The Feynman Lectures On Physics, The Definitive Edition (Volume - 1) 6th Edition by Richard P. Feynman

This is the first volume of the famous Feynman Lectures on Physics focusing on mechanics, radiation, and heat.

Summary Of The Book

Richard P. Feynman was a theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize for his work in quantum electrodynamics. He also had a reputation as a ‘Great Explainer’ for he had the ability to make complex topics easily understandable through his lectures.

During the 1960s, the California Institute of Technology was dissatisfied with the introductory courses that were offered to undergraduate students. They decided to reconfigure the physics course and asked Feynman to design the course and deliver the lectures for a first course in Physics.

Feynman agreed to do this, on the condition that he would deliver the lectures only once. The university agreed, and Feynman’s lectures were recorded to preserve them. Then, a group of academics and students later sat down and transcribed the recorded lectures and it was published in book form in three main volumes.

The First Volume is Mainly Mechanics, Radiation, and Heat. Volume Two is Mainly Electromagnetism and Matter. Volume Three is Quantum Mechanics.

This book is the first volume, Mechanics, Radiation, and Heat. It has 52 chapters covering various concepts on these subjects. These include atoms in motion, basic physics, the relation of physics to other sciences, conservation of energy, time and distance, probability, the theory of gravitation, motion, Newton’s laws of dynamics, conservation of momentum, vectors, and work and potential energy.

Also included are theory of relativity, relativistic energy, space-time, rotation in space, the harmonic oscillator, resonance, linear systems, optics - the principle of least time, geometrical optics, electromagnetic radiation,  interference, diffraction, the origin of refractive index, polarization, color vision, and quantum behavior.

The Feynman lectures are considered to be among the best and most interesting and sophisticated introductory courses in physics.

About The Authors

Richard P. Feynman was an American theoretical physicist and teacher.

Other books by Feynman include Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman, What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures Of A Curious Character, and QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter.

He wrote autobiographical books and books on physics.

Richard P. Feynman was born in Queens, New York, in 1918. He graduated from MIT and later earned a Ph.D from Princeton University.

Feynman was involved in the Manhattan Project. He was later disturbed by the implications and impact of the research and suffered from depression for a period following the destruction of Hiroshima. Feynman taught at Cornell University for a while, and later moved to California Institute of Technology.

Robert B. Leighton was an experimental physicist who taught at California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

He helped transcribe and format the Feynman lectures to be published in book form.

Robert B. Leighton was born in 1919. He obtained his bachelor’s, master’s, degree and his doctorate from Caltech, and joined the University’s faculty in 1949. He was a highly respected teacher at Caltech and served as Division Chair of physics, mathematics, and astronomy at the college from 1970 to 1975.

Matthew Sands was an American physicist and academic.

Sands was one of those who worked on the lectures delivered by Richard P. Feynman, to compile it into a book form.

Matthew Sands graduated with a degree in maths and physics from Clark University, and a master’s degree from Rice University. He earned his Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He initially worked at MIT, but later moved to Caltech. He was the first to demonstrate the importance of quantum effects in electron acceleration.