Walter Lewin (A screenshot from one of his lectures)

Walter Lewin is an author, an astrophysicist and a professor of physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who might be most famous for his eccentric lectures (which you can access online at no cost).

In his book titled "For the Love of Physics," Lewin enthusiastically talks about all of the ways in which physics is beautiful. Many of you might share the same warm and fuzzy feelings (we certainly do), and what's not to love about it? It teaches us that even the most simple things — like a ball bouncing down the stairs, or rays of light breaking through a cloud — are, at their core, the result of numerous underlying mechanisms that make everything possible (these things are explained within the framework of physics).

Above all else, physics is absolute. We know the speed at which light travels in a vacuum; that what goes up always comes down; that an object in motion will stay in motion until an outside force acts upon it; and that E = MC2. Some of these principles are used for technologies, and without unparalleled accuracy, such technologies wouldn't be much use to us.

Needless to say, these rules are poetic, but to what extent? In one of his famous lectures, Professor Lewin willingly puts his life at risk to demonstrate the absolute nature of physics.. all for the sake of an extremely fascinating demonstration of the conservation of energy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkVZhEtaQCA


For related reading, see the Feynman Lectures here, or check out our article "Huge Collection of Free Science Books in Honor of World Literacy Day" here. Lewin also participated in Reddit's "Ask Me Anything" segment. Read the questions and see his answers here.


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