Join us in a guided group study of the most essential subject in physics: **mechanics**! Unlike your high school or college mechanics course, we're following two deeply insightful textbooks:

* ***[Modern Classical Mechanics](https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Classical-Mechanics-T-Helliwell/dp/1108834973),*** by Helliwell and Sahakian, is our **primary text**. It offers a fresh take on classical mechanics, treating it as a logically coherent system rather than a bag of tricks. It introduces powerful tools like the **Euler-Lagrange** equations and **Hamiltonian dynamics** without assuming a deep math or physics background. The authors focus on the “why” behind the equations, helping readers see the physical ideas and symmetries that unify different problems.
* ***[Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4757-2063-1),*** by V.I. Arnold, emphasizes the deep, geometric language of physics. We use this as a **secondary resource**. Arnold’s approach connects simple Newtonian mechanics to powerful ideas like **manifolds**, **symplectic structure**, and **group theory** – concepts that also show up in **quantum mechanics** and **modern physics**.

The material starts with familiar concepts and carefully develops them into advanced topics. Don't worry if you feel like you don't have enough background for the latter; our group is incredibly friendly and paced to support learners from a variety of backgrounds. We encourage questions, discussions, and a spirit of curiosity. Whether you're revisiting physics or exploring it for the first time, you're welcome here.

**What to expect –** Here is our current format:

* Before each meeting, we will assign ourselves a reading and a set of exercises that everyone is invited to try for next time. (All of this is **optional** and there is never anything expected or required – this is a ***self***-study group!)
* During the meeting, one or more volunteers will teach the lessons from the assigned readings, and others will present their solutions to (or attempts at!) the exercises.
* Between meetings, we will collaborate through our chat server and/or small study sessions during "office hours". **New members** should especially take advantage of these to get up to speed. Ask us for details and links to these fantastic resources!

**Prerequisites:** So long as you have taken at least some amount of college calculus and physics at some point in your life, you should be fine.
We maintain a live chat server for staying in touch between meetups. Ask us for a link.

This event joins our [other existing collaborative study tracks](https://www.meetup.com/physicswithfriends/events/). Please note that this particular meetup series is a highly mathematical meetup for everyone who is serious about learning field theory at a graduate or advanced undergraduate level. It is not a general discussion group for popular physics topics or sci-fi tangents. For casual physics chat, please attend our regular *Discuss Physics and Make Friends* event, held every third Wednesday of the month.

**Having technical trouble joining the meeting?** You need to use the Zoom app and log in with a (free to create) personal Zoom account before you can join our meeting. You might not be able to join directly from a web browser if you can’t log in.

Yevgeny

Karan Khendry

Physics With Friends

Science & Education

Physics

Quantum Physics

Mathematics

Science

Study Group

Astronomy

Theoretical Physics

Quantum Computing

Make New Friends

Science Technology Engineering Math

Applied Math

Women Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics

Math Tutor

Book Club

Intellectual Discussions

Every week on Friday until December 29, 2026

Physics Essentials: Modern Mechanics

Online event

Share

Physics With Friends

Physics Essentials: Modern Mechanics

Physics With Friends

Details

Members are also interested in