The third edition of the text, published by Cambridge University Press in 2013, was completely revised and updated to SI units.
[2] A Sputnik-era project funded by a National Science Foundation grant, the course arose from discussions between Philip Morrison (then at Cornell University) and Charles Kittel (Berkeley) in 1961, and was published by McGraw-Hill starting in 1965.
Because of the government support received, the original editions contained notices on their copyright pages stating that the books were to be available royalty-free after five years.
[5] The Heathkit company marketed a line of its electronic instruments which had been adapted for use with Berkeley series of lab manuals.
[8] It was felt to be too advanced for typical engineering students at Berkeley, but continued to be used there in honors courses for physics majors.