The Feynman Lectures on Physics
A physics textbook based on lectures by Richard Feynman.
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Between 1961 and 1964, Richard Feynman delivered a series of lectures to Caltech undergraduates, and those talks formed the basis of a physics textbook.[1] The lectures aimed to keep the attention of incoming Caltech students who were described as "very enthusiastic and rather smart".[2]
Making and release
Feynman targeted the lectures at students who were discouraged by the lack of grand, modern ideas in previous courses.[2] A September 13, 2013 email announced a new website offering a free high-quality online edition.[3] The website uses HTML5, SVG, and MathJax for device-independent reading.[3] Robert B. Leighton organized the problem sets that accompanied the lectures, which were initially used during the 1962–1963 academic year.[4]
Certain problems demand familiarity with advanced concepts, for example Kolmogorov's zero–one law, to be solved.[4] Mistakes existed in the first editions of the books and supplements, and some of those mistakes made certain problems impossible to solve.[4] Corrections for these mistakes have been compiled and are accessible on the internet.[4] A volume of exercises and problems meant to go with the lectures was brought out by Addison-Wesley.[4]
In 2013, the book was put online for free through a partnership between Caltech and The Feynman Lectures Website.[5]
What the cited sources add
Another article "Memories of Feynman" by physicist T. A. Welton also covers this history.[6] Sands' memoir piece titled “Capturing the Wisdom of Feynman" recounts the story behind the creation of the volumes.[6] Morgan Reynolds Pub. published "The great explainer" in 2009, per its Open Library record.[7] Cambridge University Press published "From Paradox to Reality" on August 25, 1989, as recorded by Open Library.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: LeVine, "The Great Explainer: The Story of Richard Feynman", Morgan Reynolds, 2009 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Crease, "Feynman's failings", Physics World, 2014, p. 25 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Footnote on homepage of website The Feynman Lectures on Physics. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Errata for The Feynman Lectures on Physics", feynmanlectures.caltech.edu (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Feynman Lectures in Physics" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sands, "Capturing the Wisdom of Feynman", Physics Today, 2005-04-01, p. 49–55; Welton, "Memories of Feynman", Physics Today, 2007-02-01, p. 46–52 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9781599351131 ("The great explainer"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9780521376051 ("From Paradox to Reality"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article The Feynman Lectures on Physics (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: The Feynman Lectures on Physics (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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