Undergraduates at Westlake University are taught general physics by Chair Professor Congjun Wu, who did his undergraduate study at Tsinghua University, received his master’s degree from Peking University, and in 2005, was awarded a Ph.D. from Stanford University. Before joining Westlake, he served as a tenured professor at the University of California, San Diego. 

Wu chose the first volume of The Feynman Lectures on Physics as the textbook for his class, which is a little bit unconventional.

Richard Feynman was a legendary physicist. In 1965, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, together with Julian Schwinger and Shinichirō Tomonaga, for his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics. He spent over 30 years at Caltech, where he taught general physics to freshmen and sophomores.

The Feynman Lectures on Physics were the result of the education reform the US undertook in the 1950s to bring basic physics education up to speed with the rapid development of modern science. The books were translated into Chinese in 1982, and it inspired many students to pursue physics as their life career…

Wu studied the Feynman lectures 30 years ago when he was a college student, but he admits “it took courage” to use it for his class. The Feynman lectures were drastically different from conventional textbooks. Full of Feynman’s deep understanding of the principles of physics, they have a distinctive personality.

Wu shares Feynman’s belief that the core of physics is the universal laws of matter. He believes the ability to think about the laws actually starts with the details around us. The exploration is not pie in the sky; it is actually very specific at the beginning.

Prior to taking General Physics (1), my understanding of physics was still on the ‘what is’ level – what is this law and what does it do. But now I pay more attention to ‘why’. Prof. Wu’s class has opened my mind,” said Zizheng Cheng, a freshman.

“Guided by Prof. Wu, we realized that Feynman was a man of words,” Cheng added. Indeed, The Feynman Lectures on Physics were compiled from his teaching notes between 1961 and 1962 when Feynman taught at Caltech. Caltech shared these recordings online, even the black-and-white images from certain classes. Feynman’s classes were full of laughter and joy. The joy came from the rediscovery of the world and the laws about it.