Matthew Sands’s article brought back my own fond memories. In the fall of 1966, I began my freshman year at SUNY Stony Brook as a math major. I also enrolled in the freshman physics course taught by Arnold Strassenburg. We used the excellent Berkeley Series physics textbooks and The Feynman Lectures on Physics. I bought a used copy of the Lectures in 1966; I had never heard of Feynman.
Reading his lectures was like speaking with a friend. Informality reigned, and in an amazingly short number of steps, Feynman could bring the reader to deep results and understanding. I have never since learned so much in so short a time. I graduated with a dual major in math and physics and a career in physics. The Feynman Lectures changed my life.
© 2005 American Institute of Physics.
2005
American Institute of Physics
