Describe Out Of Books QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
| Title | : | QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter |
| Author | : | Richard P. Feynman |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 158 pages |
| Published | : | October 21st 1988 by Princeton University Press (first published 1985) |
| Categories | : | Science. Physics. Nonfiction. Popular Science |
Richard P. Feynman
Paperback | Pages: 158 pages Rating: 4.24 | 15196 Users | 476 Reviews
Narration In Pursuance Of Books QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
Famous the world over for the creative brilliance of his insights into the physical world, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman also possessed an extraordinary talent for explaining difficult concepts to the nonscientist. QED--the edited version of four lectures on quantum electrodynamics that Feynman gave to the general public at UCLA as part of the Alix G. Mautner Memorial Lecture series--is perhaps the best example of his ability to communicate both the substance and the spirit of science to the layperson.The focus, as the title suggests, is quantum electrodynamics (QED), the part of the quantum theory of fields that describes the interactions of the quanta of the electromagnetic field-light, X rays, gamma rays--with matter and those of charged particles with one another. By extending the formalism developed by Dirac in 1933, which related quantum and classical descriptions of the motion of particles, Feynman revolutionized the quantum mechanical understanding of the nature of particles and waves. And, by incorporating his own readily visualizable formulation of quantum mechanics, Feynman created a diagrammatic version of QED that made calculations much simpler and also provided visual insights into the mechanisms of quantum electrodynamic processes.
In this book, using everyday language, spatial concepts, visualizations, and his renowned "Feynman diagrams" instead of advanced mathematics, Feynman successfully provides a definitive introduction to QED for a lay readership without any distortion of the basic science. Characterized by Feynman's famously original clarity and humor, this popular book on QED has not been equaled since its publication.
Identify Books During QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
| Original Title: | QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter |
| ISBN: | 0691024170 (ISBN13: 9780691024172) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Out Of Books QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
Ratings: 4.24 From 15196 Users | 476 ReviewsDiscuss Out Of Books QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
This book hits all the marks for a great novel. Yes, it's a science book, but it's probably one of the best ones I've read so far. Feynman has a fun style of writing and makes these topics very easy to understand. He really captures the wonder and excitement that new things in physics can offer. Even though I knew many of the things in the book already, I had never seen them presented in this way before, as in, explaining common phenomena like reflection and diffraction with the little "arrows"The particle view of physics and how Richard Feynman was able to explain all of the weird ways that light behaves was a thoroughly engrossing read. The intellectual feat that was performed by this man in creating a workable mathematics for the physics behind the way that light travels, and reflects is truly amazing. Using the simple concepts of rotation, spin, frequency, and depicting it all with some simple calculations involving arrows and simple algebra gave me a sense of awe at the
Sometimes, it's too late, but that makes you do it better. You probably imagine that this book is a physics text. Well, it is, but that that's not what it really is. Really, it's a love letter to a dead woman. Feynman says in his introduction that his friend Alix Mautner had always wanted him to explain quantum electrodynamics to her so that she could understand it, and he'd never gotten around to doing that. Now it was too late. But, somehow, you can see that that only made him want to do it,
Its a subject that got glazed over when I was in Engineering and after that, a wiki entry that I frequented whenever I had questions. Feynman targets this book to, well, everyone. He holds your hand and shows how things work. Its a slow step by step process and if you invest some time, its highly rewarding and quite refreshing to be taught physics by a man who is long dead but doesn't really feel so when you read his words. You get transposed to his classroom as he explains basic concepts and
Wonderful,Feynman is a genius of popularization,without a mathematical expression has achieved the goal of give the rigurous quantum electrodinamics fundaments of geometric and physical optics,is to say,refraction,refraction index,reflexion, difraction ,converging lenses,classic Fermats principle of minimun time in path light and so on.He uses arrows to represent complex numbers in complex plane,with its modules and phases and uses sums and products of histories in the propagation of the photon
Throughout the years of reading both popular and less-popular science, Ive kind of steered clear of Richard Feynman. The main reason is that what others describe as a larger than life persona I tend to describe as really bloody annoying, what with his bongos and womanizing and oh-so-clever quips where he always gets the upper hand with the old and rusty physics establishment. Having now fought my way through QED, I can see that this may have been a mistake. My annoyance with his autobiographical
How can you not love Richard Feynman? This is as easy a lesson in quantum electrodynamics as you'll find, I think. Which is not to say "easy," but painless to read and absorbable with enough concentration and/or re-reading of the harder parts. No more math than you are already familiar with, just kind of hard to wrap your mind around. I have often complained that I didn't "believe in" quantum theory because it doesn't make sense. It turns out that nobody understands WHY it works, but Dr. Feynman
0 comments:
Post a Comment