Classical FLP Original Course Handouts at The Feynman Lectures Website

Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The Feynman Lectures Website has published a significant collection of 744 pages of FLP classroom handouts, which include laboratory guidelines, homework, quizzes, and lecture summaries, originally donated by Dennis Oberg in 2006. Ralph Leighton scanned these handouts, and they were made available online in 2012 after the website transitioned to Caltech. The original presentation, created with Microsoft FrontPage, has been updated using deep-zoom image technology to enhance accessibility. The new presentation can be found at this link.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of deep-zoom image technology
  • Familiarity with the Feynman Lectures on Physics (FLP)
  • Basic knowledge of web publishing and content management
  • Awareness of the historical context of Feynman's educational materials
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore the deep-zoom image technology used in the new presentation
  • Research the history and impact of the Feynman Lectures on Physics
  • Investigate the transition of the Feynman Lectures Website to Caltech
  • Examine the incorporation of Feynman's homework problems into published exercise books
USEFUL FOR

Educators, physics students, historians of science, and anyone interested in the educational legacy of Richard Feynman and the accessibility of scientific materials.

codelieb
Messages
157
Reaction score
162
Hello, everyone.

The first large collection of FLP-related content posted at The Feynman Lectures Website was 744 pages of FLP classroom handouts (including laboratory guidelines, descriptions of experiments, homework, quizzes and exams, lecture summaries and outlines) donated by one of Feynman's former undergraduate students, Dennis Oberg. Dennis loaned his set of handouts to Ralph Leighton for him to copy, back in 2006.

Ralph scanned all 744 pages, one at a time on a flatbed scanner (a big job!). Since at first we had hoped to include the material in a commercial product we did not publish it online at the FL Website until 2012. A year later we published the online edition of FLP, and shortly after that the FL Website moved to Caltech, changing its address from "www.feynmanlectures.info" to "www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu."

The 'FLP Original Course Handouts' was the most popular material posted at the old .info website, and remains very popular today at Caltech. However, the original presentation, which was generated by (now defunct) Microsoft FrontPage leaves a lot to be desired. I wanted to do better justice to the material and make it more accessible. So, for the past few months I've been working on a new presentation based on the deep-zoom image technology we currently use to present the FLP lecture photos and Feynman's FLP notes. The new presentation can be found here:

(A link can also be found on the homepage of the FL Website.)

For the time being I am leaving the original presentation in place as part of the /info section of the FL website (which is a copy of the old .info site, as it was before we published the online edition of FLP) because Google informs me there are several hundred links from other websites to the pages of the original presentation, and I don't want to break them, though in the future I might redirect those links to the new presentation.

Best regard,
Mike Gottlieb
Editor, The Feynman Lectures on Physics New Millennium Edition
www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu
 
  • Like
  • Love
Likes hmmm27, TSny, vanhees71 and 4 others
Physics news on Phys.org
I'm curious what proportion of the problems in the "Homework and Tests" section made it into "Exercises for the Feynman lectures on Physics" (which I sadly don't have to hand outside of term time)?
 
I don't know the answer to that question offhand, but for sure, many of the homework and test problems assigned to Feynman's students were incorporated into the exercise books published by Caltech.
 
  • Like
Likes vanhees71 and ergospherical
i am self learning physics. have you ever worked your way backwards again after finishing most undergrad courses? i have textbooks for junior/senior physics courses in classical mechanics, electrodynamics, thermal physics, quantum mechanics, and mathematical methods for self learning. i have the Halliday Resnick sophomore book. working backwards, i checked out Conceptual Physics 11th edition by Hewitt and found this book very helpful. What i liked most was how stimulating the pictures...

Similar threads

  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
4K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
5K
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
2K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
6K
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
24K
  • · Replies 48 ·
2
Replies
48
Views
13K
Replies
62
Views
56K
Replies
26
Views
18K
Replies
3
Views
4K
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
3K