Resources

Here is a collection of some great physics resources. If you have a favorite physics resource that is not here, contact us us and we’ll take a look!

Websites

Here is a list of some great websites to visit!

Physics for the 21st Century

This online course explores the frontiers of physics with a series of multimedia units including videos, animations, and interactive online labs.

HyperPhysics

This site has a fantastic network of short passages about all major fields in physics. This is a great place to go to look something up or just browse.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

NASA’s amazing image collection has posted a picture of the cosmos every day since 1995. Each image has a description with links to learn more.

The Particle Adventure

This is a fun and interactive way to learn the basics of contemporary physics. It was created in association with the Contemporary Physics Education Project.

Institute of Physics

If you are looking for something in particular or just want to learn something new, you should take a look at this site.

Physics – Spotlighting Exceptional Research

Concise articles about cutting edge physics research are available on this site in association with the American Physical Society.

Videos

These are some fantastic videos about physics for you to enjoy.

Quantum Spot Academy

These videos produced by Quantum Spot Academy are each fifteen minutes long and detail some of our favorite subjects in physics.

Superstring theorist Brian Greene leads us on a beautifully animated journey through the highlights of contemporary physics in this series originally aired on NOVA. While you’re there, check out some of the other videos about physics.

Minute Physics

This YouTube channel has short and fun videos about many different physics topics. Consider checking out this one for starters.

A Tour of the Universe

This is a stunning animation of where we are in the enormous universe we live in.

Powers of Ten

This classic video is a fantastic way to visualize the immense scale of our universe and the minuscule components of matter such as DNA and even individual atoms.

Books

These books about physics are great ways to explore subjects from cosmology to particle physics. You might be able to find these at your local library or order them online.

The Universe in a Nutshell

The author of this bestselling book, Steven Hawking, is considered by many to be one of the most brilliant minds of our time. This beautifully illustrated and clearly written book is a fantastic read. Some other terrific books by Hawking include The Grand Design and A Brief History of Time.

How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog

This book by Chad Orzel is a funny and fascinating exploration of quantum mechanics fundamentals as the author explains it to his dog Emmy. It’s approachable and understandable and, best of all, it’s irresistible to read. If it leaves you begging for more, look for the sequel called How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog.

The Black Hole War

Leonard Susskind wrote this amazing story about how he, Steven Hawking, Gerard ‘t Hooft, and other famous physicists debated a great mystery about black holes. It is filled with amazing physics from many disciplines intertwined with an intriguing personal narrative.

Alice in Quantumland

This delightful parody on Lewis Caroll’s whimsical books introduces some of the basics of quantum mechanics by means of clever analogies. Other books written by Robert Gilmore include The Wizard of Quarks and Once Upon a Universe.

QED

Based on four lectures given by Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, this short book is one of the best introductions to the fundamentals of quantum electrodynamics – the theory of the interactions between photons and electrons. Feynman’s uncanny ability to explain complex physics with simplicity and clarity makes QED an approachable and enjoyable read.

Antimatter

The subject of this book written by Frank Close is a captivating and often misunderstood facet of physics: antimatter – a sort of evil twin of the universe’s constituents. After the book clears away the confusion about antimatter in a detailed description of its features and limitations, it closes with an unanswered mystery about the very existence of our universe.

The Charm of Strange Quarks

This is a great book by R. Michael Barnett and others, which clearly introduces the Standard Model of particle physics. But not only does it describe the different particles and their interactions, it also describes how we observe and measure them with particle accelerators and how they were originally discovered.