“Physics is like sex: it may not give practical results, but this is not a reason not to do it”- the slogan with which Richard Feynman went through life, captivating thousands of people with his unbridled passion. A brilliant scientist, an inquisitive microbiologist, a thoughtful expert on Mayan writing, an artist, a musician, and a part-time safecracker, Feynman left behind an extensive scientific legacy in the field of theoretical physics and a considerable number of speeches in which the professor tried to convey to us his admiration for the genius and simplicity of nature , many laws that we still cannot comprehend.
In this sense, Feynman's Messenger lectures on the topic "The nature of physical laws", read by him in 1964 at Cornell University, is a universal mini-textbook on physics, which briefly, sharply, accessiblely and emotionally presents the achievements of this science and the problems facing researchers. Yes, 50 years have passed, a lot has changed (string theory was put forward, the Higgs boson was discovered, the existence of dark energy, the expansion of the Universe), but those foundations, those physical laws that Feynman talks about are universal key, with which you can confidently approach acquaintance with the latest discoveries of scientists in this field. However, you can do without this pragmatic pathos: Feynman’s lectures are amazing, and will appeal to everyone who stands numb before the greatness of Nature and the harmony that permeates everything in our world, from the structure of the cell to the structure of the Universe. After all, as Feynman himself said, . So let's enjoy it.
Lecture No. 1
"The Law of Universal Gravity"
In this lecture, Richard Feynman introduces viewers to the law of universal gravitation as an example of a physical law, talks about the history of its discovery, characteristic features, distinguishing it from other laws, and about the extraordinary consequences that the discovery of gravity entailed. Another scientist here reflects on inertia and how amazingly everything works:
This law was called "the greatest generalization achieved by the human mind." But already from the introductory words you probably realized that I am interested not so much in the human mind as in the wonders of nature, which can obey such elegant and simple laws as the law of universal gravitation. Therefore, we will not talk about how smart we are in discovering this law, but about how wise nature is in observing it.
Lecture No. 2
"The connection between physics and mathematics"
Mathematics is the language spoken by nature, according to Richard Feynman. All the arguments in favor of this conclusion are in the video.
No amount of intellectual argument can convey to a deaf person the feeling of music. In the same way, no intellectual arguments can convey an understanding of nature to man. "another culture" Philosophers try to talk about nature without mathematics. I'm trying to describe nature mathematically. But if they don’t understand me, it’s not because it’s impossible. Perhaps my failure is explained by the fact that the horizons of these people are too limited and they consider man to be the center of the Universe.
Lecture No. 3
"The Great Laws of Conservation"
Here Richard Feynman begins to talk about general principles, which permeate the entire variety of physical laws, paying attention to Special attention the principle of the law of conservation of energy: the history of its discovery, application in different areas and the mysteries that energy poses for scientists.
Searching for the laws of physics is like a child’s game of playing with cubes, from which you need to assemble a whole picture. We have a huge variety of cubes, and every day there are more and more of them. Many lie on the sidelines and do not seem to fit in with the others. How do we know they are all from the same set? How do we know that together they should form a complete picture? There is no complete certainty, and this worries us somewhat. But the fact that many cubes have something in common gives us hope. All have blue skies painted on them, all are made from the same type of wood. All physical laws are subject to the same conservation laws.
Video source: Evgeny Kruychkov / Youtube
Lecture No. 4
"Symmetry in physical laws"
Lecture on the features of symmetry of physical laws, its properties and contradictions.
Since I'm talking about the laws of symmetry, I would like to tell you that several new problems have arisen in connection with them. For example, each elementary particle there is a corresponding antiparticle: for an electron it is a positron, for a proton it is an antiproton. In principle, we could create so-called antimatter, in which each atom would be made up of corresponding antiparticles. Thus, an ordinary hydrogen atom consists of one proton and one electron. If we take one antiproton, electric charge which is negative, and one positron and combine them, then we get a special type of hydrogen atom, so to speak, an antihydrogen atom. Moreover, it was found that, in principle, such an atom would be no worse than an ordinary one and that in this way it would be possible to create the antimatter of itself different types. Now it is permissible to ask, will such antimatter behave exactly the same as our matter? And, as far as we know, the answer to this question should be yes. One of the laws of symmetry is that if we make an installation from antimatter, it will behave exactly the same as an installation from our ordinary matter. True, as soon as these installations are brought together in one place, annihilation will occur and only sparks will fly.
Lecture No. 5
"The difference between past and future"
One of Feynman's most interesting lectures, which, ironically, remains the only one untranslated. There is no need to be discouraged - for those who do not try to understand the intricacies of scientific English, you can read the chapter of the same name from the scientist’s book, for everyone else - we are posting an English version of the physicist’s speech.
We remember the past, but we don't remember the future. Our awareness of what might happen is of a very different kind than our awareness of what has probably already happened. The past and present are perceived psychologically in completely different ways: for the past we have such a real concept as memory, and for the future we have the concept of apparent free will. We are sure that we can somehow influence the future, but none of us, with the possible exception of singletons, thinks that we can change the past. Repentance, regret and hope are all words that clearly draw the line between the past and the future.<…>. But if everything in this world is made of atoms and we also consist of atoms and obey physical laws, then most naturally this obvious difference between the past and the future, this irreversibility of all phenomena would be explained by the fact that some laws of atomic movement have only one direction - that atomic laws are not the same in relation to the past and the future. There must be a principle somewhere like: “You can make a stick out of a Christmas tree, but you can’t make a Christmas tree out of a stick,” in connection with which our world is constantly changing its character from a Christmas tree to a stick one - and this irreversibility of interactions should be the reason for the irreversibility of all phenomena of our life.
Lecture No. 6
“Probability and uncertainty - a look at the nature of quantum mechanics”
Here's how Feynman himself poses the problem of probability and uncertainty:
The theory of relativity states that if you believe that two events happened at the same time, then it is just your personal point view, and someone else with the same reason can assert that one of these phenomena occurred before the other, so that the concept of simultaneity turns out to be purely subjective<…>. Of course, it cannot be otherwise, since in our daily lives we deal with huge aggregations of particles, very slow processes and other very specific conditions, so that our experience gives us only a very limited understanding of nature. Only a very small proportion of natural phenomena can be gleaned from direct experience. And only with the help of very subtle measurements and carefully prepared experiments can a broader view of things be achieved. And then we begin to encounter surprises. What we observe is not at all what we could have imagined, not at all what we imagined. We have to strain our imagination more not in order, as in fiction, to imagine something that does not actually exist, but in order to comprehend what is really happening. This is what I want to talk about today.
Lecture No. 7
"In search of new laws"
Strictly speaking, what I am going to talk about in this lecture cannot be called a characteristic of the laws of physics. When we talk about the nature of physical laws, we can at least assume that we are talking about nature itself. But now I want to talk not so much about nature, but about our attitude towards it. I would like to tell you about what we consider known today, what remains to be guessed, and about how laws in physics are guessed. Someone even suggested that it would be best if, as I tell you, little by little, I explain to you how to guess the law, and at the end I open it for you new law. I don't know if I can do this.
Richard Feynman about the material that drives all physical laws (about matter), about the problem of incompatibility physical principles, about the place of tacit assumptions in science and, of course, about how new laws are discovered.
Name: Feynman lectures on physics
Feynman R., Leighton R., Sands M.
Genre: Physics
Publisher: World
Year: 1965
Format: DjVu
Size: 29.9 MB
Language: Russian
Feynman's lectures, first recorded on tape and then "translated" into "written English" by Professors M. Sands and R. Leighton, are unlike any known course. They are distinguished by their original method of presentation, which reflects the bright scientific personality of the author, his point of view on the way of teaching students physics, and his ability to infect readers with an interest in science. The sequence of presentation and choice of material also differ from traditional ones. Lectures do not waste time on explaining in “scientific language” what the modern reader already knows or has heard. But they tell a fascinating story about how a person studies the nature around him, what position physics occupies in a number of other sciences, what problems science solves today and will solve tomorrow.
Feynman's story vividly captures the reasons that motivate a physicist to do the hard work of research, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that seem insurmountable. These lectures help not only to understand why it is interesting to do science, but also to feel how expensive victories are and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
The course will be useful to teachers, forcing them to take a fresh look at the process of teaching physics; students who will find a lot of new things in addition to what they learn in lectures; schoolchildren who will develop an interest in physics and help them enter modern science; and also for everyone interested in physics.
List of books
Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. - Feynman lectures on physics, volume 1. Modern science of nature. Laws of Mechanics - 1965 (260 pp.)
Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. - Feynman lectures on physics, volume 2. Space, time, motion - 1965 (164 pp.)
Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. - Feynman lectures on physics, volume 3. Radiation, waves, quanta - 1965 (234 pp.)
Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. - Feynman lectures on physics, volume 4. Kinetics, heat, sound - 1965 (257 pp.)
Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. - Feynman lectures on physics, volume 5. Electricity and magnetism - 1965 (291 pp.)
Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. - Feynman lectures on physics, volume 6. Electrodynamics - 1965 (339 pp.)
Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. - Feynman lectures on physics, volume 7. Physics of continuous media - 1965 (286 p.)
Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. - Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume 8. Quantum mechanics(I) - 1965 (267 pp.)
Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. - Feynman lectures on physics, volume 9. Quantum mechanics (II) - 1965 (254 pp.)
Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. - Feynman lectures on physics, volume 10. Problems and exercises with answers and solutions - 1965 (621 pp.)
This book is a translation of lectures given by Nobel laureates Richard Feynman and Steven Weinberg at the Dirac Readings in Cambridge. Various aspects of the complex and not yet fully resolved problem of unifying quantum theory with the theory of relativity are examined in a lively and fascinating manner.
R. Feynman's lecture discusses in detail the nature of antiparticles and the connection between spin and statistics. S. Weinberg's lecture is devoted to the issues of constructing a unified theory that combines the theory of gravity with quantum theory.
The nature of physical laws
Richard Feynman is an outstanding theoretical physicist, a talented teacher, and professor, whose lectures, given during the traditional Messenger readings at Cornell University in 1964, have become a reference book for several generations of physicists around the world.
Why do you care what others think?
The book “Why Do You Care What Others Think?” tells about the life and adventures of the famous physicist, one of the creators atomic bomb, laureate Nobel Prize, Richard Phillips Feynman.
The first part is dedicated to two people who played a very important role in Feynman’s life: his father, who raised him this way, his first wife, who, despite their short marriage, taught him to love.
The second part is devoted to Feynman's investigation of the disaster that occurred with the Challenger space shuttle.
The book will be very interesting to those who have already read another book by R.F. Feynman "Of course you're joking, Mr. Feynman!"
The joy of learning
A magnificent collection of short works by a brilliant scientist, a talented teacher, an excellent speaker and simply interesting person Richard Feynman - brilliant, witty interviews and speeches, lectures and articles.
The works included in this collection not only give the reader an idea of the encyclopedic intellect of the famous physicist, but also allow a glimpse into his daily life and inner world.
A book of opinions and ideas - about the prospects of science, about the responsibility of scientists for the fate of the world, about the main problems of existence - is informative, witty and extremely interesting.
Feynman lectures on physics. Volume 1
Volume 1 Modern science of nature. Laws of mechanics.
Feynman lectures on physics. Volume 2
The reader is invited to the famous course of lectures on general physics, which was given by an outstanding American physicist, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman read at Caltech.
Feynman's story vividly captures the reasons that motivate a physicist to do the hard work of research, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that seem insurmountable. These lectures help not only to understand why it is interesting to do science, but also to feel how expensive victories are and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
Volume 2 Space. Time. Movement.
Feynman lectures on physics. Volume 3
The reader is invited to the famous course of lectures on general physics, which the outstanding American physicist, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman read at the California Institute of Technology.
Feynman's story vividly captures the reasons that motivate a physicist to do the hard work of research, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that seem insurmountable. These lectures help not only to understand why it is interesting to do science, but also to feel how expensive victories are and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
Volume 3 Radiation. Waves. Quanta.
Feynman lectures on physics. Volume 4
The reader is invited to the famous course of lectures on general physics, which the outstanding American physicist, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman read at the California Institute of Technology.
Feynman's story vividly captures the reasons that motivate a physicist to do the hard work of research, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that seem insurmountable. These lectures help not only to understand why it is interesting to do science, but also to feel how expensive victories are and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
Volume 4 Kinetics. Heat. Sound.
Feynman lectures on physics. Volume 5
The reader is invited to the famous course of lectures on general physics, which the outstanding American physicist, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman read at the California Institute of Technology.
Feynman's story vividly captures the reasons that motivate a physicist to do the hard work of research, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that seem insurmountable. These lectures help not only to understand why it is interesting to do science, but also to feel how expensive victories are and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
Volume 5 Electricity and magnetism.
Feynman lectures on physics. Volume 6
The reader is invited to the famous course of lectures on general physics, which the outstanding American physicist, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman read at the California Institute of Technology.
Feynman's story vividly captures the reasons that motivate a physicist to do the hard work of research, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that seem insurmountable. These lectures help not only to understand why it is interesting to do science, but also to feel how expensive victories are and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
Volume 6 Electrodynamics.
Feynman lectures on physics. Volume 7
The reader is invited to the famous course of lectures on general physics, which the outstanding American physicist, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman read at the California Institute of Technology.
Feynman's story vividly captures the reasons that motivate a physicist to do the hard work of research, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that seem insurmountable. These lectures help not only to understand why it is interesting to do science, but also to feel how expensive victories are and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
Volume 7 Physics of continuous media.
Feynman lectures on physics. Volume 8
The reader is invited to the famous course of lectures on general physics, which the outstanding American physicist, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman read at the California Institute of Technology.
Feynman's story vividly captures the reasons that motivate a physicist to do the hard work of research, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that seem insurmountable. These lectures help not only to understand why it is interesting to do science, but also to feel how expensive victories are and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
Feynman lectures on physics. Volume 9
The reader is invited to the famous course of lectures on general physics, which the outstanding American physicist, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman read at the California Institute of Technology.
Feynman's story vividly captures the reasons that motivate a physicist to do the hard work of research, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that seem insurmountable. These lectures help not only to understand why it is interesting to do science, but also to feel how expensive victories are and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
Volumes 8 and 9. Quantum mechanics.
Feynman lectures on physics. Volume 10
The reader is invited to the famous course of lectures on general physics, which the outstanding American physicist, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman read at the California Institute of Technology.
Feynman's story vividly captures the reasons that motivate a physicist to do the hard work of research, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that seem insurmountable. These lectures help not only to understand why it is interesting to do science, but also to feel how expensive victories are and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
Richard Feynman is considered not only one of the most important physicists of the 20th century, but also one of the most fascinating and unique figures. modern science.
This scientist made enormous contributions to the study of quantum electrodynamics, a fundamental field of physics that studies the interaction of radiation with matter, as well as the electromagnetic interactions of charged particles. In addition, he is widely known as a teacher and popularizer of science.
Feynman's flamboyant personality and devastating judgments aroused both admiration and hostility, but one thing is certain: modern physics would not be what it is today without the participation of this amazing man.
Of course you're joking, Mr. Feynman!
American physicist Richard Feynman was one of the creators of the atomic bomb. His work on quantum electrodynamics was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Physics was everything for him: the key to the structure of the world, exciting game, the meaning of life. However, this is by no means a complete answer to the question “Who is Richard Feynman?” His extraordinary, multifaceted personality goes far beyond the usual image of an authoritative scientist and deserves no less attention than his outstanding scientific achievements.
Known for his passion for practical jokes, he did not let his friends and colleagues relax or get bored. A skeptical attitude towards culture and art did not prevent him from becoming a good portrait artist and playing exotic musical instruments. The thirst for knowledge constantly pushed him to unexpected experiments; he delighted in trying on roles that were in no way appropriate for a respectable professor.
And hardly anyone can talk about this better than Feynman himself. Wisdom and mischief, cunning and honesty, poisonous sarcasm and childish delight in the unknown are surprisingly combined in each of his stories.
| Name: | Feynman lectures on physics (in 9 volumes) + Problems and exercises with answers and solutions |
| Authors: | Feynman R., Laymon R., Sands M. |
| Edition: | M.: Nauka, 1965. - 260 p. + 164 s. + 234 s. + 257 pp. + 291 pp. + 339 pp. + 286 s. + 267 pp. + 254 s. + 621 pp. |
| Format: | DjVu (OCR) |
| Size: | 3.34 Mb + 2.13 Mb + 3.52 Mb + 3.44 Mb + 3.53 Mb + 3.77 Mb + 3.62 Mb + 4.47 Mb + 3.16 Mb + 6.44 Mb |
| Treatment: | - |
| Links: | Volume 1. Modern science of nature. Laws of mechanics: HTTP Volume 2. Space, time, movement: HTTP Volume 3. Radiation, waves, quanta: HTTP Volume 4. Kinetics, heat, sound: HTTP Volume 5. Electricity and magnetism: HTTP Volume 6. Electrodynamics: HTTP Volume 7. Physics of continuous media: HTTP Volume 8. Quantum Mechanics (I): HTTP Volume 9. Quantum Mechanics (II): HTTP Problems and exercises with answers and solutions: HTTP |
From the preface to readers of the Russian edition:
Everyone agrees that physics is one of the most interesting sciences. At the same time, many physics textbooks cannot be called interesting. Such textbooks outline everything that follows the program. They usually explain what benefits physics brings and how important it is to study it, but from them it is very rarely possible to understand why studying physics is interesting. But this side of the issue also deserves attention. How can you make a boring object both interesting and modern? First of all, those physicists who themselves work with passion and know how to convey this passion to others should think about this. The time for experimentation has already arrived. Their goal is to find the most effective ways teaching physics, which would make it possible to quickly transfer to a new generation the entire stock of knowledge that has been accumulated by science throughout its history. The search for new ways in teaching has also always been important part Sciences. Teaching, following the development of science, must continuously change its forms, break traditions, and look for new methods. An important role here is played by the fact that in science an amazing process of a kind of simplification is constantly taking place, which makes it possible to simply and briefly present what once required many years of work.
An extremely interesting attempt in this direction was made at the California Institute of Technology (USA), which is abbreviated as CALTECH, where a group of professors and teachers, after numerous discussions, developed a new program in general physics, and one of the participants in this group, the prominent American physicist Richard Feynman, read lectures.
Feynman's lectures are distinguished by the fact that they are addressed to a listener living in the second half of the 20th century, who already knows or has heard a lot. Therefore, lectures do not waste time on explaining in “scientific language” what is already known. But they fascinatingly tell how a person studies the nature around him, about the boundaries reached today in the knowledge of the world, about what problems science solves today and will solve tomorrow.
Lectures were given in 1961-1962 and 1962-1963 academic years; they were recorded on tape, and then (and this turned out to be a difficult task in itself) “translated” into “written English” by Professors M. Sands and R. Leighton. This unique “translation” preserves many of the features of the lecturer’s live speech, its liveliness, jokes, and digressions. However, this very valuable quality of the lectures was by no means the main and self-sufficient one. No less important were the original methods presentation of the material, which reflected the bright scientific personality of the author, his point of view on the way of teaching students physics. This, of course, is not accidental. It is known that in their scientific works Feynman always found new methods that quickly became generally accepted. Feynman's work on quantum electrodynamics and statistics brought him wide recognition, and his method - the so-called "Feynman diagrams" - is now used in almost all areas of theoretical physics.
Whatever they say about these lectures - whether they admire the style of presentation or lament the breaking of good old traditions - one thing remains indisputable: pedagogical experiments must begin. Probably, not everyone will agree with the author’s manner of presenting certain issues, and not everyone will agree with the assessment of the goals and prospects of modern physics. But this will stimulate the appearance of new books in which other views will be reflected. This is an experiment. But the question is not only what to tell. Another question that is no less important is in what order this should be done.
The location of sections within a general physics course and the sequence of presentation is always a conditional question. All parts of science are so connected with each other that it is often difficult to decide what should be presented first and what next. However, in most university programs and available textbooks, certain traditions are still preserved.
Refusal from the usual sequence of presentation is one of the distinctive features Feynman lectures. They tell not only about specific tasks, but also about the place that physics occupies in a number of other sciences, about ways to describe and study natural phenomena. Probably, representatives of other sciences - say, mathematics - will not agree with the place that Feynman assigns to these sciences. For him, as a physicist, “his” science, of course, looks the most important. But this circumstance does not take up much space in his presentation. But his story clearly reflects the reasons that motivate a physicist to carry out the hard work of a researcher, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that now seem insurmountable.
A young natural scientist must not only understand why it is interesting to do science, but also feel at what cost victories are won and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
It must also be borne in mind that if at first the author did without a mathematical apparatus or used only the one presented in lectures, then the reader, as he moves forward, will be required to increase his mathematical knowledge. However, experience shows that mathematical analysis (at least its basics) is now easier to learn than physics.
Who will benefit from this book? First of all, to teachers who read it in its entirety: it will make them think about changing their existing views on how to start teaching physics. Next, students will read it. They will find a lot of new things in it in addition to what they learn in lectures. Of course, schoolchildren will also try to read it. Most of them will find it difficult to master everything, but what they can read and understand will help them enter modern science, the path to which is always difficult, but never boring. Anyone who does not believe that they can pass it should not undertake the study of this book! And finally, everyone else can read it. Read just for fun. This is also very useful. Feynman, in his preface, does not rate the results of his experiment very highly: too small a proportion of the students who took his course learned all the lectures. But that's how it should be. The first experience rarely brings complete success. New ideas always find only a few supporters at first and only gradually become familiar.
To the readers of the Russian edition
These are lectures on general physics given by a theoretical physicist. They are not at all similar to any known course. This may seem strange: the basic principles of classical physics, and not only classical, but also quantum, have long been established, the course of general physics is taught all over the world in thousands educational institutions for many years now and it's time for it to become a standard sequence known facts and theories, like, for example, elementary geometry in school. However, even mathematicians believe that their science should be taught differently. And there is nothing to say about physics: it is developing so intensively that even the best teachers constantly face great difficulties when they need to tell students about modern science. They complain that they have to break what are called old or habitual ideas. But where do habitual ideas come from? Usually they get into young heads at school from the same teachers, who will then talk about the inaccessibility of the ideas of modern science. Therefore, before getting to the heart of the matter, a lot of time has to be spent convincing listeners of the falsity of what was previously instilled in them as an obvious and immutable truth. It would be crazy to first tell schoolchildren “for simplicity” that the Earth is flat, and then, as a discovery, report on its spherical shape. Is the path along which future specialists enter the profession so far from this absurd example? modern world ideas of the theory of relativity and quantum? The matter is also complicated by the fact that for the most part the lecturer and listeners are people different generations, and it is very difficult for a lecturer to escape the temptation to lead listeners along that familiar and reliable path along which he himself at one time reached the desired heights. However, the old road does not remain the best forever. Physics is developing very quickly, and in order to keep up with it, we need to change the way we study it. Everyone agrees that physics is one of the most interesting sciences. At the same time, many physics textbooks cannot be called interesting. Such textbooks outline everything that follows the program. They usually explain what benefits physics brings and how important it is to study it, but from them it is very rarely possible to understand why studying physics is interesting. But this side of the issue also deserves attention. How can you make a boring object both interesting and modern? First of all, those physicists who themselves work with passion and know how to convey this passion to others should think about this. The time for experimentation has already arrived. Their goal is to find the most effective ways to teach physics, which would quickly transfer to a new generation the entire stock of knowledge that has been accumulated by science throughout its history. Finding new ways to teach has also always been an important part of science. Teaching, following the development of science, must continuously change its forms, break traditions, and look for new methods. An important role here is played by the fact that in science an amazing process of a kind of simplification is constantly taking place, which makes it possible to simply and briefly present what once required many years of work.
An extremely interesting attempt in this direction was made at the California Institute of Technology (USA), which is abbreviated as CALTECH, where a group of professors and teachers, after numerous discussions, developed a new program in general physics, and one of the participants in this group, the prominent American physicist Richard Feynman, read lectures.
Feynman's lectures are distinguished by the fact that they are addressed to a listener living in the second half of the 20th century, who already knows or has heard a lot. Therefore, lectures do not waste time on explaining in “scientific language” what is already known. But they fascinatingly tell how a person studies the nature around him, about the boundaries reached today in the knowledge of the world, about what problems science solves today and will solve tomorrow.
Lectures were given in the 1961–1962 and 1962–1963 academic years; they were recorded on tape, and then (and this turned out to be a difficult task in itself) “translated” into “written English” by Professors M. Sands and R. Leighton. This unique “translation” preserves many of the features of the lecturer’s live speech, its liveliness, jokes, and digressions. However, this very valuable quality of the lectures was by no means the main and self-sufficient one. No less important were the original methods of presenting the material created by the lecturer, which reflected the bright scientific individuality of the author and his point of view on the way of teaching students physics. This, of course, is not accidental. It is known that in his scientific works Feynman always found new methods, which very quickly became generally accepted. Feynman's work on quantum electrodynamics and statistics brought him wide recognition, and his method - the so-called "Feynman diagrams" - is now used in almost all areas of theoretical physics.
Whatever they say about these lectures - whether they admire the style of presentation or lament the breaking of good old traditions - one thing remains indisputable: it is necessary to begin pedagogical experiments. Probably, not everyone will agree with the author’s manner of presenting certain issues, and not everyone will agree with the assessment of the goals and prospects of modern physics. But this will stimulate the appearance of new books in which other views will be reflected. This is an experiment.
But the question is not only what to tell. Another question that is no less important is in what order this should be done. The location of sections within a general physics course and the sequence of presentation is always a conditional question. All parts of science are so connected with each other that it is often difficult to decide what should be presented first and what next.
However, in most university programs and available textbooks, certain traditions are still preserved.
The rejection of the usual sequence of presentation is one of the distinctive features of Feynman’s lectures. They tell not only about specific tasks, but also about the place that physics occupies in a number of other sciences, about ways to describe and study natural phenomena. Probably, representatives of other sciences - say, mathematics - will not agree with the place that Feynman assigns to these sciences. For him, as a physicist, “his” science, of course, looks the most important. But this circumstance does not take up much space in his presentation. But his story clearly reflects the reasons that motivate a physicist to carry out the hard work of a researcher, as well as the doubts that arise when he is faced with difficulties that now seem insurmountable.
A young natural scientist must not only understand why it is interesting to do science, but also feel at what cost victories are won and how sometimes difficult the roads leading to them are.
