LibGuides: Physics: Web Resources

Web Resources

Historical Resources

The following collections and archives outline the history of physics and the physical sciences.

Albert Einstein Papers This library collection includes documentation and scans detailing several of Einstein's original works.
American Institute of Physics - History of Science Web Exhibits The History Center's thirteen online exhibits engage a very broad audience - from elementary school students to historians of science. Visit our gallery to learn more about Marie Curie's discovery of radium or the three physicists who revolutionized our information age: the transistor.
American Institute of Physics - Oral Histories This collection features transcripts of interviews with several notable figures in physics history since the 1960s.
Cambridge Digital Library's Newton Papers This library collection includes documentation and scans detailing several of Newton's original works.
Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics Descriptions of important contributions to science made by 83 women in the 20th century. These are documented by the original papers in which the discoveries were first reported. In addition there are historical essays and other historical documents not easily available elsewhere.

Astronomy Resources

These data resources are freely available relating to astronomy and viewing the known universe.

Astronomy Image Explorer The Astronomy Image Explorer (AIE) has been designed as a convenient and efficient tool for researchers working in the fields of Astronomy and Astrophysics to gain access to images published in peer-reviewed journals. At its launch in December of 2013, the AIE was populated with hundreds of thousands of images published in the journals of the American Astronomical Society.
Astrophysics Data System The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a digital library portal for researchers in astronomy and physics, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) under a NASA grant.
NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) is funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and operated by the California Institute of Technology.
Planetary Data System (PDS) The Planetary Data System (PDS) is a long-term archive of digital data products returned from NASA's planetary missions, and from other kinds of flight and ground-based data acquisitions, including laboratory experiments. But it is more than just a facility - the archive is actively managed by planetary scientists to help ensure its usefulness and usability by the world wide planetary science community.
SkyView SkyView is a Virtual Observatory on the Net generating images of any part of the sky at wavelengths in all regimes from Radio to Gamma-Ray.

Physics Simulations

These interactive simulation resources help users to visualize physical concepts.

MyPhysicsLab Click on one of the physics simulations and see them animating in real time. Users can interact with them by dragging objects or changing parameters like gravity.
oPhysics The oPhysics website is a collection of interactive physics simulations. It is a work in progress, and likely always will be. Content will be added as time allows.
PhET Interactive Simulations From The University of Colorado - Boulder, PhET provides fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations.
The Physics Aviary "Welcome to the Physics Aviary. Since 2013 we have been making cross-platform, run-anywhere, programs to help physics students around the world master the big ideas in physics. Use the navigation links above to explore the site."

Additional Resources

See below for more free web resources.

Fundamental Physical Constants Provided by NIST.
HyperPhysics HyperPhysics is an exploration page where several topics in physics are illustrated using flowcharts and equations.
NIST Physics Reference Data U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides an extensive amount of physical reference data.
The Particle Adventure The Particle Adventure provides an interactive tour of quarks, neutrinos, antimatter, dimensions, dark matter, and more. This resource is available via the Particle Data Group of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Physics Central The American Physical Society represents some 48,000 physicists, and most of our work centers on scientific meetings and publications-the primary ways that physicists communicate with each other. With PhysicsCentral, we communicate the excitement and importance of physics to everyone.
Physics World Physics World represents a key part of IOP Publishing's mission to communicate world-class research and innovation to the widest possible audience. The website forms part of the Physics World portfolio, a collection of online, digital and print information services for the global scientific community.
PhysLink "Welcome to PhysLink.com - the physics and astronomy online portal! We feature latest physics news and editorials, extensive science reference and constants section, education section where you can ask our experts any physics or astronomy related question. Also, don't miss our fun page and our online science store."
Unit Conversion NIST educational page on unit conversions.
Weisstein's World of Physics Weisstein's World of Physics is an online physics encyclopedia.