[HN Gopher] The Feynman Lectures on Physics ___________________________________________________________________ The Feynman Lectures on Physics Author : simplicialset Score : 200 points Date : 2022-03-24 17:27 UTC (5 hours ago) (HTM) web link (feynmanlectures.caltech.edu) (TXT) w3m dump (feynmanlectures.caltech.edu) | sillysaurusx wrote: | I heard that Feynman's lectures weren't written entirely by | Feynman, but were actually a collaboration between a bunch of | physicists. Is that true? Where can I read about the history of | this aspect? | | (It appears in the footnotes Feynman's Lectures on Computation, | toward the end of the book. | https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Gentoomen%20Library/Extra/Richard...) | | Reading through the lectures, you get the sense that it's | superhuman to be able to write all of them. Once someone | mentioned that it wasn't only Feynman doing the writing, it made | a bit more sense. | ducttapecrown wrote: | About the Authors page: | https://feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_89.html | kaidon wrote: | Standing on the shoulders of giants | fsckboy wrote: | I've always liked "if I haven't seen as far as some of my | peers, it's because I stand in the footprints of giants" | linspace wrote: | The giants are so high by now that is hard just to reach the | shoulders | purple1 wrote: | gowld wrote: | Feynman wrote the notes and delivered the lectures, based on | existing source like textbooks. Then it got cleaned up into a | book format, and I assume the chalkboard drawings were re- | created and expanded. | Stratoscope wrote: | If you enjoy Feynman's lectures as much as I do (he taught | freshman physics when I went to Caltech!) I highly recommend his | armchair series, "Fun to Imagine": | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYg6jzotiAc | | He's sitting at home in Pasadena, talking about stuff that comes | to mind. | | * Jiggling atoms who like to make friends with each other. | | * Where do trees come from? (It's not the dirt.) | | * Why don't your arms sink through the armrests of your chair? | | * How do trains stay on the tracks? | | It's an hour of fun science, and especially accessible for anyone | who is curious about physics but doesn't enjoy all the equations. | dylan604 wrote: | It's amazing to see something like this on film. Someone had to | think long about doing this to ensure they had the equipment | necessary, the money available to process/develop the film, | edit the film, etc. Now, someone just whips out their phone and | shoots someone without even thinking about it. | SubjectToChange wrote: | What is the best way to make an offline copy? | 52-6F-62 wrote: | If it's all static HTML you should be able to wget the entire | batch. https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/downloading-entire- | web-... | | Or buy the paper version, as another said. They are available. | They're not always cheap, though. I bought one or two volumes | in the past as a general reference and now just learned they're | here, gratis. C'est la vie. | andi999 wrote: | Buying the paper version? | SubjectToChange wrote: | It has been on my wish list for a while now, but in any case | I would still like something I can read on my laptop. | bacon_waffle wrote: | It's available as an ebook too, from at least Amazon and | Kobo. | ducttapecrown wrote: | Wow. This is a beautifully lightweight browser textbook. It has | essentially everything I'd expect. Good math typesetting, | customizable margin and font with simple javascript (I'm guessing | I didn't check). | | Envisioning a responsive open source browser textbook is pretty | easy, I'm glad someone with cachet like Caltech is providing a | role model. Hopefully every important textbook will eventually be | as accessible as this one is. | criddell wrote: | I think I'd still prefer a pdf. Doesn't require an internet | connection and I can highlight, sketch, and scribble in the | margins. | vincentmarle wrote: | I think I found a PDF version: https://antilogicalism.com/wp- | content/uploads/2018/04/feynma... | dylan604 wrote: | My only dislike is the 100% width, but that's just a modern | styling preference. | theptip wrote: | > The atoms [in water] are 1 or 2x10-8 cm in radius. Now 10-8 cm | is called an angstrom (just as another name), so we say they are | 1 or 2 angstroms (A) in radius. Another way to remember their | size is this: if an apple is magnified to the size of the earth, | then the atoms in the apple are approximately the size of the | original apple. | | This is one of my favourite Feynman analogies, right at the | beginning of these lectures. He had such a remarkable ability to | transpose concepts into more understandable forms. | dekhn wrote: | my chemistry teacher kept saying "a mole is just like a dozen | of something. Except it's 6.023*10**23". | Graffur wrote: | Is there any benefit to a layman working their way through this? | Or is it only relevant to studying/passing an exam? | pvg wrote: | It's a classic and highly regarded physics course although | these days there are many options to choose from. It's not for | median laypeople, though - the original audience was CalTech | undergrads so there's a fair bit of mathematical (and, | realistically, physics) pre-req. | captn3m0 wrote: | Audio Version: | | - MP4/Vorbis/MP3 downloads. https://archive.org/details/feynman- | lectures-on-physics-audi... | | - Web Player and Original Source. | https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/flptapes.html | | Previous discussion on HN: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27322636 | sleepycatgirl wrote: | Interesting, Is there any requirement what I should understand, | before taking on those lectures? | idoh wrote: | It's on my bucket list to read through these lectures and grok | them. Maybe it will be a retirement project? While we are talking | about this, I feel like I need to brush up on my math. Does | anyone know what level of math is required to work through these? | slowhand09 wrote: | Looking at the slides, pretty sure I'd need a semester or two, | part refresher, part growth. | pvg wrote: | A big pile of previous discussions: | | https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... | jakedata wrote: | Thanks for the link to the downloadable versions. I have the | Feynman Lectures loaded on an old iPod and I find them to be an | amazing sleep aid. This is not a criticism, they are engaging | enough to take my mind off of whatever is keeping me up while | also being baffling enough that I fall asleep during the extended | sections of blackboard writing sounds. My current set of files is | not as good as the recently re-edited Caltech set but I don't | want an active Internet device by my bed. Unfortunately they | occasionally lead to somewhat stressful dreams of being in | college again. It's a risk I am generally willing to take. | beastman82 wrote: | Yeah I would stress dream regularly if I did this. Better to | read a beach novel IMO | metalliqaz wrote: | I do this with astronomy youtube channels. SEA... mmmmmm | erigonk wrote: | SEA is great, I would also recommend Cool Worlds [1] his | videos are amazing and his voice is so soothing that I've | reached a point where I can't sleep without having one of his | videos playing. | | [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGHZpIpAWJQ-Jy_CeCdXhMA | dreadlordbone wrote: | I do this too, but with long form video game analysis | (Joseph Anderson, Action Button). I wonder how much of a | crutch it's creating for me however. | metalliqaz wrote: | Yes I follow him as well. Also Astrum. | ryanianian wrote: | It's great to see this all in one place. The text follows the | audio reasonably well, and the UX is spartan and functional. Is | there a version that includes videos of the lectures as well? | herodoturtle wrote: | The linked page does indeed include the videos (if that's what | you're asking). Scroll down a bit. | Maursault wrote: | > Is there a version that includes the videos of the lectures | as well? | | No. | | Feynman's early 1960's undergraduate lectures were tape- | recorded and photographed only - they were never filmed or | videotaped. But in 1964 Feynman delivered lectures at Cornell, | called "Messenger Lectures," and these were _filmed_ by the | BBC.[1] | | [1] https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/messenger.html | Dig1t wrote: | >However, we want to be clear that this edition is only free to | read, look at and listen to online, and this posting does not | transfer any right to download all or any portion of the book The | Feynman Lectures on Physics, its photos or tape recordings, for | any purpose. | | What the heck, why not just make them available for download? | | So stupid, this is some of the best information in the world and | should be shared as widely as possible. An institution of higher | learning shouldn't be concerned with tightly controlling how | knowledge is disseminated outside of the institution. Especially | old things from the 60's like this. | 52-6F-62 wrote: | Browsers download the portions automatically just by visiting | the page, so that's strangely murky. | | Usually licenses for the purpose of preventing unlicensed | publication would just issue the publication with a non- | distribution clause. | sydthrowaway wrote: | Where are these people now? Not solving the problems at the | universe, making money at Meta I suspect | hyperpallium2 wrote: | Is there a description anywhere of what's covered in each | lecture? | beginning_end wrote: | "This paper reports my memories of being a beginning graduate | student in physics at Caltech and working on the team producing | The Feynman Lectures on Physics" : | https://arxiv.org/pdf/2202.05210.pdf | zanethomas wrote: | Nice! | | I bought the books decades ago and lost them, decades ago. :\ ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-03-24 23:01 UTC)