Historical Figure
Richard Feynman
1918–1988
American theoretical physicist (1918–1988)
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Biography
Richard Phillips Feynman was an American theoretical physicist. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics (QED), with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles". He is also known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, and the parton model. Feynman developed a pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions describing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams and is widely used.
In Their Own Words (5)
On the infrequent occasions when I have been called upon in a formal place to play the bongo drums, the introducer never seems to find it necessary to mention that I also do theoretical physics.
statement after an introduction mentioning that he played bongo drums; Messenger Lectures at Cornell University, p. 13 , 1965
Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.
chapter 1, “The Law of Gravitation,” p. 34 , 1965
Now we have a problem. We can deduce, often, from one part of physics like the law of gravitation, a principle which turns out to be much more valid than the derivation. This doesn't happen in mathematics, that the theorems come out in places where they're not supposed to be!
chapter 2, “The Relation of Mathematics to Physics” referring to the law of conservation of angular momentum , 1965
If we have confidence in a law, then if something appears to be wrong it can suggest to us another phenomenon.
chapter 1, "The Law of Gravitation," p. 23 , 1965
This is the key of modern science and is the beginning of the true understanding of nature. This idea. That to look at the things, to record the details, and to hope that in the information thus obtained, may lie a clue to one or another of a possible theoretical interpretation.
chapter 1, “The Law of Gravitation,” p. 15: video , 1965
Timeline
The story of Richard Feynman, told in moments.
Joins the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. He's 24. His wife Arline is dying of tuberculosis in a sanatorium in Albuquerque. He visits her on weekends. She dies on June 16, 1945, a month before the Trinity test. He writes her a letter that he never sends. "I don't know how to tell you anything because there is no one to tell."
Develops the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics and the diagrams that bear his name. Feynman diagrams turn impossible calculations into pictures. They look like stick figures having a conversation. They reshape theoretical physics.
Wins the Nobel Prize in Physics for quantum electrodynamics, shared with Schwinger and Tomonaga. His lectures at Caltech, published as The Feynman Lectures on Physics, become the most widely used physics textbooks in the world. He tells students: "I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics."
Serves on the Rogers Commission investigating the Challenger disaster. During a televised hearing, he drops a piece of O-ring rubber into a glass of ice water and squeezes it. It doesn't bounce back. That's the whole explanation. An engineer's demonstration worth more than a thousand pages of testimony.
Dies of cancer at 69 in Los Angeles. His last words: "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring." He'd been diagnosed years earlier and refused further treatment. His desk blackboard reads "What I cannot create, I do not understand."
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