Special Relativity and Classical Field Theory

Prof. Leonard Susskind, Stanford University

In 1905, while only twenty-six years old, Albert Einstein published "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" and effectively extended classical laws of relativity to all laws of physics, even electrodynamics. In this course, we will take a close look at the special theory of relativity and also at classical field theory.

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Topics covered

Special Relativity, Electromagnetic Fields, Maxwell's Equations, Spacetime, Field Theory, Lorentz Transformation

Course level

Advanced Undergraduate

Course material

10 lecture videos

Suggested prerequisites

A list of courses from the same subject at a lower difficulty level.

Suggested follow-up courses

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Distribution license

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License

1	The Lorentz transformation	Watch lecture
2	Adding velocities	Watch lecture
3	Relativistic laws of motion and E = mc^2	Watch lecture
4	Classical field theory	Watch lecture
5	Particles and fields	Watch lecture
6	The Lorentz force law	Watch lecture
7	The fundamental principles of physical laws	Watch lecture
8	Maxwell's equations	Watch lecture
9	Lagrangian for Maxwell's equations	Watch lecture
10	Connection between classical mechanics and field theory	Watch lecture