Feynman's Lost Lecture (ft. 3Blue1Brown)

This video recounts a lecture by Richard Feynman giving an elementary demonstration of why planets orbit in ellipses. See the excellent book by Judith and David Goodstein, "Feynman's lost lecture”, for the full story behind this lecture, and a deeper dive into its content.

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Created by Henry Reich

[bluebrown]

I know what you're thinking: Either Henry is taking some well-deserved time off and I'm just helping to fill in during that vacation, or else he's currently tied up in my basement providing me occasional sound bites for food while I slowly take over the channel for good. To anyone worried about case #2, don't be silly.



He's in the attic. Way too many escape routes in the basement.

[zaheera]

As Feynman once said "...it takes tremendous strain on the mind to understand certain concepts.." now I know he was right.

[nienke]

I find it fitting that a guest video was used to talk about a guest lecture

[ClancyXanecrest]

"What special curve satisfies the property that the tangency direction for a point theta radians off the horizontal is given by this vector from the special eccentric point from the circle to a point theta degrees around that circle from the vertical?

Okay... Is the question clear?"

*infinite intelligence load error*

[adamkendall]

it all makes sense now. Not to me but I'm sure to someone it does.

[brenttaylordotus]

Newton - "OMG they don't understand my physics!"


Feynman - "Hold my beer."

[danielkunigan]

“You don’t need calculus to understand this”
*3 minutes later*
“As you can see, if you keep adding infinitely small sections to this polygon, it trends toward a circle”

[alfarabi]

Man, this 3b1b guy (grant sanderson) really deserves more recognition and some prestigious awards. He is one of the most influential math guy in present history, so many people like me are everyday getting inspiration to study mathematics from him.

[RobbyBoy]

Grant: "Ok? is the question clear?"

Me: Nods in liar liar pants on fire

[Hampardo]

I'm afraid I only have a finite amount of intelligence.

[sergeboisse]

"Surely you're joking, Mr Feymann !" is one of the best book I have ever read. Its deep, it's mind-boggling, and much more, it's fun !

[sebastianelytron]

Minutephysics + 3blue1brown + Feynman? Knowledge-gasm!

[davidtitanium]

3blue1brown: *explanations*, Right?
Me: Uhhh *brain.exe is not responding*
3Blue1Brown: *continues explaining*
Me: *brain.exe crashed*

[dakshbadal]

I've seen this video 3 times already. I understand what he's saying everytime I watch it, and then forget how he did it the next time I come around.

[lancethrustworthy]

As my eyeballs glazed, I realized fully that I do not have 'infinite intelligence'.
I guess it's good for us to run into a wall now and then. Wow.

[FelipeFigueroaG]

New MinutePhysics video notification: "oh neat, I'll add it to watch it later"
Topic is "Feynman's Lost Lecture": "Maybe I'll listen to it in the background"
Featuring 3Blue1Brown: **heavy breathing**
Video duration is 21 minutes: **drop everything I'm doing and hit the fullscreen button**

[Crocy]

My head hurts a little, but I think I understand most of it. Remembering it on the other

[eccentricOrange]

Once I get into, and then through college, I'm definitely going to build a time machine and yank Feynman out of some class just to show him this video adaptation of his lecture. Beautifully conveyed!!

[mtnygard]

David Goodstein is also the spiritual grandfather of 3B1b videos: he made the landmark “Mechanical Universe” series that aired on PBS. It featured a mix of animated equations and historical re-enactments that brought physics to life for a generation.

[charlesmcmillion]

The Great Physicists' Road Trip by Ms. Rachel C. Millison

Great physicists from the past decide to return to Earth for one last road-trip vacation to the coast together. They all appear on Earth on the appointed evening. Heisenberg pulls up behind the wheel of a gigantic 1930's car, a huge grin on his face.
As they're getting in the car, Hubble looks up and says "What a wonderfully dark sky".
"Shouldn't be" responds Olbers.
"Always has been" says Hoyle.
"No, it hasn't" says Lemaitre.
"I knew that!" says an embarrassed Einstein.
Once they're all in, Teller says "Hey guys, this trip is going to be The Bomb!".
"Yeah, but why do I always have to organize?" asks Oppenheimer.
"Where exactly will we end up?" asks Kepler.
"That's impossible to predict" says Bohr.
"I just can't believe that's true" says Einstein.
Heisenberg punches the throttle and the old car roars off.
"Say - this thing sure accelerates" says Newton.
"I don't know, Isaac. It feels like gravity to me" smirks Einstein.

Later that night, as they are speeding down a country road, a police car catches up to them and pulls them over.[1]
"Do you know how fast you were going?" the cop asks. [1]
"No, but I know exactly where I am" Heisenberg replies. [1]
The cop says "You were doing 55 in a 35" [1]
Heisenberg throws up his hands and shouts "Great! Now I'm lost!" [1]
The cop thinks this is suspicious and orders him to pop open the trunk. He checks it out and says "Do you know you have a dead cat back here?" [1]
"We do now, asshole!" shouts Schrodinger. [1]
"I think it's time to split" says Everett.

"Say, how did you manage to spot us on such a dark night?" asks Hubble.
"I saw the light from your head lamps" says the cop.
"How fast was *it* going?" asks Michelson.
"That's simple addition" giggles Galileo.
"Not exactly" says Lorentz.
"Look here" says Heisenberg, "how do you know I was going that fast?"
"I clocked you over a measured distance" says the cop.
"How often?" asks Hertz.
"I disagree with your measurement, officer" interjects Einstein.
"Don't start tonight, Albert" says Bohr, shaking his head.
"What Herr Einstein is trying to say" continues Heisenberg, "is that time was running at a different rate for you than for us".
"WHAT!!!???" exclaims Newton.
"It's true" says Maxwell. "We're all famous scientists and, believe us, Herr Einstein has proved it, though it came as no surprise to me".
"Sounds complicated" responds the cop.
"I'll draw you a simple diagram" says Feynman.
Totally flummoxed, the cop lets them go with a warning. As he drives away, Doppler cocks his head and listens to the sound of the receding police car. "Gotta love that" he says.
"Amen" responds Hubble.

Returning to their car, Lord Kelvin remarks "Sure is warm tonight"
"Yep - lots of disorder" replies Boltzmann.
"In places you'd never expect" adds Hawking.
"I was lucky to get away with that" says Heisenberg. "Most cops think they're better than everyone else".
"Yes - I hate inequality" adds Bell.
"Though you *were* speeding" says Faraday to Heisenberg. "I carefully observed the needle creep from 35 to 55".
"Actually, it was jumping, Michael" replies Planck.

As they pile back into the car, Bohr says "See here - you must fill the seats in order - no empty spaces allowed. And stop interfering with each other!"
"Only one of you can sit next to me!" yells an agitated Pauli.
"Say, Werner - it's stuffy in here. Be a good chap and crack the window a bit" says Hawking.
"Sorry, Stephen. It can be all the way up or all the way down, but nowhere in between" replies Heisenberg.
"Hey guys - Albert and I just figured out a great shortcut. Only one bridge" announces Rosen.
"It will save us a lot of distance" says Einstein, "but it might get spooky".

Arriving at the beach the next morning, they hurry from the car and stand looking out over the ocean.
"Look at the wonderful waves" says Schrodinger.
"They don't look like waves to me" says Bohr.
Looking down at the fine sand, Dirac exclaims "Look at all the particles!"
"Now *those* look like waves" says De Broglie.
"This is great!" exclaims Feynman, rubbing his hands together. "Now, lets go meet some girls!"
"Let's delay" says Wheeler.
"We have to be discrete" warns Bohm.
"Girls? NEVER!" exclaims Newton.


1 Based on, and including the original, attributed to Rich Granger, engineer, Battelle.