What is Physics

DRAFT - WORK IN PROGRES …

Out there was this huge world, which exists independently of us, human beings, and that we are of front as a great, eternal enigma, accessible only partially to our observation and thinking. The contemplation of this world drew me like a liberation, and I immediately noticed that many of the men I had learned to esteem and admire had found the own freedom and inner security by devoting themselves to it. The intellectual possession of this extrapersonal world mi Ybalenated to the mind, more or less consciously, as the highest goal among those granted to man.The friends who could not be lost were the men of the present and the past who had had the same goal, with the deep horizons they had been able to open up.

Albert Einstein (Scientific Autobiography, 1949)

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online resources

For a general introduction to the subject there are many free online courses from prestigious universities, even of Nobel laureates (Feynman) and leading scientists (Susskind):

  • CalTech Lectures - Richard P. Feynman
  • Yale Open Courses - Ramamurti Shankar
  • MIT Open Course Ware - Miscellaneous
  • Rice Univ. OpenStax - Various
  • Cambridge DAMTP (UK) - David Tong
  • Stanford - Leonard Susskind
  • Stony Brook - Konstantin Likharev

The timeless and unmatched classic on matter for depth of thought are the lectures given in 1963 at Caltech by Nobel laureate Feynman. However, it cannot be recommended as the first and only reference source; for that, Shankar’s course in Yale, concise, clear and modern. The Feynman, Shankar, OpenStax volumes are also printed on paper; for Feynman there is also a bilingual Italian edition, original text with facing Italian translation. OpenStax also publishes a simpler text that uses only basic high school algebra without differential and integral calculus, College Physics. MIT also provides a couple of summer courses for “good” high school students (Statistical Physics,Waves and Oscillations), and others can be found on arxiv (e.g. Thinking Quantum).

Instead, at a higher level than a general physics course, aimed at giving a good introduction to the whole modern theoretical physics are the online courses of Leonard Susskind (Stanford) and David Tong (Cambridge).

For secondary schools.

Introduction to physics: books and ebooks

An up-to-date and authoritative overview of physics in a single volume has been prepared by two cambridge (UK) professors:

  • Nicholas Manton, Nicholas Mee - The Physical World: An Inspirational Tour of Fundamental Physics (2017)

For easier study of Feynman’s three volumes there are supplementary texts:

  • Feynman et al. - Feynman’s Tips on Physics: Reflections, Advice, Insights, Practice (2013)
  • Feynman et al. - Exercises for the Feynman Lectures on Physics (2014)
  • Hee C. Lim - Mathematical Derivation for Vol. II of the Feynman Lectures on Physics, Parts 1/2 & 2/2 (2021)
  • Hee C. Lim - Mathematical Derivation for Vol. III of the Feynman Lectures on Physics (2021)

For focused introductions to modern and contemporary physics:

  • Kerson Huang - Fundamental forces of the nature (2007)

  • Ta-Pei Cheng - Einstein’s Physics: Atoms, Quanta, and Relativity (2013)

  • Robert Mills - Space, Time and Quanta (1996)

  • Q. Ho-Kim, N. Kurnar, C.S. Lam - Invitation to contemporary physics, 2nd Ed. (2004)

Introduction to Theoretical Physics

The first three courses in Leonard Susskind’s “The Theoretical Minimum” series have also been printed, and translated into Italian. For a comprehensive overview of the most advanced fundamental theoretical physics in one volume is Nobel laureate Roger Penrose’s incredible tour de force “The Road to Reality.”

  • Leonard Susskind and others - The Theoretical Minimum. What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics. Online The Theoretical Minimum:

    1. Leonard Susskind, George Hrabovsky - 1 Classical Mechanics (2013) transl.it. Classical Mechanics
    2. Leonard Susskind, Art Friedman - 2 Quantum Mechanics (2014) transl.it. Quantum Mechanicsa
    3. Leonard Susskind, Art Friedman - 3 Special Relativity and Classical Field Theory (2017) transl. it. special relativity and classical field theory
    4. Leonard Susskind, André Cabannes - 4 General Relativity (2023)

  • Roger Penrose - The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe (2007) transl.it. The road to reality. the fundamental laws of the universe (Wikipedia)

  • Malcolm Longair - Theoretical Concepts in Physics. An Alternative View of Theoretical Reasoning in Physics, 3rd ed. (2020)

  • Dietrich Stauffer, H. Eugene Stanley, Annick Lesne - From Newton to Mandelbrot. A Primer in Theoretical Physics, 3rd ed. (2018)

  • Steven Weinberg - Foundations of Modern Physics (2021)

  • Ian D. Lawrie - A Unified Grand Tour of Theoretical Physics, 3rd ed. (2013)

Other online resources

A guide for self-taught study of physics is:

Physics for all

  • Richard Feynman - Six Easy Pieces
  • Richard Feynman - Six Pieces Less Easy
  • Landau, Kitaigorodski, Physics for All (Mechanics, Heat)
  • Carlo Cosmelli - Physics for Philosophers (2021)
  • Sadri Hassani - From Atoms to Galaxies. A Conceptual Physics Approach to Scientific Awareness (2011)
  • Richard Feynman - QED. The strange theory of light and matter
  • Richard Feynman - The Physical Law
  • Steven Weinberg - Explaining the world.The discovery of modern science
  • Steven Weinberg - The dream of the unity of the universe
  • Steven Weinberg - The First Three Minutes
  • Anthony Legget - The problems of physics. from cosmology to subatomic particles
  • Jim Al-Khalili - The world according to physics
  • Lisa Randall - Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World (2012) transl.it. Knocking on the gates of heaven
  • Jim Baggott - Origins. the scientific history of creation
  • Jim Baggott - Mass. the origin of matter from the Greeks to quantum mechanics
  • Sidney Perkowitz - Physics. a Very Short Introduction (OUP VSI)
  • Alan Holden - The Nature of solids
  • Bellur S. Chandraseckhar - Why things are the way they are trad.it Why glass is transparent
  • Richard A. Muller - Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines trad.it. Physics for the presidents of the future.
  • Walter Lewin - For the Love of Physics: From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge of Time (2012) trad.en For the Love of Physics. From the Rainbow to the Edge of Time (2021) youTube channel for the book: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEHVhv0SBMpP75JbzJShqw
  • Frank Wilczek, A Beautiful Question. Finding Nature’s Deep Design (2015) transl. it. a beautiful question. discovering the deep design of nature
  • Peter Atkins, Conjuring the Universe. the Origins of the Laws of Nature (2018)
  • Lisa Randall, Warped Passages. Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions (2005) transl. it. curved passages. the mysteries of the hidden dimensions of the universe
  • Roger Penrose, The Emperor’s New Mind. Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics (1989) transl. it. The emperor’s new mind. The mind, computers and the laws of physics
  • N. David Mermin, Boojums All the Way Through. Communicating Science in a Prosaic Age (1990).
  • Leon Lederman, Christopher T. Hill - Quantum Physics for Poets (2013)
  • Peter W. Atkins - The rules of the game. How thermodynamics makes the universe work (2010)
  • Vittorio Silvestrini - What is entropy. order, disorder, evolution of systems (2012)
  • Paul Sen - Einstein’s refrigerator. How the difference between hot and cold explains the universe (2021)

Narrow relativity: disclosure

  • Albert Einstein, “Relativity: popular exposition. With classical writings on space geometry physics,” 5th ed. (2010)
  • Albert Einstein, Leopold Infeld, “The Evolution of Physics.”
  • Max Born, “The Einstenian Synthesis.”

History of Physics

  • Abraham Pais - Inward Bound. Of Forces and Matter in Physical World (1988)
  • Enrico Bellone - Chaos and harmony. history of modern and contemporary physics
  • Lucio Russo - The forgotten revolution. Greek scientific thought and modern science
  • Emilio Segrè - Personalities and discoveries in physics. from Galileo to quarks
  • Vittorio Silvestrini - The great adventure of physics. from Galileo to the Higgs boson
  • Paolo Rossi (editor) - History of modern and contemporary science, 5 tomes

Biographies and testimonies

  • Max Born - Autobiography of a Physicist
  • Albert Einstein - Scientific Autobiography
  • Richard Feynman - Are you kidding Mr. Feynman?
  • Abraham Pais - Subtle is the Lord … Science and Life of Albert Einstein transl.it. Thin is the Lord. science and the life of Albert Einstein
  • Abraham Pais, Robert P. Crease - J. Robert Oppenheimer. a Life
  • Abraham Pais - Niels Bohr’s Times. In Physics, Philosophy, and Politics
  • Emilio Segrè - Enrico Fermi, physicist, A scientific biography
  • Lawrence M. Krauss - Quantum man Richard Feynman’s life in science
  • James Gleick - Genius The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
  • Frank Close - Life Divided. story of Bruno Pontecorvo, physicist or spy
  • John Archibald Wheeler, Kenneth W. Ford - Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam. a Life in Physics (2000)
  • Fabio Toscano - The Physicist Who Lived Twice. The Extraordinary Days of Lev Landau, Soviet Genius (2015)

Classical Mechanics: insights

  • Jennifer Coopersmith - The Lazy Universe. An Introduction to the Principle of Least Action
  • David Morin - Introduction to Classical Mechanics
  • Leonard Susskind, George Hrabovski - Theoretical minimum I: Classical Mechanics(see above) trad.it “The Theoretical Minimum. Classical Mechanics.”

Thermodynamics

  • Jennifer Coopersmith - Energy, the Subtle Concept (2015)

  • Don S. Lemons - A Student’s Guide to Entropy (2013)

  • Enrico Fermi - Thermodynamics

Electromagnetism and Waves: insights

  • Daniel Fleisch - A Student’s Guide to Maxwell’s Equations transl. it. guide to Maxwell’s equations

  • Daniel Fleisch - A Student’s Guide to Waves transl.it. wave study guide

  • David J. Griffiths - Introduction to Electrodynamics

Advanced readings in Theoretical Physics

  • Lev D. Landau, E. Lifsits - Course in Theoretical Physics, vols. 1-10:

    • vol. 1: Mechanics
    • vol. 2: Field theory
    • vol. 3: Quantum mechanics: non-relativistic theory
    • vol. 4: Relativistic quantum theory
    • vol. 5: Statistical physics
    • vol. 6: Fluid mechanics
    • vol. 7: Theory of elasticity
    • vol. 8: Electrodynamics of continuous media
    • vol. 9: Condensed state theory
    • vol.10: Kinetic physics

  • Kip S. Thorne, Roger D. Blandford - Modern Classical Physics (2017) in the new edition, the text has been divided into 5 independent volumes: 1. Statistical Physics 2. Optics 3. Elasticity and Fluid Dynamics 4. Plasma Physics 5. Relativity and Cosmology

Note: Vol. 1 includes in addition to Statistical Mechanics the Fundamentals, Classical Mechanics and Special Relativity. Quantum theories are not covered.