QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter is an adaptation for the general reader of four lectures on quantum electrodynamics (QED) by Richard Feynman.

QED was designed to be a popular science book in a witty style with some quantum-mechanical mathematics. It is aimed at teaching its audience to understand what's going on behind the calculations rather than teaching how to do the calculations. It was first published in 1985 by the Princeton University Press.

The book

Much of Feynman's discussion springs from an everyday phenomenon: the way any transparent sheet of glass partly reflects any light shining on it. Feynman also pays homage to Isaac Newton's struggles to come to terms with the nature of light.

Feynman's lectures were originally given as the Sir Douglas Robb lectures at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 1979. Videotapes of these lectures were made publicly available on a not-for-profit basis in 1996 and more recently have been placed online by the Vega Science Trust.

The book is based on Feynman's delivery of the first Alix G. Mautner Memorial Lecture series for the general public at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1983. The differences between the book and the original Auckland lectures were discussed in June 1996 in the American Journal of Physics.

In 2006, Princeton University Press published a new edition with a new introduction by Anthony Zee. He introduces Feynman's peculiar take at explaining physics, and cites: According to Feynman, to learn QED you have two choices: you can go through seven years of physics education or read this book

The four lectures

1. Introduction

In the first lecture, Feynman describes the basic properties of photons which acts as a gentle lead into the subject (as he colloquially stated before that a science lecture is boring if either it's not using layman terms or saying something upside down). Feynman discusses how to measure the probability that a photon will reflect or transmit through a partially reflective piece of glass.

2. Photons: Particles of Light

In the second lecture, Feynman looks at the different paths a photon can take as it travels from one point to another and how this affects phenomena like reflection and diffraction.

3. Electrons and Their interactions

The third lecture describes Quantum phenomena such as the famous double-slit experiment and Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, thus describing the transmission and reflection of photons. It also introduces his famous "Feynman diagrams" and how quantum electrodynamics describes the interactions of subatomic particles.

4. Loose Ends

In the fourth lecture, Feynman discusses the meaning of Quantum electrodynamics and some of its problems. He then describes "the rest of physics", giving a brief look at quantum chromodynamics, the weak interaction and gravity, and how they relate to quantum electrodynamics.

References

Dudley, J.M.; A.M. Kwan (June 1996). "Richard Feynman's popular lectures on quantum electrodynamics: The 1979 Robb Lectures at Auckland University". American Journal of Physics 64: 694-698. 

Feynman, Richard (1985). QED: the strange theory of light and matter. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-08388-6. 

Feynman, Richard (2006). QED: the strange theory of light and matter. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-12575-9. 

The Vega Science Trust. Feynman QED lectures in New Zealand, Realmedia (.rm) format, streaming video.

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. Richard Feynman. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1985. First hardcover edition: ISBN: 0691083886.

External links

• Feynman QED lectures in New Zealand - The Tuva Trader, DVDs and Vega Science Trust streaming video.