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CourseSTS.042J / 8.225J25 lectures

Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century

Prof. David Kaiser · Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Start with lecture 1 At MIT OpenCourseWare

About

This class explores the changing roles of physics and physicists during the 20th century. Topics range from relativity theory and quantum mechanics to high-energy physics and cosmology. We examine the development of modern physics and the role of physicists within shifting institutional, cultural, and political contexts, such as Imperial Britain, Nazi Germany, and the US during World War II, and the Cold War.

Lectures

Lecture Videos

  1. Lecture 1: Introduction to Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century Video
  2. Lecture 2: Faraday, Thomson, and Maxwell: Lines of Force in the Ether Video
  3. Lecture 3: Worldviews, Wranglers, and the Making of Theoretical Physicists Video
  4. Lecture 4: Waves in the Ether Video
  5. Lecture 5: Einstein and Experiment Video
  6. Lecture 6: Reception of Special Relativity Video
  7. Lecture 7: A Political History of Gravity Video
  8. Lecture 8: Rethinking Light Video
  9. Lecture 9: Rethinking Matter Video
  10. Lecture 10: Matrices and Uncertainty Video
  11. Lecture 11: Waves and Probabilities Video
  12. Lecture 12: Quantum Weirdness: Schrödinger’s Cat, EPR, and Bell’s Theorem Video
  13. Lecture 13: Physics under Hitler Video
  14. Lecture 14: Radar and the Manhattan Project Video
  15. Optional Discussion: The Day After Trinity Video
  16. Lecture 16: Secrecy and Security in the Nuclear Age Video
  17. Optional Discussion: Containment Video
  18. Lecture 18: Coldwar Classroom: Teaching Quantum Theory in Postwar American Physics Video
  19. Lecture 19: Counterculture and Physics Video
  20. Lecture 20: A Conservative Revolution: QED and Renormalization Video
  21. Lecture 21: Teaching Feynman's Tools: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics Video
  22. Lecture 22: Quarks, QCD, and the Rise of the Standard Model Video
  23. Lecture 23: The Birth of Particle Cosmology Video
  24. Lecture 24: The Big Bang, Cosmic Inflation, and the Latest Observations Video
  25. Lecture 25: String Theory and the Multiverse Video

Syllabus and materials

At MIT OpenCourseWare, as the course publishes them.

Credits and licence

Institution
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department
Science, Technology, and Society; Physics
Teacher
Prof. David Kaiser
Term
Fall 2020
Level
Undergraduate
Language
English
Subjects
Physics, Society and politics, History
Source
MIT OpenCourseWare
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, as MIT OpenCourseWare states it. Non-commercial use only. MIT OpenCourseWare's terms
Attribution
Prof. David Kaiser. Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century. Fall 2020. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu/. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.
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