Feynman Lectures Simplified 1C: Special Relativity and the Physics of Light

Feynman Simplified gives mere mortals access to the fabled Feynman Lectures on Physics. As a Caltech undergraduate, I had the amazing opportunity to learn physics directly from the greatest scientist of our age. I absorbed all I could. His style and enthusiasm were as important as the facts and equations.

Feynman Simplified 1C covers about a quarter of Volume 1, the freshman course, of The Feynman Lectures on Physics. The topics we explore include:

Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity
• The Principle of Relativity
• What Motivated Special Relativity?
• The Lorentz Transformation
• Length Contraction & Time Dilation
• E=mc2 & Simultaneity
• Light Cones & Causality
• Paradoxes, Puzzles, & Philosophy

The Physics of Light, including:
• Geometric Optics
• The Principle of Least Time
• Interference & Diffraction
• Feynman Sum Over Histories
• Refraction & Polarization
• Electromagnetic Radiation
• Light Scattering
• Relativistic Effects on Light

This book assumes an understanding of the material in Feynman Simplified 1A: Basic Physics. It is however, largely independent of the material in Feynman Simplified 1B.