NoeFlandre/feynman-audio-lectures-dataset

The Feynman Lectures on Physics - Audio Dataset

Dataset Description

This dataset contains the complete audio recordings from Richard Feynman's famous physics lectures at the California Institute of Technology, delivered between 1961-1964. The dataset includes all three volumes of "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" with rich metadata and quality metrics.

Dataset Summary

• Total Lectures: ~100+ audio recordings
• Format: M4A (original format preserved)
• Speaker: Richard Feynman
• Institution: California Institute of Technology
• Time Period: 1961-1964
• Total Duration: ~127 hours of content
• Language: English

Dataset Structure

Data Fields

• audio: Audio file in M4A format
• sequence_order: Order of the lecture in the series (1-N)
• lecture_title: Full title of the lecture
• lecture_number: Lecture identifier
• topic: Main physics topic (Mechanics, Electromagnetism, etc.)
• lecture_type: Type of lecture (main, supplementary, review, special)
• series: Volume information (I, II, or III)
• volume: Volume number (1, 2, or 3)
• chapter_topic: Broader chapter topic grouping
• date: Date of the lecture (when available)
• year: Year of the lecture
• month: Month of the lecture
• speaker: Always "Richard Feynman"
• institution: Always "California Institute of Technology"
• course: Always "The Feynman Lectures on Physics"
• duration: Duration in seconds
• duration_minutes: Duration in minutes
• audio_quality_score: Computed quality score (0-1)
• original_sampling_rate: Audio sampling rate
• rms_energy: Root mean square energy
• silence_ratio: Ratio of silence in the audio
• file_size_mb: File size in megabytes

Volume Breakdown

Volume I: Mechanics, Radiation, and Heat

• Covers fundamental mechanics, conservation laws, relativity, and thermodynamics
• Lectures 1-52

Volume II: Electromagnetism and Matter

• Covers electromagnetic fields, Maxwell's equations, and properties of matter
• Lectures S1-S40

Volume III: Quantum Mechanics

• Covers quantum mechanical principles and applications
• Lectures S41-S64

Data Quality

• Audio files are preserved in their original M4A format to maintain quality
• Quality scores computed based on energy levels and silence ratios
• Original sampling rates preserved (typically 44.1kHz or 48kHz)
• Comprehensive metadata cleaning and validation applied

Educational Applications

This dataset is valuable for:

• Physics Education: Access to Feynman's legendary teaching style
• Audio Processing Research: High-quality physics lecture audio data
• Speech Recognition: Scientific and educational speech patterns
• Educational AI: Training models on expert physics explanations
• Historical Preservation: Digital preservation of important physics lectures