Richard P. Feynman (1918–1988)

The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume 14, Feynman on Electricity and Magnetism, Part 1 by Richard Feynman
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS --PRINT: © Paperback set ASIN B00733WQVI (Amazon - no further info).
--DIGITAL: © (Amazon – no info found).
--(this one)*AUDIO: © 10/2/2001; 978-0738205311; Perseus Audio; Duration: 5:50; unabridged. (Audio info from Amazon and Audible version.com)
--FILM: No

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
--SELECTED: Don purchased this some years ago, and I, being somewhat compulsive lately about listening to all of the books we’ve received from Audible, decided I could handle this one, so likely to be incomprehensible to me, since it was just 5+ hours.
--ABOUT: Electromagnetism.
--OVERALL OPINION: I could hear the clicking of his writing implement hitting the surface of whatever he was writing on—probably chalk on a chalkboard, given this was the 1960’s, and actually wished I could see the board. He explained the computations as he went through them, and of course, being unfamiliar with algebra, they made no sense to me, but it was still kind of fun to listen. He had an amusing way of giving a computation and then retracting it, saying, no it wasn’t right, and then correcting himself.

AUTHOR:
Richard Feynman:
Excerpt from Wikipedia—
“Richard Phillips Feynman (/ˈfaɪnmən/; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as his work in particle physics for which he proposed the parton model. For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 jointly with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga.

Feynman developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions describing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World, he was ranked the seventh-greatest physicist of all time.[1]

He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II and became known to the wider public in the 1980s as a member of the Rogers Commission, the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Along with his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing and introducing the concept of nanotechnology. He held the Richard C. Tolman professorship in theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Feynman was a keen popularizer of physics through both books and lectures, including a 1959 talk on top-down nanotechnology called There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom and the three-volume publication of his undergraduate lectures, The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Feynman also became known through his autobiographical books Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?, and books written about him such as Tuva or Bust! by Ralph Leighton and the biography Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick.”

NARRATOR(S):
Richard Feynman
These are lectures.

GENRE:
Nonfiction; Physics

SUBJECTS (Not comprehensive):
Magnetism in Physics; Physics of Electricity; Mathematics

RATING:
5 stars. I’m making an exception to my rule of ranking something by my personal interest level and taste, because I suspect that to the physicist this is all very useful information and the lecture style, while giving the sense of genius, is also amusing.

STARTED-FINISHED
8/11/2024 – 8/13/2024… (more)

Dick Feynman was a Nobel laureate and professor of theoretical physics at Cornell and Cal Tech. Like many accomplished people, he had a unique reputation and a magnanimous spirit. In the classroom, his students revered him for his interesting stories. This memoir, written towards the end of his life, records his reflections on his life with the same zeal that won his students’ hearts.

To be frank, some of his stories tend towards the anti-feminist side and make women into objects instead of brilliant minds of their own. This is unfortunate. He grew up and lived in an era where women were not as valued for their professional accomplishments. This memoir sadly contains abundant references to women in sensual roles, not as reasoning equals. Of course, he worked in a male-heavy field before the “Me too” era, so his situation was different than mine 30 years later. Nonetheless, I would have liked to have heard more praising of womankind. Had he lived to this date, I suspect he would have, too.

Despite this central shortcoming, his anecdotes and perspective provides much insight. He is fiercely curious, fiercely objective, and fiercely free. He volunteered his time on government boards for schoolbooks, and he delved in many scientific fields that weren’t tightly wed to physics. He is a good storyteller, and his fascination with life comes through clearly in this memoir. I would have liked to have heard him speak had I lived in his era, despite any shortcomings of character.… (more)