!!
>> ^jonny:
Right, SpaceDude - I fell into the trap of thinking in a hemisphere centric way. Perihelion will bring the southern hemisphere closer to the sun during the southern summer, but aphelion will put the northern hemisphere further away during its summer. I'm guessing it's just coincidence that perihelion and aphelion occur very close to the solstices. Precession of the earth's axis would change that over time, right?

Hmmph, I thought it was evenly distance around Earth but different angle (more shadow for winters).

Wow. Even on the sift you're debating distance from the sun. Distance from the sun, whether it results from the tilt of the earth's axis (the north pole is less than 5000km closer to the sun in summer) or the eccentricity of the earth's elliptical orbit (the earth itself is 5 million km closer to the sun in January than July), is immaterial. The tilt of the axis results in variations in the angle of incidence at which the sun's energy strikes the earth resulting in variations in the intensity of that energy on any given point on the earth's surface. It also affects the thickness of the amount of atmosphere that the sun's energy must pass through. The tilt also varies the length of the day. More daytime hours in a 24 hour period means more energy absorbed from the sun, more nighttime hours means more energy radiated back into space.

That being said I don't find it particularly disturbing that a bunch of arts grads, even from Harvard, might give these answers. I asked this question of my two daughters. The artist talked about distance from the sun and the MoSc in molecular genetics talked about axial tilt.