The book[edit]

The first edition cover featured an iridescent soap bubble, an example of the phenomenon of interference.

In an acknowledgement Feynman wrote:[1]

This book purports to be a record of the lectures on quantum
electrodynamics I gave at UCLA, transcribed and edited by my
good friend Ralph Leighton. Actually, the manuscript has
undergone considerable modification. Mr. Leighton's experience in
teaching and in writing was of considerable value in this attempt at
presenting this central part of physics to a wider audience.

People are always asking for the latest developments in the unification of this theory with
that theory, and they don't give us a chance to tell them anything about what we know pretty
well. They always want to know the things we don't know. Richard Feynman
Much of Feynman's discussion springs from an everyday
phenomenon: the way any transparent sheet of glass partly reflects
any light shining on it. Feynman also pays homage to Isaac Newton's
struggles to come to terms with the nature of light.
Feynman's lectures were originally given as the Sir Douglas
Robb lectures at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 1979.
Videotapes of these lectures were made publicly available on a not-
for-profit basis in 1996 and more recently have been placed online by
the Vega Science Trust.
The book is based on Feynman's delivery of the first Alix G. Mautner
Memorial Lecture series for the general public at the University of
California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1983. The differences between the
book and the original Auckland lectures were discussed in June 1996
in the American Journal of Physics.
In 2006, Princeton University Press published a new edition with a
new introduction by Anthony Zee. He introduces Feynman's peculiar
take at explaining physics, and cites: "According to Feynman, to learn
QED you have two choices: you can go through seven years of
physics education or read this book".
The four lectures[edit]
1. Photons - Corpuscles of Light
In the first lecture, which acts as a gentle lead-in to the subject of
quantum electrodynamics, Feynman describes the basic properties
of photons. He discusses how to measure the probability that a
photon will reflect or transmit through a partially reflective piece of
glass.
2. Fits of Reflection and Transmission - Quantum Behaviour
In the second lecture, Feynman looks at the different paths a
photon can take as it travels from one point to another and how
this affects phenomena like reflection and diffraction.
3. Electrons and Their interactions
The third lecture describes quantum phenomena such as the
famous double-slit experiment and Werner
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, thus describing the
transmission and reflection of photons. It also introduces his
famous "Feynman diagrams" and how quantum electrodynamics
describes the interactions of subatomic particles.
4. New Queries
In the fourth lecture, Feynman discusses the meaning of quantum
electrodynamics and some of its problems. He then describes "the
rest of physics", giving a brief look at quantum chromodynamics,
the weak interactionand gravity, and how they relate to quantum
electrodynamics.

Notes[edit]
1. Jump up^ R. Feynman (1985, 2006) QED, page
xxv, Princeton University Press ISBN 978-0-691-
12717-0

References[edit]
Dean, Chris. "The Vega Science Trust - Richard
Feynman - Science Videos". www.vega.org.uk.
Retrieved 2016-10-26.
Dudley, J.M.; A.M. Kwan (June 1996). "Richard
Feynman's popular lectures on quantum
electrodynamics: The 1979 Robb Lectures at
Auckland University". American Journal of
Physics. 64 (6): 694
698. Bibcode:1996AmJPh..64..694D. doi:10.1119
/1.18234.
Feynman, Richard (1985). QED: The strange
theory of light and matter. Princeton University
Press. ISBN 0-691-08388-6.
Feynman, Richard (2006). QED: The strange
theory of light and matter. Princeton University
Press. ISBN 0-691-12575-9.
 The Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures Video of
the four public lectures in New Zealand of which
the four chapters of this book QED: The Strange
Theory of Light and Matter are transcripts.

External links[edit]
Feynman QED lectures in New Zealand - Vega
Science Trust streaming video.
The Strange Theory of Light - Computer
programs inspired by the Czech translation of this
book.

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Richard Feynman

Feynman diagram

FeynmanKac formula

WheelerFeynman absorber theory

BetheFeynman formula

HellmannFeynman theorem

Career Feynman slash notation

Feynman parametrization

Path integral formulation

Sticky bead argument

One-electron universe

Quantum cellular automata

"There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" (1959)

The Feynman Lectures on Physics (1964)

The Character of Physical Law (1965)

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (1985)

Works Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (1985)

What Do You Care What Other People Think? (1988)

Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun (1997)

The Meaning of It All (1999)

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out (1999)
 Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005)

Family Joan Feynman (sister)

Cargo cult science

Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science

Related Tuva or Bust!

QED (2001 play)

The Challenger (2013 film)

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1985 books
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