Feynman's Lost Lecture - The Motion of the Planets Around the Sun

The Bottom Line

A must for the Feynman fanatic. The geometric derivation of Kepler's laws is of historical importance, but this does not replace a "calculus" derivation in an advanced physics course.

Pros	Derives Kepler's Laws from only geometry A work by one of the great physics lecturers Includes a CD of the famous lecture
Cons	Derives Kepler's Laws from only geometry

Description

• Contains a 191 page book and an audio CD.
• The book contains historical background and a detailed derivation of Kepler's laws.
• The book also contains the text of Feynman's lecture
• The CD contains the lecture, as recorded at Caltech in 1964.
• The book is "written" by David L. and Judith R. Goodstein, with text transcibed from Feynman.

Review - Feynman's Lost Lecture - The Motion of Planets Arouns the Sun

In 1964, Feynman gave a guest lecture on "The Motion of Planets Around the Sun" to a class of Freshmen at Caltech. Omitted from his seminal "Lectures on Physics" this lecture covers a geometrical proof of Kepler's Laws of Planetry Motion, (based on the original proofs by Newton). The book contains an historical background of Kepler, Tycho, Newton and Feynman, as well as an in depth discussion of the proof provided by the authors, as Feynman's Lecture by itself is quite intimidating. The recording of the lecture is of good quality, with little noise, and the booklet provides the relevant diagrams so Feynmans train of thought can be followed. This lecture is completly without calculus so it is highly accessible.