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[[File:Sommerfeld1897.gif|thumb|Photo of Sommerfeld in 1897]]▼
'''''Lectures on Theoretical Physics''''' is a six volume series of physics textbooks translated from [[Arnold Sommerfeld]]'s classic German texts '''''Vorlesungen über Theoretische Physik'''''. The series includes the volumes ''Mechanics'', ''Mechanics of deformable bodies'', ''Electrodynamics'', ''Optics'', ''Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics'', and ''Partial Differential Equations in Physics''. Sommerfeld wrote all six textbooks in German based on his three-year lecture series given at the [[University of Munich]].
== Background ==
▲[[File:Sommerfeld1897.gif|thumb|Photo of Sommerfeld in 1897]]
Sommerfeld was a well known German theoretical physicist who played a major role in developing [[old quantum theory]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sommerfeld|first=A.|last2=Bopp|first2=F.|date=1951-01-26|title=Fifty Years of Quantum Theory|url=https://science.sciencemag.org/content/113/2926/85|journal=Science|language=en|volume=113|issue=2926|pages=85–92|doi=10.1126/science.113.2926.85|issn=0036-8075|pmid=17808940}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Born|1952|pages=282–283}}</ref> He was renowned as a great teacher of theoretical physics in the early 20th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Eckert|2013|p=420, 433|ps="Planck was the authority, Einstein the genius, and Sommerfeld the teacher"}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Born|1952|pages=275, 286,287}}</ref><ref name=PeierlsMulti /><ref name=Hermann /> [[Wolfgang Pauli]] wrote in 1951 that Sommerfeld was "the epitome of the scholar and the teacher".<ref>{{harvnb|Eckert|2013|p=420}}</ref> Another physicist, summarizing "the roles of the most important exponents of theoretical physics in its 'golden age'",<ref>{{harvnb|Eckert|2013|p=433}}</ref> wrote that "Planck was the authority, Einstein the genius, and Sommerfeld the teacher" in a 1973 biography of [[Max Planck]].<ref name=Hermann>{{Cite book|last=Hermann|first=Armin|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/max-planck-mit-selbstzeugnissen-und-bilddokumenten/oclc/1073826264&referer=brief_results|title=Max Planck mit Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten|date=2017|page=56|isbn=978-3-499-50198-2|language=German|oclc=1073826264}}</ref> The textbooks, originally published in German, were based on series of his lectures, which were made to be self-consistent within each section, at the [[University of Munich]] that ran over a three-year cycle.<ref name=PeierlsMulti /> In addition to specialized classes, The set of lectures presented by the book represent Sommerfeld's standard introductory courses in physics that he gave in Munich, with each subject taught over one semester for a total of three years.<ref>{{harvnb|Born|1952|pages=286}}</ref> In addition to his normal lectures, Sommerfeld also specialized courses as well, included courses in [[atomic physics]] that form the subject of another of his books: ''Atomic structure and spectral lines'', which was published in 1919. His other previous works included another lecture series titled ''Three lectures on atomic physics'', which was published in 1926 by [[Methuen Publishing]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=L.e.p.|date=1 June 1928|title=Three lectures on atomic physics: By Arnold Sommerfeld, F.R.S., Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Munich, translated by Dr. Henry L. Brose. 70 pages, 18 × 12 cm., cloth. New York, E. P. Dutton and Company. Price, $1|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016003228912831|journal=Journal of the Franklin Institute|language=en|volume=205|issue=6|pages=898–899|doi=10.1016/S0016-0032(28)91283-1|issn=0016-0032}}</ref> He had also edited the book series ''Die Theorie des Kreisels'', which was based on a set of lectures given by his mentor [[Felix Klein]].<ref>{{harvnb|Born|1952|pages=278}}</ref>
== Volumes ==
=== ''Mechanics'' ===
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=== ''Mechanics of deformable bodies'' ===
'''''
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=== ''Electrodynamics'' ===
'''''Lectures on Theoretical Physics: Electrodynamics''''', published in 1964 by [[Academic Press]], is the third volume of its series and covers topics in [[electrodynamics]]. The book was translated from the German volume '''''Elektrodynamik''''' by [[Edward
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=== ''Optics'' ===
The series' fourth volume, '''''Lectures on Theoretical Physics: Optics''''', was published in 1964 by [[Academic Press]] after being translated from the German textbook '''''Optik''''' by [[Otto Laporte]] and [[Peter A. Moldauer]]. The book was reviewed by [[Karl Meissner]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Meissner|first=K. W.|author-link=Karl Meissner|date=October 1955|title=Optics. Lectures on Theoretical Physics, Vol. IV|url=http://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.1934064|journal=American Journal of Physics|language=en|volume=23|issue=7|pages=477–478|doi=10.1119/1.1934064|issn=0002-9505}}</ref> [[Rudolf Peierls]],<ref name=PeierlsFour>{{Cite journal|last=Peierls|first=R. E.|author-link=Rudolf Peierls|date=November 1955|title=[Book Reviews]|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/176850d0|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=176|issue=4488|pages=850–850|doi=10.1038/176850d0|issn=1476-4687}}</ref> and several others.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Domenicali|first=C.A.|date=March 1955|title=Optics. Lectures on theoretical physics, Vol. IV|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0016003255908553|journal=Journal of the Franklin Institute|language=en|volume=259|issue=3|pages=265|doi=10.1016/0016-0032(55)90855-3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=March 1955|title=Optics: Vol. 5 of Lectures on Theoretical Physics|url=http://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.3061948|journal=Physics Today|language=en|volume=8|issue=3|pages=16–16|doi=10.1063/1.3061948|issn=0031-9228}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=14 January 2009|title=Optics: Vol. 5 of Lectures on Theoretical Physics|url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.3061948|journal=Physics Today|language=en|volume=8|issue=3|pages=16|doi=10.1063/1.3061948|issn=0031-9228}}</ref> Max Born wrote in 1952 that the book gives "a very elegant outline" of [[Tcherenkov radiation]].<ref>{{harvnb|Born|1952|pages=280}}</ref>
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