The Feynman Lectures on Physics
Original Course Handouts
Feynman
•
Leighton
•
Sands • et al.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics was based on a
two-year introductory physics course that Richard Feynman taught at Caltech
from 1961 to 1963; it was published in three volumes during the years 1963
to 1965, and used as the introductory physics textbook at Caltech for
nearly two decades. However, Feynman's original students had no
textbook—their only written guidance came from materials that were created
"on the fly" (by Robert Leighton, Matt Sands, graduate students, and
others), mimeographed, and handed out in recitation sections and labs. These
materials included lecture summaries and outlines, lab guidelines,
descriptions of experiments, homework assignments, exams, and quizzes. Among
Feynman's students was Dennis Oberg, who kept his course handouts all these
many years, and generously allowed The Feynman Lectures Website to copy them so that
we can present them here, with Caltech's permission, as historical
documentation of Feynman's original undergraduate physics course. [A new
presentation of these handouts featuring deep-zoomable images can be seen
here.]
Richard Feynman, Dennis Oberg (facing camera, arms crossed), and other students
enjoying "Coffee Hour"
at Winnett Student Center, Caltech, 1964.
Copyright © California Institute of Technology
Copyright © 2012 Michael A. Gottlieb - All rights reserved.