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Feynman: The Lectures and the Man

NOV 01, 2005

DOI: 10.1063/1.2155736

Michael F. Shlesinger

Matthew Sands’s article brought back my own fond memories. In the fall of 1966, I began my freshman year at SUNY Stony Brook as a math major. I also enrolled in the freshman physics course taught by Arnold Strassenburg. We used the excellent Berkeley Series physics textbooks and The Feynman Lectures on Physics. I bought a used copy of the Lectures in 1966; I had never heard of Feynman.

Reading his lectures was like speaking with a friend. Informality reigned, and in an amazingly short number of steps, Feynman could bring the reader to deep results and understanding. I have never since learned so much in so short a time. I graduated with a dual major in math and physics and a career in physics. The Feynman Lectures changed my life.

More about the Authors

Michael F. Shlesinger. (shlesim@onr.navy.mil) Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, US .

This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_2005_11.jpeg

Volume 58, Number 11

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