The Character of Physical Law (Penguin Press Science)
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"...Fascinating...an insight into the thought processes of a great physicist." Times Literary Supplement
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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In these Messenger Lectures, originally delivered at Cornell University and recorded for television by the BBC, Richard Feynman offers an overview of selected physical laws and gathers their common features into one broad principle of invariance. He maintains at the outset that the importance of a physical law is not "how clever we are to have found it out, but...how clever nature is to pay attention to it," and tends his discussions toward a final exposition of the elegance and simplicity of all scientific laws. Rather than an essay on the most significant achievements in modern science, The Character of Physical Law is a statement of what is most remarkable in nature. Feynman's enlightened approach, his wit, and his enthusiasm make this a memorable exposition of the scientist's craft.The Law of Gravitation is the author's principal example. Relating the details of its discovery and stressing its mathematical character, he uses it to demonstrate the essential interaction of mathematics and physics. He views mathematics as the key to any system of scientific laws, suggesting that if it were possible to fill out the structure of scientific theory completely, the result would be an integrated set of mathematical axioms. The principles of conservation, symmetry, and time-irreversibility are then considered in relation to developments in classical and modern physics, and in his final lecture Feynman develops his own analysis of the process and future of scientific discovery.Like any set of oral reflections, The Character of Physical Law has special value as a demonstration of the mind in action. The reader is particularly lucky in Richard Feynman. One of the most eminent and imaginative modern physicists, he was Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology until his death in 1988. He is best known for his work on the quantum theory of the electromagnetic field, as well as for his later research in the field of low-temperature physics. In 1954 he received the Albert Einstein Award for his "outstanding contribution to knowledge in mathematical and physical sciences"; in 1965 he was appointed to Foreign Membership in the Royal Society and was awarded the Nobel Prize.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is basically transcripts of a series of lectures given by Feynman. As such they are informal in style, but also relaxed on things such as sentence structure an punctuation. I'm not just being picky because this led to me having trouble reading some of the passages, they're not impenetrable, just not to his usual high standard.
The content however is good. I have read a few of his books and I wouldn't rate this amongst his best work. Usually he puts a new slant on ideas, presenting them in a way which gives fresh insights, but that isn't so evident here. He did introduce a couple of new concepts to me, like the equivalence of the symmetries and conservation laws, and how orbits can be described by conservation. These were entirely new though, so it wasn't like the new understanding of general relativity I gained from 'Six Not-so-Easy Pieces'. The final chapter on 'Seeking New Laws' fails to strike the right note for me, falling short of it's aims to explain where innovation comes from.
This is a book which doesn't deal directly with the laws of physics, there's plenty of those around already, some from the same author. It deals instead with the general structure of these laws, and how it is possible to have these laws in the first place. As such it is an interesting read, and should be considered if you have tired of books on relativity and quantum mechanics.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am lucky enough to have seen a lot of Feynman on TV in the 70s and 80s on many BBC programmes. His style and light hearted delivery make him exciting to watch. I still have my first copy of TCPL from MIT press (1965); it is a transcript of the lectures now made available online by Bill Gates. The whole series can be viewed at [...]# or search for Project TUVA. The video presentation is a copy of the original recording of a "Messenger Lectures" series filmed live in 1964. It is still worth viewing today. RPF is a very likeable and entertaining character!
Regards.
Barry.
Regards.
Barry.
21 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a book that I really enjoyed because of Richard Feynman's fine writing style. He combined his scientific knowledge with his wit and it came out perfectly. I have read several of Mr. Feynman's books, but I think that this one comes out top. It explains gravity perfectly and the Chapter on Probability and Uncertainty was most interesting. I couldn't ask for more in a book!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
physics and all that jazz
Fascinating book by a highly significant author. Delivered in good condition in a timely fashion.
Published 20 months ago by Book worm UK
Great physics audio edutainment ..
July 8, 1999 I would like to take a minute to thank Audio Scholar for abridging this novel to audio. Read more
Published on 8 July 1999
Three Thumbs up
Can someone with freshman college physics understand Professor Feynmans theoretical physics? This cassette really combines well everything from Newton's Laws to quantum theory to... Read more
Published on 10 Aug 1998
The Chief explains it *all* to you.
And you'll even understand how the scientific process works,
to boot. Rocket science books don't get any better.
to boot. Rocket science books don't get any better.
Published on 30 Dec 1995
The Chief explains it *all* to you.
And you'll even understand how the scientific process works,
to boot. Rocket science books don't get any better.
to boot. Rocket science books don't get any better.
Published on 30 Dec 1995
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