Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars—mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is 'mere.' I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination—stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one-million-year-old light. A vast pattern—of which I am a part—perhaps my stuff was belched from some forgotten star, as one is belching there. Or see them with the greater eye of Palomar, rushing all apart from some common starting point when they were perhaps all together. What is the pattern, or the meaning, or the why? It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined! Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961-1964)
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Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961-1964)
#12I'm using these to teach an intermediate mechanics class, and my only regret is that there are no problems. The flip side is that sometimes Feynman skips over the derivations of certain things, and that makes good assignments ("Fill in the steps between [these assumptions] and [this result]"). Feynman's writing of course is stellar. The order is a bit unusual and not really designed for a "standard" university-level…
There is a book of exercises, which I've heard of but not looked at myself, titled "Exercises for the Feynman Lectures on Physics". I don't know if that will help you but it might be worth a look.
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961-1964)
#13"the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961-1964)
#14"the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc
So true.
How this guy captures the imagination of the English speaking world is astonishing.
Sommerfeld Landau Schwinger
They mop the floor with Feynman but no one remembers them. Landau, meanwhile had the most comprehensive set of physics book, Sommerfeld the most accessible deep set of physics books.
Meanwhile "the Feynman Lectures" burry important details that will derail a train as soon as you leave the safe space of first order approximations.
Feynman's lectures are akin to the "everything is a mass on a spring" meme. Actually, nothing is, and the nobilities are everything. To his credit, though, Feynman never intended his lectures to be more than an intro survey class
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961-1964)
#15What has changed in 60 years, I wonder? If you are teaching this material, what do you have to update and/or contextualize?
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Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961-1964)
#16"the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc
The guy invented the path integral in his PhD thesis. He invented Feynman diagrams and figured out how to do finite calculations in quantum electrodynamics. Unless you're a perfect human being, please, cut him just a tiny bit of slack.
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961-1964)
#17"the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc
Brave to link to that here.
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961-1964)
#18"the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc
The guy invented the path integral in his PhD thesis. He invented Feynman diagrams and figured out how to do finite calculations in quantum electrodynamics. Unless you're a perfect human being, please, cut him just a tiny bit of slack.
path integrals existed since the 19th century
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961-1964)
#19I'm using these to teach an intermediate mechanics class, and my only regret is that there are no problems. The flip side is that sometimes Feynman skips over the derivations of certain things, and that makes good assignments ("Fill in the steps between [these assumptions] and [this result]"). Feynman's writing of course is stellar. The order is a bit unusual and not really designed for a "standard" university-level…
There is a book of exercises, which I've heard of but not looked at myself, titled "Exercises for the Feynman Lectures on Physics". I don't know if that will help you but it might be worth a look.
I'll try to find it; thanks!
Re: The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1961-1964)
#20"the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc
The guy invented the path integral in his PhD thesis. He invented Feynman diagrams and figured out how to do finite calculations in quantum electrodynamics. Unless you're a perfect human being, please, cut him just a tiny bit of slack.
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