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Used
Paperback
1992
$3.83
Collecting legendary lectures from freewheeling scientific genius Richard P. Feynman, The Character of Physical Law is the perfect example of Feynman's gift for making complex subjects accessible and entertaining. Here Richard Feynman gives his own unique take on the puzzles and problems that lie at the heart of physics, from Newton's Law of Gravitation to mathematics as the supreme language of nature, from the mind-boggling question of whether time can go backwards to the exciting search for new scientific laws. Using simple everyday illustrations to bring out the essence of a complicated principle - for example the surprising parallels between the law of conservation of energy and drying yourself with wet towels - these lectures are a brilliant example of Feynman's mind in action. The greatest physicist of the twentieth century . ( Sunday Times ). It is unlikely that the world will see another Richard Feynman ...his style inspired a generation of scientists. This volume remains the best record I know of his exhilarating vision . (Paul Davies). Fascinating ...an insight into the thought processes of a great physicist ...the acknowledged master of clear explanation .
( The Times Literary Supplement ). One of the most enjoyable books written by a major scientist . ( Observer ). Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988) was one of this century's most brilliant theoretical physicists and original thinkers. Feynman's other books, also available in Penguin, include QED , Six Easy Pieces , Six Not-so-Easy Pieces , Don't You Have Time to Think , The Pleasure of Finding Things Out , What Do You Care What Other People Think? and The Meaning of it All .
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Used
Paperback
1989
$10.16
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.
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New
Paperback
1992
$12.42
Collecting legendary lectures from freewheeling scientific genius Richard P. Feynman, The Character of Physical Law is the perfect example of Feynman's gift for making complex subjects accessible and entertaining. Here Richard Feynman gives his own unique take on the puzzles and problems that lie at the heart of physics, from Newton's Law of Gravitation to mathematics as the supreme language of nature, from the mind-boggling question of whether time can go backwards to the exciting search for new scientific laws. Using simple everyday illustrations to bring out the essence of a complicated principle - for example the surprising parallels between the law of conservation of energy and drying yourself with wet towels - these lectures are a brilliant example of Feynman's mind in action. The greatest physicist of the twentieth century . ( Sunday Times ). It is unlikely that the world will see another Richard Feynman ...his style inspired a generation of scientists. This volume remains the best record I know of his exhilarating vision . (Paul Davies). Fascinating ...an insight into the thought processes of a great physicist ...the acknowledged master of clear explanation .
( The Times Literary Supplement ). One of the most enjoyable books written by a major scientist . ( Observer ). Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988) was one of this century's most brilliant theoretical physicists and original thinkers. Feynman's other books, also available in Penguin, include QED , Six Easy Pieces , Six Not-so-Easy Pieces , Don't You Have Time to Think , The Pleasure of Finding Things Out , What Do You Care What Other People Think? and The Meaning of it All .