[HN Gopher] The Feynman Lectures on Physics
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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. :\
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(page generated 2022-03-24 23:01 UTC)