Classical electrodynamics
by John David Jackson · first published 1962
63% recommend31% neutral6% critical
Why HN recommends it
Standard graduate-level text on electromagnetism, praised as thorough and rigorous for working physicists and advanced students who want depth beyond introductory E&M and an intuition for the subject.
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Save me the trouble an learn some basic physics. Read Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics, Chapter 7. If it's too complicated for you, read about waves. See how they propagate in time and space, and pay special attention to what happens to the equation when you change the sign of t. If it's…
on “The dark side of light: negative frequency photons” ↗Classical Electrodynamics By Jackson Numerical Recipes By William H. Press et al Quantum Theory of Materials By Kaxiras
on “Ask HN: Which books do you consider real gems in your field of work/study?” ↗…with this [1]. It's a HARD road, but the proofs and knowledge in the field is mindblowingly cool. Go for it! [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativistic_electromagnetism [1]https://www.amazon.com/Classical-Electrodynamics-Third-David...
on “Eldar Black Holes” ↗…the end, too. Another option here is Classical Mechanics by Goldstein. 8. Introduction to Electrodynamics by Griffiths. More advanced E&M than Purcell. If you want to go further, then there's always Classical Electrodynamics by Jackson. 9. Principles of Quantum Mechanics by Shankar. This spends more time on the mathematical foundations of QM than Griffiths does and goes into the path integral formalism and touches on relativistic…
on “Ask HN: How to self-study physics?” ↗Cool! Nearly all my comments so far are about books but Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics provided a turning point in my understanding of E&M.... and took over a year (of pain) to get through. On the other end of the 'spectrum', Griffiths Intro to Electrodynamics is extremely readable and…
on “Visual tour of classical electromagnetism” ↗…https://smile.amazon.com/Classical-Dynamics-Particles-System... [1] https://www.smile.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Physics-10th-David... [2] https://smile.amazon.com/Classical-Mechanics-Goldstein-Poole... [3] https://smile.amazon.com/Classical-Electrodynamics-Third-Dav...
on “Ask HN: How to self-study physics?” ↗> Classical Electrodynamics by Jackson (essential). This is the bible of classical electrodynamics, and everyone who works through either loves it or hates it (I loved it). I agree that there is a division between who loves that…
on “So You Want to Learn Physics” ↗the author's IQ is high enough that I don't think this opinion is applicable to anyone reading it Classical Electrodynamics by Jackson (essential). This is the bible of classical electrodynamics, and everyone who works through either loves it or hates it (I loved it). If you're smart enough that advanced college physics comes…
on “So You Want to Learn Physics” ↗Would suggest to take a look at Jackson’s book on classical electrodynamics to get some intuition.
on “How Passive Radar Works” ↗…Safko) Griffiths - Introduction to Electrodynamics Griffiths - Introduction to Quantum Mechanics Jackson - Classical Electrodynamics (2nd edition---the last one entirely in CGS---is preferable) Kleppner and Kolenkow - An Introduction to Mechanics Landau and Lifshitz - any book in this series…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite physics sites, documentaries, books?” ↗…vertical jump 120 cm, again you're the role model of your fellow sportsmen. Now how is it different from I spending my entire fucking summer finishing 1,000 AOPS math problems and completing Jackson’s Classical Electrodynamics and get ahead in all the tests? If story of the month is that James LeBron spends 1.5 million dollars a year to keep him fit, why is it wrong for me to spend 10K a year to find a private tutor so that…
on “On the destruction of America’s best high school” ↗I'm currently reading Griffith's Classical Electrodynamics and Jackson's Electrodynamics, coupled with lecture notes on plasma physics, in order to take a crack at the problem of nuclear fusion. Many other people are doing similar things, because it may possibly…
on “A critical step to reduce climate change” ↗…classes (at least in physics) is to teach you how to navigate a the standard reference texts. For example, the main thing I learned in my grad E&M class was where to find information in Jackson (aka "Classical Electrodynamics"). Classical mechanics was a mix of Goldsmith and Landau and Lifshitz. Quantum mechanics used Sakauri. And statistical mechanics used Pathria. Also, referring to these classic texts by author is very…
on “EFF sues Proctorio on behalf of student falsely DMCA'd” ↗…of neuro-optics it's more of a keyhole book. If you are particularly interested and really want to know what's actually going on with EM, then you need to go through Jackson: https://www.amazon.com/Classical-Electrodynamics-Third-David... This is the book on EM, but is very much physics graduate student level. And honestly, I don't think you's need it for BMI stuff. But if you don't go through it, you'll just be trusting…
on “My self-study plan for electrical engineering” ↗…National Entrance Exam, or Japan's university entrance exams, or Korea's national entrance exams. As for the US, it's hard to imagine that anyone can solve decently hard problems in textbooks like Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics or Cormen et el's Introduction to Algorithms (The US does not mandate challenging problems in high schools, so I use examples from college).
on “Why Schools Don’t Educate (1990)” ↗