Walter H. G. Lewin, 71, has now emerged as an international Internet guru, thanks to the global classroom MIT created to spread knowledge through cyberspace. A physics professor, who has long had a cult following at MIT, Professor Lewin's videotaped physics lectures, free online on the OpenCourseWare of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have won him devotees across the country and beyond who stuff his e-mail in-box with praise. Steve Boigon, 62, a florist from San Diego, wrote, "I walk with a new spring in my step and I look at life through physics-colored eyes." Professor Lewin delivers his lectures with the panache of Julia Child bringing French cooking to amateurs and the zany theatricality of YouTube's greatest hits.
