This book purports to be a record of the lectures on quantum electrodynamics I gave at UCLA, transcribed and edited by my good friend Ralph Leighton. Actually, the manuscript has undergone considerable modification. Mr. Leighton’s experience in teaching and in writing was of considerable value in this attempt at presenting this central part of physics to a wider audience.
Many “popular” expositions of science achieve apparent simplicity only by describing something different, something considerably distorted from what they claim to be describing. Respect for our subject did not permit us to do this. Through many hours of discussion, we have tried to achieve maximum clarity and simplicity without compromise by distortion of the truth.