General Relativity (8.962)
MIT's graduate course 8.962 builds Einstein's general theory of relativity from the ground up, starting with the differential geometry needed to describe curved spacetime: manifolds, tensors, covariant derivatives, and curvature. Lectures develop the Einstein field equations and apply them to the Schwarzschild solution, black holes, gravitational waves, and cosmological models. The course also covers experimental tests of general relativity, from light bending to perihelion precession. Materials on MIT OpenCourseWare include full lecture notes, problem sets with solutions, and exams, following the treatment used in Caltech and MIT physics doctoral training. No enrollment or certificate is offered; the course is provided freely for self-study. It assumes prior graduate-level mechanics and electromagnetism, and rewards readers willing to work through the tensor calculus in detail rather than skim the concepts.