~ Early Web Links ~

Donald Simanek, a physics professor, has assembled a sprawling collection of resources covering physics puzzles, perpetual motion machines, pseudoscience debunking, creationism criticism, and science humor. Highlights include the Museum of Unworkable Devices, illustrated lectures, and a rich archive of skeptical and educational content that has earned recognition as one of the top skeptical websites on the web.

Robert G. Brown, a physicist at Duke University, shares an extensive collection of free online textbooks, physics study materials, poetry collections, philosophy essays, and beowulf cluster computing resources. The site is a sprawling intellectual hub covering everything from GPL software tools to metaphysics, all freely licensed under an open public license.

A lecture page from a University of Houston astronomy course (ASTR 3131) explaining Einstein's theory of general relativity and the concept of curved spacetime. It covers how mass and energy deform the fabric of spacetime, using accessible analogies like a ball on a bedsheet to illustrate four-dimensional curvature.

The official homepage of Gerard 't Hooft, Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist at Utrecht University, covering his research into quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and black hole physics. Visitors can access his lecture notes, publication list, curriculum vitae, and his ongoing work on deterministic quantum mechanics and the origins of quantum behavior.

HEPData is an open repository for publication-related High-Energy Physics data, hosting experimental datasets from major LHC collaborations including ATLAS, ALICE, CMS, and LHCb. Researchers can search and submit data using advanced query syntax, making it an essential reference tool for particle physics scientists worldwide.

The Open Source Physics project, supported by NSF and the AAPT, provides free computational curriculum resources including simulations, modeling tools, and student worksheets designed to help learners explore physical phenomena through computer modeling. Highlights include the Tracker video analysis tool and Easy Java Simulations (EJS) framework, making it a comprehensive hub for physics educators and students at all levels.

Julian Bunn is a computational scientist at Caltech with a background in particle physics at CERN, DESY, and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, now working on seismology and earthquake early warning systems like ShakeAlert. His sprawling homepage serves as a personal aide-memoire covering decades of scientific work, publications, ham radio, genetic algorithms, and even obscure retro computing projects from the DECUS era.

P.P. Cook is a theoretical physics lecturer who writes infrequent but thoughtful posts exploring topics like quantum mechanics, string theory, Dynkin diagrams, and the philosophy of simulation. The blog blends rigorous mathematical content with accessible commentary, touching on books, art inspired by physics, and the day-to-day perspective of an academic on a finite contract.

PhysicsPages is a detailed self-study companion covering classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, relativity, string theory, and more, written with honest, jargon-free explanations that avoid the dreaded 'obviously' of typical textbooks. The creator presents rigorous, math-heavy notes designed for university students or independent learners working through structured physics topics.

Created by a University of Toronto physicist, this collection features 99 Flash animations covering topics from Quantum Mechanics and Relativity to Chaos and Fluid Mechanics, making abstract physics concepts visually intuitive. A bonus tutorial teaches how to build your own physics animations in Flash, and the animations are available in multiple languages under a Creative Commons license.