The Feynman Lectures on Physics inspired generations

Person: Richard Feynman
Lived: 1918–1988
Field: Physics
From: American

The story

By 1960 Richard Feynman was one of the most celebrated physicists in the world, known above all for his work on quantum electrodynamics. At the same time, the faculty of the California Institute of Technology was worried about its introductory physics courses. They seemed burdened by an old-fashioned syllabus, and the exciting discoveries of recent years, many of them made at Caltech, were not reaching first-year students.

Caltech asked Feynman to spruce up the teaching of its undergraduates, and he agreed to give the course, though only once. Rather than tinkering with the existing material, he devoted three years to presenting all of introductory physics in his own vivid, intuitive way, lecturing from 1961 to 1964. Caltech recorded every lecture and photographed each drawing he made on the blackboard. His colleagues David Goodstein and Gerry Neugebauer later recalled that first-year students sometimes found the material intimidating, while older students and faculty found it so inspiring that the lecture hall stayed full. Feynman himself, in his preface, admitted to being somewhat pessimistic about how well he had reached all of his students.

The physicists Matthew Sands and Robert Leighton turned the lectures and tapes into a set of books, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, a task that occupied them as part-time co-authors for several years. The three volumes cover mechanics, radiation and heat; electromagnetism and matter; and quantum mechanics, including a famous explanation of how the double-slit experiment reveals the essential features of the quantum world. Feynman wanted the cover to show a drum with vibration diagrams drawn on it, but the publishers chose plain red covers instead. Leighton also organised a set of exercises first used in 1962 and 1963.

The books became Feynman's most widely read work and one of the most famous physics texts ever written. Goodstein and Neugebauer described him as an extraordinary teacher of teachers. Universities did not generally adopt the books as standard textbooks, but they have continued to sell well because they build deep understanding from first principles rather than formulas to memorise. A 2013 review in Nature praised their simplicity, beauty and unity.

In 2013 Caltech, working with The Feynman Lectures Website, made the books freely available online, and more than 103 hours of the original lecture recordings have been released. Students, teachers and working scientists around the world still turn to them to see physics through Feynman's eyes.