The last few months, I am viewing the Physics III (Vibrations and Waves) video lectures from MIT.
So, I am writing this post, in order to express my appreciation and my support to MIT’s effort with OpenCourseWare to provide free and quality knowledge for everyone. I always believed that this effort is important and original, but know that I’m using it in a more systematic way i see that it is a really useful tool (especially for people who don’t have access to academic education).
The second reason I’m writing this, is to inform you about one of the best professors I’ve ever had the pleasure to attend their lecture.
I’m speaking of Walter Lewin, the physics professor at MIT who teaches the Physics I, II and III there.
The things he is doing are not even close to anything else I’ve ever seen in a classroom.
He jumped on a huge pendulum to present the idea that period doesn’t change with mass.
He inhaled Helium to prove that the velocity of sound in Helium is 3 times more than in air.
He broke a glass with a special device which produces high frequency sound, to display the ω–> ω0 effects.
He brought a whole orchestra of students to play in front of a microphone connected to an oscilloscope to explain the different sound quality of each instrument.
and many many more…
You can find many of his videos online, and you can also download his lectures from OCW.
