Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun

Richard P. Feynman; David Goodstein; Judith R. Goodstein

ISBN 10: 0393039188 / ISBN 13: 9780393039184

Published by W W Norton and Co., New York, 1996

About this Item

First printing. Gilt lettering on tan covers in a black & pictorial dust jacket. 8vo, 191pp. Compact disk contained in a box decorated similar to the book dust jacked. Both in a slipcase similarly decorated. The back corners of the slipcase are edge torn 1/2".

Seller Inventory # 011031

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun
• Publisher: W W Norton and Co., New York
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393039188
• ISBN 13: 9780393039184
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

"Glorious."―Wall Street Journal

Rescued from obscurity, Feynman's Lost Lecture is a blessing for all Feynman followers. Most know Richard Feynman for the hilarious anecdotes and exploits in his best-selling books Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What DoYou Care What Other People Think? But not always obvious in those stories was his brilliance as a pure scientist―one of the century's greatest physicists. With this book and CD, we hear the voice of the great Feynman in all his ingenuity, insight, and acumen for argument. This breathtaking lecture―"The Motion of the Planets Around the Sun"―uses nothing more advanced than high-school geometry to explain why the planets orbit the sun elliptically rather than in perfect circles, and conclusively demonstrates the astonishing fact that has mystified and intrigued thinkers since Newton: Nature obeys mathematics. David and Judith Goodstein give us a beautifully written short memoir of life with Feynman, provide meticulous commentary on the lecture itself, and relate the exciting story of their effort to chase down one of Feynman's most original and scintillating lectures.

About the Authors

Richard P. Feynman (1918–1988) was a professor at Cornell University and CalTech and received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1965. In 1986 he served with distinction on the Rogers Commission investigating the space shuttle Challenger disaster.

David Goodstein, former vice provost and Frank J. Galloon Distinguished Teaching and Service Professor at the California Institute of Technology, is the author of Out of Oil and Feynman's Lost Lecture, among other works.

Judith R. Goodstein, PhD, is University Archivist and faculty associate at Caltech. She has taught history at Cal State Dominguez Hills and UCLA, while building from scratch an archive and rare book collection about the history of science. She is married to Professor David Goodstein.