For the Love of Physics
From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge of Time—A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics
by Walter Lewin
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For the Love of Physics
Walter Lewin has loved physics since he was a young student. As an academic, he found that he also loves to teach it. One of the most popular professors at MIT, his introductory lectures—which feature vivid demonstrations of physical principles using everything from giant pendulums to Van de Graaff generators—have made him a campus favorite and a YouTube star. In For the Love of Physics, he recalls his career and takes us on a tour of the field’s wonders.
After earning a Ph.D. in the Netherlands, Lewin arrived at MIT in 1966 and has remained there. Professionally, he’s best known for balloon surveys in astronomy that identified new x-ray sources, including the first slowly rotating x-ray pulsar.
In a series of conversational chapters, Lewin demonstrates the principles of mechanics, electromagnetism and more. He shows, for example, that a penny thrown from the top of the Empire State Building would be traveling at about 200 mph at the bottom, but it wouldn’t kill you if it hit you. In class at MIT, he shoots two paint cans with a rifle, one filled to the brim with water, the other not quite full; which can’s top pops up while the other stays put? The answer teaches us about the relative compressibility of air and water molecules. In a striking example of simple harmonic motion, he hangs a giant iron weight from a pendulum, brings it up to his face, and lets it go. As his students watch, the weight first swings away, then comes back, seemingly about to hit him in the face—but faith in the laws of physics lets him face it without even flinching. The pages are filled with delights like these.
For the Love of Physics traces one man’s journey through science, sharing the excitement of finding out how the universe works.
Hardcover : 320 pages
Publisher: Free Press ( May 03, 2011 )
Item #: 13-379012
ISBN: 9781439108277
Product Dimensions: 6.0 x 9.0 inches
Product Weight: 17.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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