Video library · QM-101
Every chapter of the course, on screen: short explainers to start, full university lectures to go deep, and Nobel laureates on the experiments that changed physics. Press play on one video, or watch the whole course in order.
Now showingIf You Don't Understand Quantum Physics, Try This!
Start here
4 videos, about 3 h 19 min, in order: the map of the territory, the vocabulary, the story of how we got here, then a real university lecture.
Step 01The map
Explainer · YouTube
Domain of Science
Dominic Walliman's illustrated tour of the whole quantum landscape, explained directly rather than through analogies: wave-particle duality, superposition, uncertainty, entanglement, energy quantization and more. Treat it as a map of the territory, and as you watch, try to spot the five big ideas this lesson names.
Step 02The vocabulary
Series · Perimeter
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics · Katie Mack · 2023
Ten five-minute episodes hosted by the cosmologist Katie Mack: duality, quantization, uncertainty, superposition, entanglement, probability, tunnelling and quantum computing. The friendliest possible on-ramp, and a quick refresher before any chapter.
Step 03The story
Lecture · Royal Institution
The Royal Institution · Sean Carroll · 2020
Sean Carroll tells the story from Planck and Einstein through Bohr, de Broglie and Schrödinger, then argues that the measurement problem is still open and makes his case for the many-worlds interpretation. Notice where the history ends and his interpretation begins.
Step 04The real thing
Lecture · MIT
MIT OpenCourseWare · Allan Adams · 2013
The opening lecture of MIT's 8.04 Quantum Physics I (Spring 2013), in which Allan Adams uses thought experiments with measuring boxes to build superposition and uncertainty from scratch. Skip the first ten minutes of course logistics, then watch how a few simple box experiments force exactly the rules of this session: repeat a measurement and the answer stays put; measure an incompatible property and it is scrambled.
Lecture Hall
MIT, Stanford, Yale, Oxford, Caltech and IIT Madras teach quantum mechanics in full, for free. Each course below is mapped to the chapters it supports, and its key lectures appear in the library beside them.
MIT8.04Course
Allan Adams · 2013
Allan Adams' celebrated course starts from superposition and the experimental facts, builds the wavefunction, operators and the Schrödinger equation, then tours scattering, hydrogen, identical particles and band structure before closing on entanglement and Bell's theorem. Calculus and a little linear algebra are enough to keep up.
MIT8.04Course
Barton Zwiebach · 2016
115 short segments, each on a single idea
The same course rebuilt as 115 short segments of roughly ten to twenty minutes, each devoted to one idea, so you can watch exactly the concept a chapter needs. Barton Zwiebach is meticulous: every step on the board is justified.
MIT8.05Course
Barton Zwiebach · 2013
The sequel: vector spaces and Dirac notation, the uncertainty principle done properly, the Heisenberg picture, two-state systems, tensor products and the addition of angular momentum. The natural next step once Unit 3 of this course feels comfortable.
MIT8.06Course
Barton Zwiebach · 2018
100 compact segments
For the ambitious: perturbation theory and the fine structure of hydrogen, the semiclassical WKB approximation behind tunnelling rates, the adiabatic theorem, scattering, and identical particles, in 100 compact segments.
MIT5.61Course
Robert Field · 2017
Quantum mechanics as chemists use it, taught by the spectroscopist Robert Field: the photoelectric effect and Compton scattering, boxes and oscillators, hydrogen and many-electron atoms. Strong on spectroscopy, the experimental face of quantization.
StanfordCourse
Leonard Susskind · 2012
Leonard Susskind's course for curious adults, the basis of his book with Art Friedman. It starts from a single spin, builds states, operators and measurement from scratch, then reaches entanglement — one of the cleanest routes from zero to the real formalism.
StanfordCourse
Leonard Susskind · 2006
Nine evenings on the strangest resource in physics — spin, density matrices, entangled states and Bell's theorem — taught by Susskind to a room of non-specialists. Pairs naturally with Unit 5.
YalePHYS 201Course
Ramamurti Shankar · 2010
Lectures 19–25: the quantum-mechanics unit
Ramamurti Shankar, author of a classic graduate textbook, gives one of the gentlest rigorous introductions anywhere: seven lectures from the double-slit experiment through measurement, the particle in a box, the time-dependent Schrödinger equation and the postulates.
OxfordCourse
James Binney · 2009–10
James Binney's Oxford course, given over Michaelmas Term 2009 and Hilary Term 2010 and built on probability amplitudes and Dirac notation from the very first lecture. Highlights: tunnelling and radioactive decay, the EPR argument and Bell's inequality, spin and the Stern–Gerlach experiment, and a full treatment of hydrogen.
IIT MadrasCourse
V. Balakrishnan · 2008
V. Balakrishnan of IIT Madras is one of the most admired physics lecturers anywhere: unhurried, exact and full of physical insight. Thirty-one lectures that build the subject from the uncertainty principle and the failures of classical physics to the full formalism.
IBM QuantumCourse
John Watrous · 2022–25
The clearest modern course on quantum information, from IBM Quantum's John Watrous: single and multiple systems, circuits, teleportation and superdense coding, Shor's and Grover's algorithms, density matrices and error correction. Mathematically honest without being heavy.
CaltechPh/CS 219ACourse
John Preskill · 2021
The graduate course from the physicist who coined the terms "quantum supremacy" and "NISQ": density operators, measurement, channels, Bell inequalities, teleportation, circuits, Shor's factoring, Grover's search and quantum simulation. Advanced, and worth every minute.
CERNCourse
Elías F. Combarro · 2020
A hands-on CERN lecture series: the circuit model, BB84 key distribution and the CHSH game, teleportation and superdense coding, Grover's and Shor's algorithms, annealing, variational methods and error correction, with exercises run on real cloud quantum computers.
The library
Search titles, channels and notes; filter by kind, source, level or chapter; or switch to “Watch in order” to see every chapter's videos in lesson sequence.
Explainer · YouTube
Domain of Science
Dominic Walliman's illustrated tour of the whole quantum landscape, explained directly rather than through analogies: wave-particle duality, superposition, uncertainty, entanglement, energy quantization and more. Treat it as a map of the territory, and as you watch, try to spot the five big ideas this lesson names.
Lecture · Royal Institution
The Royal Institution · Jim Al-Khalili · 2025
A Friday Evening Discourse recorded at the Ri in November 2025, a century after Heisenberg's breakthrough: a hundred years of quantum theory, from the 1920s pioneers to the technologies being built now. Keep asking which claims are experiment and which are interpretation.
Explainer · Fermilab
Fermilab
Fermilab's Don Lincoln on the electron's magnetic moment, the record-breaking agreement between quantum electrodynamics and experiment that Part 5 of this lesson describes. Six minutes on how a theory earns trust: with numbers that match.
Explainer · YouTube
CrashCourse
A brisk Crash Course episode on the ultraviolet catastrophe, Planck's law and the photoelectric effect: two of the three cracks in classical physics that section 1 lists. Treat it as a trailer for Chapters 3 and 4, where each crack gets a full lesson.
Documentary · YouTube
Eames Office
Charles and Ray Eames's classic short film, an adventure in magnitudes that starts at a lakeside picnic in Chicago and changes scale by a factor of ten at each step. Watch it as section 2's journey in moving pictures, then remember that the lesson keeps going far past where any camera can follow, down to the Planck length.
Explainer · YouTube
Veritasium
Veritasium on replacing the metal kilogram with a definition based on Planck's constant, walking through the Kibble balance that links a mass to h. It was made before the change, so it speaks of the future: the new definition took effect on 20 May 2019, as section 3 says.
Demo · Perimeter
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
A three-minute Perimeter Institute demonstration that measures Planck's constant with a cheap, simple setup built around LEDs. It makes section 3's exchange rate tangible, and it previews section 6, where an LED's colour is set by its band gap through E = hf.
Explainer · YouTube
PBS Space Time
A two-hour PBS Space Time compilation. The jump lands on its chapter 'Planck's Constant and the Origin of Quantum Mechanics' (10:40), the 1900 story behind E = hf. Its other chapters, on tunnelling, the double slit, the quantum eraser, entanglement and the Bohr–Einstein debate, many worlds, pilot waves and the uncertainty principle preview much of this course.
Lecture · Royal Institution
The Royal Institution · Philip Ball
Science writer Philip Ball, author of the book 'Beyond Weird', starts from quantum physics' reputation as obscure and impenetrable and explores how its counterintuitive principles create the world we experience. Watch it beside section 4's five big ideas, and keep track of which claims are about experiments and which are about interpretations.
Lecture · University of Padova
Aula Rostagni UniPadova DFA · Gerald Gabrielse
A Padova physics colloquium (30 March 2023) from Gerald Gabrielse, whose Northwestern group made the measurement section 5 quotes, on measuring the electron's magnetic moment with a single electron held in a trap he calls a quantum cyclotron. Expect professional detail; listen for the fine-structure constant, which the lesson names as the current limit on the theory-experiment comparison.
Lecture · Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize · Hiroshi Amano
Hiroshi Amano's Nobel lecture on the materials work behind the efficient blue LEDs honoured by the 2014 prize that section 6 mentions: growing gallium nitride crystals on sapphire and making the material p-type. The crystal-growth detail is specialist, so hold on to the big picture through E = hf: a blue photon carries more energy than a red one, so a blue LED needs a semiconductor with a wider band gap.
Documentary · YouTube
NOVA PBS Official
NOVA's full documentary on the quantum world. The jump lands on its chapter 'Atomic Clocks: The Science of Time' (15:55), the atomic clocks that section 6 ties to GPS; rewind to 8:07 for 'What is Quantum Mechanics?', and stay on for chapters on detecting ripples in space-time and on entanglement.
Explainer · YouTube
Looking Glass Universe
Looking Glass Universe's tips for learning quantum mechanics by yourself, cheaply, even without a lot of maths, including which textbooks to use and how to study. Use it beside section 7's lab manual, and bookmark the textbook advice for when you want to go beyond this course.
Explainer · Fermilab
Fermilab
A short episode from Fermilab's Quantum Physics series with Don Lincoln and colleagues. Watch it alongside Chapter 1.
Course · MIT
MIT OpenCourseWare · Allan Adams · 2013
Allan Adams' celebrated course starts from superposition and the experimental facts, builds the wavefunction, operators and the Schrödinger equation, then tours scattering, hydrogen, identical particles and band structure before closing on entanglement and Bell's theorem. Calculus and a little linear algebra are enough to keep up.
Series · Perimeter
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics · Katie Mack · 2023
Ten five-minute episodes hosted by the cosmologist Katie Mack: duality, quantization, uncertainty, superposition, entanglement, probability, tunnelling and quantum computing. The friendliest possible on-ramp, and a quick refresher before any chapter.
Series · Fermilab
Fermilab · Don Lincoln and colleagues
Short, precise episodes from Fermilab, many with Don Lincoln: what quantum mechanics is really about, entanglement, quantum electrodynamics and chromodynamics, quantum field theory and quantum foam, plus a look inside the lab's quantum-computing and networking work.
Series · Royal Institution
The Royal Institution · Various speakers
Thirty evening talks from the Royal Institution's lecture theatre in London, where Faraday once lectured: quantum fields, quantum biology, sensors, the quantum internet and the meaning of it all. Pick any one; each stands alone.
Lecture · Royal Institution
The Royal Institution · Sean Carroll · 2020
Sean Carroll tells the story from Planck and Einstein through Bohr, de Broglie and Schrödinger, then argues that the measurement problem is still open and makes his case for the many-worlds interpretation. Notice where the history ends and his interpretation begins.
Lecture · Perimeter
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics · Shohini Ghose · 2020
Physicist Shohini Ghose of Wilfrid Laurier University surveys the quantum technologies that grow out of superposition and entanglement, from quantum computers to secure communication. A clear public lecture given at Perimeter Institute in March 2020.
Explainer · YouTube
CrashCourse
A brisk, well-animated tour of the vocabulary this lesson builds on: crests and troughs, amplitude, wavelength and frequency, transverse versus longitudinal waves, and constructive and destructive interference. Listen for two lines we will lean on hard: wave speed is wavelength times frequency, and a wave's energy grows as the square of its amplitude.
Lecture · MIT
MIT OpenCourseWare
A full lecture from MIT's 8.03SC Physics III: Vibrations and Waves (Fall 2016). Prof. Yen-Jie Lee adds two electromagnetic waves on the blackboard, shows how the resulting intensity depends on their phase difference, then uses path difference and the phase flip on reflection to explain the colours of a soap film. Best watched after the lesson.
Explainer · YouTube
3Blue1Brown
Grant Sanderson shows why e^(iθ) walks around a circle, which is exactly the rotating-arrow picture behind the phasors in Part 7. Four minutes that make Euler's formula feel inevitable.
Demo · Bell Telephone Laboratories
AT&T Tech Channel · J. N. Shive
A 1959 Bell Labs teaching film in which J. N. Shive demonstrates wave behaviour on the wave machine named after him: watch any one rod as a pulse passes, and see it only twist about the central spine while the pattern runs the length of the machine. The start skips to the 'Wave Behavior' chapter (1:42); 'Superposition Behavior' (7:09) previews section 4, and the later chapters on impedance and partial reflection are optional.