Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Feyman Lectures: Project Tuva

I saw an article on CNET today about Bill Gates and Project Tuva. Project Tuva is putting classic science videos online and they have picked a doozy to start out: A series of physics lectures by Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman.

Feynam is one of the true giants of 20th century physics as well as a legendary character who had a real zest for life. If you have never read Surely Your're Joking, Mr. Feynman, go get it now. It's not a hardcore physics book (although there is some science in it) but rather a collection of short stories about his life from playing with radios as a child to working on the Manhatten Project to his Nobel Prize. It is the most laugh out loud science book you will ever read (my favorites are the mischief he caused at Los Alamos while learning to crack safes).

The name, Project Tuva, is a tribute to Feynman. He had a quest to travel to Tuva which is related in the book Tuva or Bust.

Feyman is not just known for his brilliant science and quirky personality, but his ability to explain science in terms others could understand, a master teacher on top of it all. These videos give us a glimpse at one of the most remarkable teachers and scientists of the last 100 years. Watch and enjoy...thank you Bill Gates.

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

1 comment:

OrbsCorbs said...

"Gates said that he hoped his action would serve as a model for taking great educational content and making it broadly available for free."

Yeah, that's cool. I envy Gates his $, but he does a lot of good with it.