Professor celebrates publication of lecture notes

Berge's office library includes books he has written to reach students beyond his classroom. His latest book is Lectures on Classical Electrodynamics.

It's not the first book CQT Principal Investigator Berge Englert has authored. His Lectures on Classical Electrodynamics join an impressive collection on the shelf above his desk.

"I understand my role as Professor as being an educator as well as a researcher. Publishing these books is a way to have an impact on more students, not just those in my class," says Berge.

The new set of lecture notes, running to 260 pages, was prepared for a course taught to undergraduates over one semester, comprising 20 two-hour lectures. It is Berge's ninth title, including books that he has contributed to editing.

In 2006 Berge published a trilogy of lecture notes on quantum mechanics. He explains that he always prepares his own notes for the courses he teaches. "I don't like to follow a textbook. When you do that, you make yourself a slave to the author's approach and notation. In the quantum mechanics books, I was trying a new approach. That made it worth the effort." says Berge.

His previous books include a presentation of renowned theoretical physicist Julian Schwinger's work on quantum mechanics, which Berge edited into a textbook from handwritten notes after Schwinger's death. Berge had been one of Schwinger's postdoctoral students.

The new title, published by World Scientific, is already on sale in Singapore bookshops. It is expected to reach international retailers in September.