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Cover of QED by Richard Phillips Feynman

QED

  • 171 pages · about 3 hours
  • First published 1985
  • 18 editions

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1 About this book

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter is an adaptation for the general reader of four lectures on quantum electrodynamics (QED) published in 1985 by American physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman.

QED was designed to be a popular science book, written in a witty style, and containing just enough quantum-mechanical mathematics to allow the solving of very basic problems in quantum electrodynamics by an educated lay audience. It is unusual for a popular science book in the level of mathematical detail it goes into, actually allowing the reader to solve simple optics problems, as might be found in an actual textbook. But unlike in a typical textbook, the mathematics is taught in very simple terms, with no attempt to solve problems efficiently, use standard terminology, or facilitate further advancement in the field. The focus instead is on nurturing a basic conceptual understanding of what is really going on in such calculations.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • Addresses, essays
  • Nuclear physics
  • Light
  • Quantum theory

2 About Richard Phillips Feynman

1918–1988

Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics (QED), with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles".

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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