The way professor walter lewins of mit draws dotted lines

A compilation of Professor

For the past four minutes, Walter Lewin has been laboring at the chalkboard, bent on conveying a point—or rather, a series of small, swift points, so close together they resemble a perforation. The student takes another literal stab at the board, trying to imitate the rapid trajectory of dots that Lewin is known for drawing seemingly effortlessly with a sweep of the arm, producing a sound akin to tiny machine-gun fire.

How he draws these dotted lines is a question Lewin receives on a regular basis from fans all over the world. In the Institute began videotaping the 94 lectures from the three courses, and in OpenCourseWare started posting the videos, which could be viewed free of charge by anyone with an Internet connection. Most often, people write to thank him for changing their view of physics—and the world.

He thanks his online students and volleys back meticulous explanations to physics questions, often within minutes of receiving them. He is quick to offer suggestions for supplementary materials, and once he even mailed 18 physics books in response to a plea from a boy who came from a poor family and was struggling with a hearing impairment.

Some people hope to meet Lewin someday, and many make the trip to MIT hoping to encounter him in person. Once he accepted an invitation to visit an admirer in Seattle. I feel the sensation of acceleration, yet I know this simulator is not moving. While Johnson had the rare opportunity to meet the professor on his home turf, other viewers are content simply to watch him on the Web.

When fans ask for the secret to his dotted lines, Lewin simply invites them to his classroom for an in-person demonstration—the only surefire way to get the message across. In fact, he asserts that he can teach the trick to anyone in five minutes or less. After Lewin demonstrates, the student reluctantly takes the chalk back.

What if she never gets it? What if the chalk refuses to jump? But he presses on, encouraging her to try again.