Patrick Hamill has taught physics at San Jose State University for over thirty years. During that time he was honored by student organizations for teaching excellence and was named a 'President's Scholar' for his research activities in atmospheric science. He received the NASA Ames Julian Allen award for his studies of the role of polar stratospheric clouds in the formation of the ozone hole over the Antarctic. Dr. Hamill has published over 100 peer reviewed papers. He is the author of the Cambridge University Press text, A Student's Guide to Lagrangians and Hamiltonians.

Part I. Kinematics and Dynamics: 1. A brief review of introductory concepts; 2. Kinematics; 3. Newton's laws: determining the motion; 4. Lagrangians and Hamiltonians; Part II. Conservation Laws: 5. The conservation of energy; 6. Linear momentum; 7. Angular momentum; 8. Conservation laws and symmetries; Part III. Gravity: 9. The gravitational field; 10. Central force motion: the Kepler problem; Part IV. Oscillations and Waves: 11. Harmonic motion; 12. The pendulum; 13. Waves; 14. Small oscillations (optional); Part V. Rotation: 15. Accelerated reference frames; 16. Rotational kinematics; 17. Rotational dynamics; Part VI. Special topics: 18. Statics; 19. Fluid dynamics and sound waves (optional); 20. The special theory of relativity; 21. Classical chaos (optional); Appendix A. Formulas and constants; Appendix B. Answers to selected problems.