This course begins with a discussion of the laws of thermodynamics and entropy that leads into heat transfer and the engine cycles used in vehicle propulsion (such as the Carnot, Otto, Diesel, Stirling, Rankine and gas turbine cycles). Possible further topics are rockets and related aspects of aerospace propulsion, electromagnetic and explosive propulsion, and fundamentals of fuel cells. The second part of the course is concerned with nuclear and particle physics. Subatomic physics in the big bang and in stars is responsible for the very character of our natural environment. Radioactivity generated in stellar processes constitutes the major part of the ionizing radiation exposure on earth and was a driver of the evolution of life. Topics range across nuclear properties, reactions and models, radioactive decay modes, and some important applications of nuclear physics in everyday life.