A native of The Netherlands, Professor Lewin received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Delft (1965). In 1966, he came to MIT as a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Physics and was invited to join the faculty as an Assistant Professor later that same year. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Physics in 1968 and to full Professor in 1974.
Professor Lewin's honors and awards include the NASA Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (1978), twice recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Award (1984 and 1991), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1984), MIT's Science Council Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (1984) and the W. Buechner Teaching Prize of the MIT Department of Physics (1988). In 1997, he was the recipient of a NASA Group Achievement Award for the Discovery of the Bursting Pulsar.
He is a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (elected 1993), Fellow of the American Physical Society.
In the seventies and eighties Lewin collaborated with the artists Otto Piene (born in Germany), who was for many years the Director of MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and with Peter Struycken (Dutch) who is one of the leading computer artists in the world.
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lecture
Lecture 1: Powers of Ten - Units - Dimensions - Measurements - Uncertainties - Dimensional Analysis - Scaling Arguments
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
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lecture
Lecture 2: 1D Kinematics - Speed - Velocity - Acceleration
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
120083 views
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lecture
Lecture 11: Work - Kinetic Energy - Potential Energy - Conservative Forces - Conservation of Mechanical Energy - Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
103937 views
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lecture
Lecture 3: Vectors - Dot Products - Cross Products - 3D Kinematics
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
96128 views
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lecture
Lecture 10: Hooke's Law - Springs - Simple Harmonic Motion - Pendulum - Small Angle Approximation
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
90302 views
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lecture
Lecture 3: Electric Flux, Gauss's Law, Examples
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
86377 views
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lecture
Lecture 1: What holds our world together? Electric Charges (Historical), Polarization, Electric Force, Coulomb's Law
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
86101 views
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lecture
Lecture 6: Newton's Laws
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
83288 views
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lecture
Lecture 27: Fluid Mechanics - Pascal's Principle - Hydrostatics - Atmospheric Pressure - Over Pressure in Lungs and Tires
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
77686 views
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lecture
Lecture 19: Rotating Rigid Bodies - Moment of Inertia - Parallel Axis and Perpendicular Axis Theorem - Rotational Kinetic Energy - Fly Wheels - Neutron Stars - Pulsars
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
76483 views
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lecture
Lecture 4: 3D Kinematics - Free Falling Reference Frames
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
75356 views
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lecture
Lecture 16: Electromagnetic Induction, Faraday's Law, Lenz Law, Complete Breakdown of Intuition, Non-Conservative Fields
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
69783 views
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lecture
Lecture 5: Circular Motion - Centrifuges Moving - Reference Frames - Perceived Gravity
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
65373 views
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lecture
Lecture 34: The Wonderful Quantum World - Breakdown of Classical Mechanics
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
62567 views
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lecture
Lecture 15: Momentum - Conservation of Momentum - Center of Mass
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
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event
MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
373150 views
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lecture
Lecture 2: Electric Field, Field Lines, Superposition, Inductive Charging, Dipoles, Induced Dipoles
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
56733 views
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lecture
Lecture 1: Periodic Phenomena (Oscillations, Waves) - SHO - Complex Notation - Differential Equations - Physical Pendulum
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
53699 views
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lecture
Lecture 8: Friction
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
49662 views
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lecture
Lecture 20: Angular Momentum - Torques - Conservation of Angular Momentum - Spinning Neutron Stars - Stellar Collapse
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
49457 views
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lecture
Lecture 7: Weight - Perceived Gravity - Weightlessness Free Fall - Zero Gravity in Orbit (misnomer)
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
48432 views
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lecture
Lecture 28: Hydrostatics - Archimedes' Principle - Fluid Dynamics - What Makes Your Boat Float? - Bernoulli's Equation
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
47061 views
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lecture
Lecture 4: Electrostatic Potential, Electric Energy, eV, Conservative Field, Equipotential Surfaces
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
46926 views
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lecture
Lecture 24: Rolling Motion - Gyroscopes - VERY NON-INTUITIVE
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
46834 views
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lecture
The Wonders of Electricity and Magnetism
as author at MIT World Series: Family Adventures in Science and Technology Program,
37204 views
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lecture
Lecture 11: Magnetic field, Lorentz Force, Torques, Electric Motors (DC), Oscilloscope
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
41239 views
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lecture
Lecture 16: Collisions - Elastic and Inelastic - Center of Mass Frame of Reference
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
40975 views
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lecture
Lecture 22: Kepler's Laws - Elliptical Orbits - Satellites - Change of Orbits - Ham Sandwich
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
38338 views
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lecture
Lecture 13: Electromagnetic Waves - Plane Wave Solutions to Maxwell's Equations - Polarization - Malus' Law
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
36624 views
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lecture
Lecture 26: Elasticity - Young's Modulus
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
35291 views
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lecture
Lecture 12: Non-Conservative Forces - Resistive Forces - Air Drag - Terminal Velocity
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
35089 views
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lecture
Lecture 17: Impulse - Rockets
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
33691 views
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lecture
Lecture 5: E = -grad V, More on Equipotential Surfaces, Conductors, Electrostatic Shielding (Faraday Cage)
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
32960 views
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lecture
Lecture 33: Kinetic Gas Theory - Ideal Gas Law - Isothermal Atmosphere - Phase Diagrams - Phase Transitions
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
32906 views
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lecture
Lecture 13: Potential Energy - Energy Considerations to Derive Simple Harmonic Motion
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
32181 views
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lecture
Lecture 15: Ampere's Law, Solenoids, Revisit the Kelvin Water Dropper, Midterm Evaluation
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
31920 views
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lecture
Lecture 23: Doppler Effect - Binary Stars - Neutron Stars and Black Holes
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
31198 views
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lecture
Lecture 7: Capacitance, Field Energy
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
29628 views
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lecture
Lecture 19: How do Magicians levitate women? (with demo), Electric Shock Treatment (no demo), Electrocardiogram (with demo), Pacemakers, Superconductivity (with demo), Levitating Bullet Trains, Aurora Borealis
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
28823 views
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lecture
Lecture 14: Escape Velocities - Bound and Unbound Orbits - Circular Orbits - Various Forms of Energy - Power
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
28743 views
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lecture
Lecture 32: Heat - Thermal Expansion
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
27495 views
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lecture
Lecture 30: Simple Harmonic Oscillations - Energy Considerations - Torsional Pendulum
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
26688 views
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lecture
Lecture 2: Beats - Damped Free Oscillations (Under- Over- and Critically Damped) - Quality Q
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
26629 views
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lecture
Lecture 3: Forced Oscillations with Damping Information about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
26505 views
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lecture
Lecture 31 - Forced Oscillations - Normal Modes - Resonance - Natural Frequencies - Musical Instruments
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
26236 views
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introduction
Introduction to the MIT 8.01 course
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
26106 views
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lecture
Lecture 30: Polarizers, Malus's Law, Brewster Angle, Polarization by Reflection and Scattering, Why is the sky blue? Why are sunsets red? The sun will set in the lecture hall!
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
26033 views
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lecture
Lecture 14: Biot-Savart Law, Gauss' Law for Magnetic Fields, Revisit the "Leyden Jar", High-Voltage Power Lines
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
25475 views
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lecture
Lecture 6: High-Voltage Breakdown, Lightning, Sparks - St. Elmo's Fire
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
25154 views
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lecture
Lecture 29: Snell's Law, Refraction, Total Reflection, Dispersion, Prisms, Huygens's Principle, The Illusion of Color, The Weird Benham Top, Land's Famous Demo
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
24817 views
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lecture
Lecture 21: Torques - Oscillating Bodies - Hoops
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
24473 views
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lecture
Lecture 10: Batteries, EMF, Energy Conservation, Power, Kirchhoff's Rules, Circuits, Kelvin Water Dropper
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
24375 views
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lecture
Lecture 4: Forced Oscillations - Power at Resonance (Resonance Absorption, Resonance Width, Quality Q) - Transient Phenomena (General Solutions including Initial Conditions)
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
23435 views
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lecture
Lecture 9: Exam Review 1
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
23326 views
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lecture
Lecture 20: Inductance, RL Circuits, Magnetic Field Energy
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
23226 views
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lecture
Lecture 9: Currents, Resistivity, Ohm's Law
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
23155 views
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lecture
Lecture 7: Many Coupled Oscillators - Wave Equation - Transverse Traveling Pulses and Waves
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
22704 views
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lecture
Lecture 8: Polarization, Dielectrics, The Van de Graaff, More on Capacitors
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
22491 views
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lecture
The Sounds of Music
as author at MIT World Series: Family Adventures in Science and Technology Program,
20017 views
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promotional video
Promotional Video
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
22278 views
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lecture
Lecture 35: Farewell Special - High-energy Astrophysics
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
22009 views
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lecture
Lecture 25: Static Equilibrium - Stability - Rope Walker
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
21210 views
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lecture
Lecture 18: Displacement Current (Difficult Concept), Synchronous Motors, Induction Motors, Secret Top, How does it work?
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
21059 views
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lecture
Lecture 13: Moving Charges in B-fields, Cyclotron, Synchrotron, Mass Spectrometer, Cloud Chamber
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
20790 views
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lecture
Lecture 5: Coupled Oscillators
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
20748 views
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lecture
Lecture 27: Resonance, Destructive Resonance, Electromagnetic Waves, Speed of Light, Radio - TV, Distance Determinations using Radar and Lasers
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
19377 views
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lecture
Lecture 6: Driven Coupled Oscillators - Triple Pendulum - Steady State and Transient Solutions - Cramer's Rule
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
18987 views
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lecture
Lecture 21: Magnetic Materials, Dia-, Para-, and Ferromagnetism, Prize Ceremony of Motor Contest
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
18159 views
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lecture
Lecture 26: Traveling Waves, Standing Waves, Musical Instruments
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
17968 views
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lecture
Polarization: Light Waves, Rainbows, and Cheap Sunglasses
as author at MIT World Series: Family Adventures in Science and Technology Program,
15776 views
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lecture
Lecture 20: Huygens' Principle - Interference - Thin films - Soap - Oil - Light (double slit interference)
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
17643 views
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interview
Interview with Walter H. Lewin
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
17531 views
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lecture
Lecture 33: Double-Slit Interference, Interferometers
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
17469 views
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lecture
Lecture 17: Motional EMF, Dynamos, Eddy Currents, Magnetic Braking
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
17323 views
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lecture
Lecture 22: Hysteresis, Electromagnets, Bohr Magneton, Maxwell's Equations, 600 daffodils
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
17221 views
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lecture
Lecture 18: Exam Review 2
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
17190 views
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lecture
Lecture 8: Traveling Waves - Boundary Conditions - Standing Waves - Sound (Longitudinal Waves) - Energy in Waves
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
16965 views
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lecture
Lecture 34: Gratings, Resolving Power, Single-Slit Diffraction, Angular Resolution, Human Eye, Telescopes
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
16823 views
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lecture
Lecture 28: Index of Refraction, Poynting Vector, Oscillating Charges, Radiation Pressure, Comet Tails, Polarization (Linear, Elliptical, and Circular)
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
16751 views
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lecture
Lecture 25: Driven LRC Circuits, Resonance, Metal Detectors (Beach/Airport)
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
15598 views
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lecture
Lecture 31: Rainbows, A modest rainbow will appear in the lecture hall! Fog Bows, Supernumerary Bows, Polarization of the Bows, Halos around the Sun and the Moon, Mock Suns
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
15184 views
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lecture
Lecture 16: Boundary Conditions at Perfect Conductors - Reflection - Standing EM Waves - Transmission Lines - Radiation Pressure
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
15098 views
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lecture
Lecture 14: Accelerated Charges - Poynting Vector - Power - Rayleigh Scattering - Polarization
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
14987 views
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lecture
Lecture 12: Dispersion - Phase Velocity - Group Velocity
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
14928 views
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lecture
Lecture 21: Diffraction - Gratings - Pin Holes - Angular Resolution
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
14755 views
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lecture
Lecture 29: Exam Review 3
as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
14553 views
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lecture
Lecture 18: Boundary Conditions for Dielectrics - Index of Refraction - Snell's Law - Total Internal Reflection - Fresnel Equations - Brewster Angle
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
14385 views
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lecture
Lecture 24: Transformers, Car Coils, RC Circuits
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
14339 views
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lecture
Lecture 15: Doppler Effect - Sound - EM Radiation - Binary Stars - Neutron Stars and Black Holes - Expanding Universe
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
14278 views
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lecture
Lecture 11: Fourier Analysis - Time Evolution of Pulses on Strings
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
14256 views
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lecture
Lecture 12: Review Exam 1 (Secret Top!)
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
14152 views
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lecture
Lecture 17: Wave Guides - Resonance Cavities of EM-radiation and Sound
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
14082 views
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introduction
Introduction to the MIT 8.02 course
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
13849 views
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lecture
How to Make Teaching Come Alive
as author at MIT World: One Host Fits All,
10047 views
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lecture
Lecture 9: Musical Instruments - Sound Cavities - Normal Modes
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
12958 views
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lecture
The Birth and Death of Stars
as author at MIT World: One Host Fits All,
9639 views
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lecture
Lecture 36: Farewell Special, Bring a Friend!
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
12857 views
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lecture
The Mystery of Light
as author at MIT World Series: Chandra Astrophysics Institute 2005,
10037 views
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interview
Introduction to the MIT 8.03 course
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
11994 views
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lecture
Lecture 23: Farewell Special - Bring a Friend!
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
11384 views
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lecture
Lecture 35: Doppler Effect, The Big Bang, Cosmology
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
11285 views
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lecture
Lecture 22: Rainbows - Haloes - Coronae - Glories
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
10494 views
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lecture
Lecture 10: Exam 1 Review
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
9931 views
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lecture
Lecture 32: Review Exam 3
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
9442 views
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lecture
Lecture 23: Review Exam 2
as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
9312 views
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lecture
Lecture 19: Exam 2 Review
as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
8044 views
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Springer,
