Modern physics

What Hacker News says

1. senorcrabJan 2026
   Freshman university textbooks have what you need. Two of the most popular are:

   - University Physics by Young and Freedman

   - Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick, Walker

   - Modern Physics by Krane

   You might guess that real physics is not actually in freshman textbooks, and you are right. Modern physics requires rigorous mathematics.

   For a nonrigorous introduction/overview:

   - The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose

   If you want to actually learn almost all of physics at a high level:

   - Course of Theoretical Physics by Landau

   Note that Landau is extremely difficult.

   If you want to learn the math needed for modern physics (topology) in the context of physics, nonrigorously:

   - Geometry, Topology, and Physics by Nakahara

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2. tomkinstinchAug 2012
   For spectroscopy, I'd go to the online handbook put out by Richardson Gratings:

   http://gratings.newport.com/information/handbook/handbook.as...

   For a textbook, this one is pretty good:

   http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Spectroscopy-Donald-L-Pav...

   For optics, Hecht is the classic text:

   http://www.amazon.com/Optics-4th-Edition-Eugene-Hecht/dp/080...

   I'd suggest Keating though, since it is a more comprehensive overview and includes things like the human visual system and some basic math review:

   http://www.amazon.com/Geometric-Physical-Visual-Optics-2e/dp...

   For instrument design in general, these books are outstanding:

   http://www.amazon.com/Building-Scientific-Apparatus-John-Moo...

   http://www.amazon.com/Optical-System-Design-Second-Fischer/d...

   Of course, any understanding of spectroscopy should include some background of the physics behind what you're measuring. Any modern physics book would be fine: Krane, etc.:

   http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Physics-Kenneth-S-Krane/dp/1118...

   Haven't tried this one, but it looks cool:

   http://www.amazon.com/Spectroscopy-Reading-Stellar-Practical...

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