good physics lectures

June 4, 2007 5:28 AM

Are there any great lecturers/public speakers in the realms of cosmology, astronomy and physics?

I'm looking for speakers who can do what Dawkins or Dennett do for evolutionary biology, by which I mean make really difficult and mindbending stuff easy for the layman to understand. And be articulate. Obv. there is Feynman...anyone else?

Also any links to podcasts/mp3s would be appreciated.

posted by dydecker to Science & Nature (21 answers total)

Carl Sagan (Unfortunately he died a few years ago, but he produced plenty of material, and much of it hasn't dated)
posted by -harlequin- at 5:44 AM on June 4, 2007

Have you seen Carl Sagan's "Cosmos?" It was a PBS mini-series that might have some of what you want. No idea where to legally acquire it these days, but googling ought to get you somewhere.

Also, you might try for an audiobook of Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" and "The Universe in a Nutshell." It isn't quite the same as a lecture, but the content is good. I've read both on paper and enjoyed them.
posted by Alterscape at 5:45 AM on June 4, 2007

Paul Davies comes to mind. Here's a link to the first podcast I could find.
posted by furtive at 5:50 AM on June 4, 2007

You could also try finding anything by John D. Barrow.
posted by furtive at 5:51 AM on June 4, 2007

You could check out Lawrence Krauss. He's got a very straight forward and entertaining style of writting. He's probably best known for his Physics of Star Trek and Beyond Star Trek books which are fun, but a few years old now.

The guy you really want to check out is Brian Greene. He's a string theorists which means he trades in bullshit, but his books are a pretty good read. Checkout his books The Elegant Universe (made into a PBS special available here) and The Fabric of the Cosmos.

[And perhaps it says something that Sagan doesn't have the same cache he once had that this question was phrased in terms of like "Dawkins or Dennett" rather than "like Sagan." Oh yeah, Dennett isn't exactly a biologist.]
posted by wfrgms at 5:56 AM on June 4, 2007

"Quantum Physics Made Relative Easy" by Hans Bethe.
posted by peeedro at 6:15 AM on June 4, 2007

The Teaching Company puts out books on tape/CD that are pretty interesting, with (mostly) interesting speakers. My library has lots of them.
posted by MtDewd at 6:17 AM on June 4, 2007

Have you seen this post to the blue?

Otherwise, most of the names I'd think of have been mentioned already.
posted by edd at 6:21 AM on June 4, 2007

Simon Singh probably deserves a mention too. Can think of plenty of other authors but not so many who also do public speaking that frequently and prominently.
posted by edd at 6:27 AM on June 4, 2007

The Royal Society hosts videos to many of their lectures.
posted by Jakey at 6:39 AM on June 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

I haven't listened to the podcasts, but Physics for Future Presidents at Berkeley looks interesting.
posted by mingshan at 6:56 AM on June 4, 2007

And just to throw a woman in the mix, Harvard's Lisa Randall is very good. Also check out her most recent popular exegesis, Warped Passages.
posted by AwkwardPause at 7:59 AM on June 4, 2007

A strong second for Lawrence Krauss! He's a strong physicist, "even if" he likes to write for the masses (and can do it well). I've heard him speak twice, once at a more technical-minded audience (MIT) and once at a more general one (University of Minnesota), and he reached both groups very well.

Another physics name to look into is Walter Lewin. He has taught physics for years at MIT, and stands out as being a dynamic speaker who tells jokes, explains well, and keeps people coming to lecture. Apparently he loves teaching the introductory level classes, which a lot of professors don't.
posted by whatzit at 8:14 AM on June 4, 2007

Another one - Sir Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal.
posted by edd at 8:23 AM on June 4, 2007

Yes. And they're all dead.
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:27 AM on June 4, 2007

For all things astronomy/astrophysics related, the current go to guy for the media seems to be Neil deGrasse Tyson.

He was recently named one of the Time 100.

Oh, and he's not dead.
posted by toftflin at 9:59 AM on June 4, 2007

Cosmos is pretty terrible, as is The Elegant Universe. Try some of The Perimeter Institute's public lecture series.
posted by Chuckles at 10:31 AM on June 4, 2007

Dr. Michio Kaku is pretty interresting. I've thought about putting together a FPP about him. Also, Rob Bryanton on "Imagining the Ten Dimensions"( flash).
posted by Sailormom at 11:20 AM on June 4, 2007

Jearl Walker, formerly from Cleveland State. He created a series of lectures called the flying circus of physics (or some such) and is both funny, interesting and captivating. He is perfect for all ages and levels of scientific understanding. only one video on gootube but it shouldn't be hard to find...

jearl walker on gootube but also free videos and mp3s, pdfs etc on his website.
posted by chasles at 12:03 PM on June 4, 2007

Bob Kirshner (not to be confused with Don Kirshner), a Professor of Astronomy at Harvard, is great. A 2001 lecture by Kirshner about Supernovae and the Accelerating Universe is here (7.35 MB mp3).
posted by lukemeister at 1:23 PM on June 4, 2007

2nd for Michio Kaku. He's human, fun, and brilliant.
posted by Goofyy at 5:41 AM on June 5, 2007