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

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

ISBN 10: 0393039188 / ISBN 13: 9780393039184

Published by W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY, U.S.A., 1996

About this Item

Book and Compact Disc as a boxed set. A fine/ fine first edition, first printing of this classic scientific lecture.

Seller Inventory # 008337

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, New York, NY, U.S.A.
• 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.