Still Don't Understand Gravity? This Will Help.

About 107 years ago, Albert Einstein and David Hilbert published general relativity. It's the most modern model of gravity we have, but university courses on it are difficult to find. This video is a self-study guide.

Nick Lucid - Host/Writer/Editor/Animator
________________________________
FREE STUFF

Feynman Lectures

Science Asylum: Special Relativity

MinutePhysics: Special Relativity

Crash Course: Navigating Digital Information

Sean Carroll No-Nonsense Introduction

Sean Carroll Lecture Notes

Science Asylum: General Relativity

DrPhysicsA: Special and General Relativity

EigenChris: Tensors
________________________________
AFFILIATE LINKS TO BOOKS

"Special Relativity for Beginners" by Jurgen Freund

"Gravity" by James Hartle

"Spacetime and Geometry" by Sean Carroll

"General Relativity" by Robert Wald

"Gravitation" by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler

FTC Disclosure: These are affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through my links.
________________________________
SIMILAR YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Looking Glass Universe's Guide to Quantum
________________________________
SUPPORT THE SCIENCE ASYLUM

Patreon:

YouTube Membership:

Advanced Theoretical Physics (Paperback):

Advanced Theoretical Physics (eBook):

Merchandise:
________________________________
HUGE THANK YOU TO THESE SUPPORTERS

Asylum Orderlies:
Dhruv Singhal, Medec Hurtz

Einsteinium Crazies:
Blank NA, Bosphorus, Eoin O'Sullivan, Ilya Yashin, Jonathan Lima, Joseph Salomone, OnlineBookClub, Sean K, Wacky

Plutonium Crazies:
Al Davis, Compuart, Ellis Hall, Fabio Manzini, Kevin MacLean, Rick Myers, Vid Icarus

Platinum Crazies:
Bart Barry, Benjamin Dixon, Benjamin Reynolds, Clayton Bruckert, David Johnston, Geir PG, James Coley, Jon Adams, Jonas Wepeel, Jonathan Reel, Joshua Gallagher, Marino Hernandez, Mikayla Eckel Cifrese, Mr. Orn Jonasar, Olga Cooperman, William Hutchison
________________________________
LINKS TO COMMENTS

________________________________
TIME CODES

00:00 Cold Open
00:34 My Credentials
01:51 Freund
02:50 Feynman Lectures
03:41 Wikipedia and YouTube
04:54 Hartle
06:07 My Book
06:22 Carroll
07:34 Wald
08:05 Misner, Thorne, Wheeler
09:09 More YouTube
09:45 Sponsor Message
10:48 Outro
11:13 Featured Comment

[danielduncan]

This video triggered quite a trip down memory lane for me. When I was a new physics teacher at a high school in Pasadena, I ended up with both of Richard Feynman's kids in my classes, and for several years after that he came to talk to my classes about topics in "modern" physics. I was happy to hear him say to my students that nobody really understands quantum mechanics because they thought that when I said the same thing that it meant that I didn't understand it. Kip Thorne visited my physics classes once to try to recruit more minority students for Caltech. And to top it off, I learned E&M from James Hartle at UCSB. He was one of the best teachers I ever had because he anticipated where we would have problems, and he taught us the math along with the physics.

[BobWescott]

This is perfect. A map to follow with important been-there-done-that hints. I will never walk this particular path, as advanced math eludes me, but as a retired teacher it is clear to me that this is exactly what the learner needs. Well done Nick!

[eigenchris]

The Misner, Thorne and Wheeler book is great for practical experience with gravity because of how heavy it is.
(also, thanks for the shoutout!)

[BelaLieder]

I am currently reading your book "Advanced Theoretical Physics" and it's really good. I really enjoy reading and diving deeper into the fascinating world of physics. I can absolutely recommend it. Greetings from Germany :)

[azathoth]

I'm a math undergrad and was so happy to see eigenchris's playlist, his lectures on tensors are some of the best on the subject

[jokkehasa]

One comment about getting a PhD: it does not only make you proficient in one tiny area of science, but also teaches you diverse research skills, and you get to meet experienced researchers from many different related fields. I'm sure you can do that also without getting a PhD, but most Masters I know have not gone into research, so they did not acquire nor require those skills.

[joeheafner]

As a fellow holder of an MS in physics, I celebrate the distinctions between PhD and non-PhD. Too often a PhD (the credential) is mistakenly taken to mean the recipient is an expert at all things in a discipline, which is most certainly not the case (if you’ve ever taken a college physics course you know what I mean). Anyone can understand anything regardless of the letters behind one’s name.

[joshuagrumski]

Quick note, I do want to mention MIT provides free lectures of GR online. I also want to say that GR is very math-intensive. That isn’t to say that you can’t learn it, just be prepared to struggle.

Some other suggestions are to try studying electricity and magnetism first. David Griffith’s E&M textbook is super good for a beginner comfortable with vector calculus (Calc 3 at most universities). E&M provides insight as to exactly why special relativity makes sense and will help a lot with understanding the subject

[jeffreyhersh]

I was lucky to take a course in GR during my senior year of undergrad back in 89/90. It was taught by the math department. The first semester was differential geometry and SR. The second semester was applying all of that to the R(3+1) manifold of spacetime. I have to say spending the time learning the math of diff geom and tensor analysis and calculus before diving into GR was a fantastic approach.

BTW, the running joke at the time was that Miser, Thorn and Wheeler could be no other text than on GR because it was so dense it bent light around it. (Yeah physics jokes for the win :))

[SilverAlex]

This is one of the better videos on how to actually learn these subjects I've ever seen. Good work on this!

[badmeatbrowniesthoughts]

Nick, Brother, I'm always pleased to see a new upload from ya. ALWAYS. I'm no scientist other than what my obsession with science has made me . I'm a retired carpenter who now builds ultra custom cutting boards. So geometry is as deep as I get in practice, mathematically. I've got several favorite science channels. Your right up top on my list. And" wife reacts" are most of our favorites (I'm assuming) . Em and you are truly entertaining and educational to watch. Much love Brother.

[ProgressiveMastermind]

Your pronounciation of "Jürgen Freund" was already pretty good!Greetz from Germany 🇩🇪

[awolgeordie]

I have an engineering degree but ended up teaching high school physics. Your videos have been absolutely awesome - used quite a few in class - hope that's ok man!!

[Tan_vr]

Hey Nick, Plz dont stop suggesting books like this...! This is really helpful..! I am Currently an Undergrad in physics...!

[sarthakthakur]

I don't think I'll be pursuing physics after high school but still it is a very enlightening video.... It encourages me to actually go through the basics myself... This is kinda the fundamental of real education. Thanks I liked this

[snowthemegaabsol]

We already live in some questionable times, and this is the timeline where the Feynman lectures exist. Imagine what it would be like if they didn't. Volume 1 chapter 31 to this day is still as good as the first time I read it

[Ulas_Aldag]

This here is great. As a mechanical engineer GR was never part of our education but I was interested in in since highschool. My fascination for Einstein was the significant reason for me to get into physics. Up to recently I was kinda afraid of GR to be honest but hopefully your guide will help me get at least into it

[GandharKulkarni]

As a person looking at graduate textbooks in maths, I assure you that the book at 2:20 is in fact the adult equivalent of a book with colours. it has figures and few walls of text, which is just beautiful

[diegofernandez]

Love your channel Nick. Crazy or serious, doesn't matter, you're the best. Thank you

[michaelmcdoesntexist]

I love that you're honest about how not just you, but edutaiment as a whole is not enough to learn. While I study law, physics and astronomy is my platonic love, so I try to learn the most from channels like your and online articles but I know there is a limit on how far I can go without a formal education in the matter. I apreciate that you share your own sources and methodology with us in this honest way so we know what is important in Order to learn properly