Re: Boeing and Dreamliner

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@attbi.com>]

John R. Strohm wrote:

> Richard Feynman's freshman lectures on physics, and his WONDERFUL little
> book "QED" (quantum electrodynamics for the man in the street) come
> immediately to mind.  The fundamental test of whether one really understands
> the topic is whether one CAN prepare a "freshman lecture" (or a "man in the
> street" book or article) on it.

Your point is well taken, but the Feyman lectures are a bad example. 
Yes, they are readable and understandable, and anyone with a PhD in 
Physics who hasn't read them should remedy that mistake.

But when Feynman originally gave the course, the Freshman were soon 
outnumbered by the rest of the Physics Faculty, grad students, TAs for 
the course, and  some guest faculty from other schools.  Freshman can 
learn from them, but grad students and PhDs find there is so much more 
information in there.

Another similar example is the recent proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. 
The proof was published in a book, and is readable. But you have to have 
a pretty thorough grounding in half a dozen areas of math to understand 
all the implications and asides.  (I caught maybe 10%.)