Feynman Lectures on Physics Original Course Handouts

The Feynman Lectures on Physics was based on a two-year introductory physics course that Richard Feynman taught at Caltech from 1961 to 1963; it was published in three volumes during the years 1963 to 1965, and used as the introductory physics textbook at Caltech for nearly two decades. However, Feynman's original students had no textbook—their only written guidance came from materials that were created "on the fly" (by Robert Leighton, Matt Sands, graduate students, and others), mimeographed, and handed out in recitation sections and labs. These materials included lecture summaries and outlines, lab guidelines, descriptions of experiments, homework assignments, exams, and quizzes. Among Feynman's students was Dennis Oberg, who kept his course handouts all these many years, and generously allowed The Feynman Lectures Website to copy them so that we can present them here, with Caltech's permission, as historical documentation of Feynman's original undergraduate physics course. [A new presentation of these handouts featuring deep-zoomable images can be seen here.]

Richard Feynman, Dennis Oberg (facing camera, arms crossed), and other students enjoying "Coffee Hour"