Walter H. G. Lewin
organization:MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, http://www.mit.edu/
homepage:http://web.mit.edu/physics/facultyandstaff/faculty/walter_lewin.html
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Description

A native of The Netherlands, Professor Lewin received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Delft (1965). In 1966, he came to MIT as a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Physics and was invited to join the faculty as an Assistant Professor later that same year. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Physics in 1968 and to full Professor in 1974.

Professor Lewin's honors and awards include the NASA Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (1978), twice recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Award (1984 and 1991), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1984), MIT's Science Council Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (1984) and the W. Buechner Teaching Prize of the MIT Department of Physics (1988). In 1997, he was the recipient of a NASA Group Achievement Award for the Discovery of the Bursting Pulsar.

He is a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (elected 1993), Fellow of the American Physical Society.

In the seventies and eighties Lewin collaborated with the artists Otto Piene (born in Germany), who was for many years the Director of MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies, and with Peter Struycken (Dutch) who is one of the leading computer artists in the world.

Lectures:
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 23: Farewell Special - Bring a Friend!

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
331 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 22: Rainbows - Haloes - Coronae - Glories

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
122 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 21: Diffraction - Gratings - Pin Holes - Angular Resolution

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
325 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 20: Huygens' Principle - Interference - Thin films - Soap - Oil - Light (double slit interference)

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
424 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 19: Exam 2 Review

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
79 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 18: Boundary Conditions for Dielectrics - Index of Refraction - Snell's Law - Total Internal Reflection - Fresnel Equations - Brewster Angle

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
236 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 17: Wave Guides - Resonance Cavities of EM-radiation and Sound

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
238 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 16: Boundary Conditions at Perfect Conductors - Reflection - Standing EM Waves - Transmission Lines - Radiation Pressure

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
344 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 15: Doppler Effect - Sound - EM Radiation - Binary Stars - Neutron Stars and Black Holes - Expanding Universe

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
311 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 14: Accelerated Charges - Poynting Vector - Power - Rayleigh Scattering - Polarization

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
280 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 13: Electromagnetic Waves - Plane Wave Solutions to Maxwell's Equations - Polarization - Malus' Law

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
1180 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 12: Dispersion - Phase Velocity - Group Velocity

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
501 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 11: Fourier Analysis - Time Evolution of Pulses on Strings

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
383 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 10: Exam 1 Review

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
109 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 9: Musical Instruments - Sound Cavities - Normal Modes

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
220 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 8: Traveling Waves - Boundary Conditions - Standing Waves - Sound (Longitudinal Waves) - Energy in Waves

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
499 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 7: Many Coupled Oscillators - Wave Equation - Transverse Traveling Pulses and Waves

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
327 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 6: Driven Coupled Oscillators - Triple Pendulum - Steady State and Transient Solutions - Cramer's Rule

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
357 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 5: Coupled Oscillators

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
408 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 4: Forced Oscillations - Power at Resonance (Resonance Absorption, Resonance Width, Quality Q) - Transient Phenomena (General Solutions including Initial Conditions)

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
302 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 3: Forced Oscillations with Damping Information about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
950 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 2: Beats - Damped Free Oscillations (Under- Over- and Critically Damped) - Quality Q

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
379 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 1: Periodic Phenomena (Oscillations, Waves) - SHO - Complex Notation - Differential Equations - Physical Pendulum

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
1183 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Introduction to the MIT 8.03 course

as author at MIT 8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves - Fall 2004,
630 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Introduction to the MIT 8.02 course

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
263 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 36: Farewell Special, Bring a Friend!

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
244 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 35: Doppler Effect, The Big Bang, Cosmology

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
173 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 34: Gratings, Resolving Power, Single-Slit Diffraction, Angular Resolution, Human Eye, Telescopes

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
330 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 33: Double-Slit Interference, Interferometers

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
261 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 32: Review Exam 3

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
43 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 31: Rainbows, A modest rainbow will appear in the lecture hall! Fog Bows, Supernumerary Bows, Polarization of the Bows, Halos around the Sun and the Moon, Mock Suns

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
93 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 30: Polarizers, Malus's Law, Brewster Angle, Polarization by Reflection and Scattering, Why is the sky blue? Why are sunsets red? The sun will set in the lecture hall!

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
705 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 29: Snell's Law, Refraction, Total Reflection, Dispersion, Prisms, Huygens's Principle, The Illusion of Color, The Weird Benham Top, Land's Famous Demo

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
746 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 28: Index of Refraction, Poynting Vector, Oscillating Charges, Radiation Pressure, Comet Tails, Polarization (Linear, Elliptical, and Circular)

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
339 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 27: Resonance, Destructive Resonance, Electromagnetic Waves, Speed of Light, Radio - TV, Distance Determinations using Radar and Lasers

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
493 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 26: Traveling Waves, Standing Waves, Musical Instruments

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
226 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 25: Driven LRC Circuits, Resonance, Metal Detectors (Beach/Airport)

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
202 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 24: Transformers, Car Coils, RC Circuits

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
184 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 23: Review Exam 2

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
43 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 22: Hysteresis, Electromagnets, Bohr Magneton, Maxwell's Equations, 600 daffodils

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
371 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 21: Magnetic Materials, Dia-, Para-, and Ferromagnetism, Prize Ceremony of Motor Contest

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
270 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 20: Inductance, RL Circuits, Magnetic Field Energy

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
432 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 19: How do Magicians levitate women? (with demo), Electric Shock Treatment (no demo), Electrocardiogram (with demo), Pacemakers, Superconductivity (with demo), Levitating Bullet Trains, Aurora Borealis

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
694 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 18: Displacement Current (Difficult Concept), Synchronous Motors, Induction Motors, Secret Top, How does it work?

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
515 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 17: Motional EMF, Dynamos, Eddy Currents, Magnetic Braking

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
247 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 16: Electromagnetic Induction, Faraday's Law, Lenz Law, Complete Breakdown of Intuition, Non-Conservative Fields

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
1371 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 15: Ampere's Law, Solenoids, Revisit the Kelvin Water Dropper, Midterm Evaluation

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
438 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 14: Biot-Savart Law, Gauss' Law for Magnetic Fields, Revisit the "Leyden Jar", High-Voltage Power Lines

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
675 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 13: Moving Charges in B-fields, Cyclotron, Synchrotron, Mass Spectrometer, Cloud Chamber

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
277 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 12: Review Exam 1 (Secret Top!)

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
128 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 11: Magnetic field, Lorentz Force, Torques, Electric Motors (DC), Oscilloscope

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
726 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 10: Batteries, EMF, Energy Conservation, Power, Kirchhoff's Rules, Circuits, Kelvin Water Dropper

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
506 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 9: Currents, Resistivity, Ohm's Law

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
302 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 8: Polarization, Dielectrics, The Van de Graaff, More on Capacitors

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
326 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 7: Capacitance, Field Energy

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
276 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 6: High-Voltage Breakdown, Lightning, Sparks - St. Elmo's Fire

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
384 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 5: E = -grad V, More on Equipotential Surfaces, Conductors, Electrostatic Shielding (Faraday Cage)

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
361 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 4: Electrostatic Potential, Electric Energy, eV, Conservative Field, Equipotential Surfaces

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
714 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 3: Electric Flux, Gauss's Law, Examples

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
1723 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 2: Electric Field, Field Lines, Superposition, Inductive Charging, Dipoles, Induced Dipoles

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
837 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 1: What holds our world together? Electric Charges (Historical), Polarization, Electric Force, Coulomb's Law

as author at MIT 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism - Spring 2002,
921 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 35: Farewell Special - High-energy Astrophysics

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
768 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 34: The Wonderful Quantum World - Breakdown of Classical Mechanics

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1621 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 33: Kinetic Gas Theory - Ideal Gas Law - Isothermal Atmosphere - Phase Diagrams - Phase Transitions

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1525 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 32: Heat - Thermal Expansion

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
821 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 31 - Forced Oscillations - Normal Modes - Resonance - Natural Frequencies - Musical Instruments

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
828 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 30: Simple Harmonic Oscillations - Energy Considerations - Torsional Pendulum

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
785 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 29: Exam Review 3

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
241 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 28: Hydrostatics - Archimedes' Principle - Fluid Dynamics - What Makes Your Boat Float? - Bernoulli's Equation

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1456 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 27: Fluid Mechanics - Pascal's Principle - Hydrostatics - Atmospheric Pressure - Over Pressure in Lungs and Tires

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
2279 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 26: Elasticity - Young's Modulus

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1106 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 25: Static Equilibrium - Stability - Rope Walker

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
530 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 24: Rolling Motion - Gyroscopes - VERY NON-INTUITIVE

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1151 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 23: Doppler Effect - Binary Stars - Neutron Stars and Black Holes

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
843 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 22: Kepler's Laws - Elliptical Orbits - Satellites - Change of Orbits - Ham Sandwich

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1089 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 21: Torques - Oscillating Bodies - Hoops

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
475 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 20: Angular Momentum - Torques - Conservation of Angular Momentum - Spinning Neutron Stars - Stellar Collapse

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1392 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 19: Rotating Rigid Bodies - Moment of Inertia - Parallel Axis and Perpendicular Axis Theorem - Rotational Kinetic Energy - Fly Wheels - Neutron Stars - Pulsars

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
2450 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 18: Exam Review 2

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
286 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 17: Impulse - Rockets

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
978 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 16: Collisions - Elastic and Inelastic - Center of Mass Frame of Reference

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
899 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 15: Momentum - Conservation of Momentum - Center of Mass

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1717 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 14: Escape Velocities - Bound and Unbound Orbits - Circular Orbits - Various Forms of Energy - Power

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
506 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 13: Potential Energy - Energy Considerations to Derive Simple Harmonic Motion

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
543 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 12: Non-Conservative Forces - Resistive Forces - Air Drag - Terminal Velocity

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
755 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 11: Work - Kinetic Energy - Potential Energy - Conservative Forces - Conservation of Mechanical Energy - Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
4028 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 10: Hooke's Law - Springs - Simple Harmonic Motion - Pendulum - Small Angle Approximation

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
2444 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 9: Exam Review 1

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
403 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 8: Friction

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1125 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 7: Weight - Perceived Gravity - Weightlessness Free Fall - Zero Gravity in Orbit (misnomer)

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1182 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 6: Newton's Laws

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1686 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 5: Circular Motion - Centrifuges Moving - Reference Frames - Perceived Gravity

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1345 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 4: 3D Kinematics - Free Falling Reference Frames

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1813 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 3: Vectors - Dot Products - Cross Products - 3D Kinematics

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
2544 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 2: 1D Kinematics - Speed - Velocity - Acceleration

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
3173 views
MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
0 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Interview with Walter H. Lewin

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1155 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Promotional Video

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1477 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Lecture 1: Powers of Ten - Units - Dimensions - Measurements - Uncertainties - Dimensional Analysis - Scaling Arguments

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
4305 views
Walter H. G. Lewin Introduction to the MIT 8.01 course

as author at MIT 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics - Fall 1999,
1441 views