The Unexpected Audience (Ep. 11)

What I'm learning from listening to Feynman's physics lectures

I recently started listening to the recordings of Richard Feynman's famous Caltech physics lectures from the early '60s. Feynman is one of those figures who's a superstar-level name among scientists, especially physicists, but not that well-known among the general public. He was a brilliant, Nobel-winning physicist, but he is also renowned for being an exceptional communicator, capable of explaining complex concepts in a relatively simple manner.

In the early '60s, Caltech decided to modernise its undergraduate introductory physics course to make it more exciting and relevant. They approached Feynman, who was at the peak of his fame at the time. To their surprise, he agreed to deliver this undergraduate lecture series. But he had one condition: he would only deliver the course once.

The lectures' intended audience was the undergrad cohort, but the lecture hall often included graduate students and faculty members. And luckily for us, members of later generations, Caltech recorded the lectures. Therefore, the audience of the lecture series keeps expanding.

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Confession • Why am I listening to these lectures?

Let me start with some context. I'm a physicist by training. So, I studied all the physics fundamentals in my undergraduate modules in physics. Admittedly, this was a long time ago, and I don't claim to remember everything from my undergraduate or postgraduate studies. Who does?

But here's my confession. Feynman's lectures are also available in book form. I bought the three-volume set over twenty years ago. I never read them.

So why now? I'm listening to these lectures as part of my quest to improve my technical writing—indeed, to improve my technical communication in general, including aural presentations. I'm glad I'm listening to Feynman's recordings rather than reading them since these lectures were delivered aurally—it's how they were intended!

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But, but, I know this stuff already • So, I'm listening to these lectures as an exercise in technical communication, learning from one of the masters. After all, I know all the physics already, right?

But as I listen to these lectures, I'm also learning a lot about the physics. I'm not really learning new theories or laws of physics that I didn't already know. But I'm being exposed to different perspectives, different ways of looking at these physics concepts.

In the first lecture, Feynman talks about atoms in solids, liquids, and gases—this is one of the most basic topics in physics. But the beautiful picture that Feynman paints of the atoms jiggling and bumping into each other helped me understand freezing, boiling, evaporation, and other "basic" topics my daughter in primary school is currently learning! I thought I understood these topics fully before listening to this lecture.

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The unexpected reader • You write your articles for an "ideal reader". But that doesn't mean your ideal reader is the only one reading. You may have an unexpected reader, too.

But today's post is not focused on you as a writer. It's about you as a reader. How often do you read articles about topics you already know in your field of expertise? How often are you the unexpected reader of someone else's article?

I often read articles about Python topics I already know well. However, I'm very selective about which types of articles I read. I gain the most from the ones that give the author's vision of the topic, not the ones that focus just on the facts.

And when I write my technical articles, I try to create a picture of the way I see the topic. I wrote about this a few episodes ago: A Near-Perfect Picture (Ep. 7). I've been honest about the primary motivations for this previously: I write these articles this way because it helps me clarify the topic in my own head. But hopefully, it also broadens the pool of readers to include more expert programmers who will still find the article insightful.

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Afterword • You can listen to Feynman's famous lecture series here: The Feynman Lectures Recordings. Or if you prefer to read them, either buy the three-volume set or read them here: The Feynman Lectures on Physics: Volume I, Volume II, and Volume III.

I was listening to one of the lectures on my headphones while on my morning walk today. At one point, I couldn't refrain from laughing out loud at one of Feynman's jokes. Passers-by glanced at me, as often happens in these situations. I doubt they would have guessed I was listening to a quantum mechanics lecture from the 1960s!

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