The origin of elements: from stars to galaxies.

All the (interesting) elements are created via nuclear fusion in stars; on the main sequence where evolution is slow over millions or billions of years, or during their dramatic death throes. I will provide an overview of star formation, evolution, and galactic chemical evolution, aiming to cover the full life cycle of the elements that make up you or me. We will focus on how simple physics can provide intuition and qualitative results, without needing to turn to numerical simulations. No prior astronomy knowledge needed.