STS.042J - Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century (Fall 2020, MIT OCW): Lecture 20 - A Conservative Revolution: QED and Renormalization

STS.042J - Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century

STS.042J - Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century (Fall 2020, MIT OCW). Instructor: Prof. David Kaiser. This class explores the changing roles of physics and physicists during the 20th century. Topics range from relativity theory and quantum mechanics to high-energy physics and cosmology. We examine the development of modern physics and the role of physicists within shifting institutional, cultural, and political contexts, such as Imperial Britain, Nazi Germany, and the US during World War II, and the Cold War. (from ocw.mit.edu)

Lecture 20 - A Conservative Revolution: QED and Renormalization

Prof. Kaiser discusses quantum fields and infinities, new experiments in quantum electrodynamics after the war, and Julian Schwinger and renormalization.

Go to the Course Home or watch other lectures:

Lecture 01 - Introduction

Lecture 02 - Faraday, Thomson, and Maxwell: Lines of Force in the Ether

Lecture 03 - Worldviews, Wranglers, and the Making of Theoretical Physicists

Lecture 04 - Waves in the Ether

Lecture 05 - Einstein and Experiment

Lecture 06 - Reception of Special Relativity

Lecture 07 - A Political History of Gravity

Lecture 08 - Rethinking Light

Lecture 09 - Rethinking Matter

Lecture 10 - Matrices and Uncertainty

Lecture 11 - Waves and Probabilities