Richard Feynman Is A Recently Departed Genius
July 22, 2020 at 9:25 p.m.
By Max [email protected]
One exception may be Richard P. Feynman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1965.
Dr. Feynman was born in New York City on May 11, 1918, and died Feb. 15, 1988. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in 1939 and at Princeton University where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1942. He was a research assistant at Princeton, professor theoretical physics at Cornell University, visiting professor and thereafter appointed professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
James Gleick describes Feynman as the most brilliant, iconoclastic and influential physicist of modern times. He took the half-made physics conceptions of waves and particles in the 1940s and shaped them into tools that ordinary physicists could use and understand. He has been rated as one of the 10 best physicists of all time. The list includes such stalwarts as Archimedes, Galileo, Albert Einstein, Johannes Kepler. Niels Bohr, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell and Paul Dirac among others.
Feynman took center stage and remained there for forty years, dominating the science of the postwar era —forty years that turned the study of matter and energy down an unexpectedly dark and spectral road. During several of those years he assisted in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.
Much of his work is beyond my level of understanding for he was instrumental in turning quantum mechanics into a more complete and useful method and developed a new mathematical language of Feynman diagrams which made accurate calculations in quantum electrodynamics.
His diagrams are now indispensible for calculations in quantum field theories. He also created in new field of nanotechnology and what can be achieved by manipulating individual atoms. Nanotechnology is helping to considerably improve, even revolutionize, many technology and industry sectors including information technology, homeland security, medicine, transportation, energy, food safety and environmental science.
Feynman was driven to develop a deep faith in pure thought and developed a profound theoretical understanding of nature. He laid the foundation for what is now called New Physics. His diagrams are a powerful way of picturing what is going on when electrons, protons and other particles interact with each other. The diagrams have become a routing aid in calculations and marked a departure from the traditional way of doing theoretical physics. Feynman acquired a formidable grasp of the accepted principles of physics at an early age and he chose to work almost entirely on conventional problems. His special talent was to approach essentially mainstream topics in a different way.
Feynman was also widely considered a great educator and left deep imprints on his students. However, he did not have the patience to guide a student through a research problem, and he raised high barriers against students who sought him as a thesis adviser.
His lectures are contained in a number of his books, the three volume publication of his undergraduate lectures, The Feynman Lectures on Physics and some which are autobiographical including “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman” and “What Do You Care What Other People Think.” “Surely You’re Joking” was transcribed and edited by Ralph Leighton, and includes stories about Feynman’s habits of safecracking, drawing nudes, painting, playing the bongos and deciphering Mayan texts while interwoven with his life in science.
Final Thoughts
Feynman was so gifted that many wondered whether he was even human. Many have compared his genius to that of Leonardo DaVinci. Leonardo's boundless interests spanned such broad swaths of art, science and technology and he remains to this day the quintessential Renaissance man. For Feynman, his admirers envied the inspiration that came (so it seemed to them) in flashes. They praised him for other qualities as well: a faith in nature’s simple truths, a skepticism about official wisdom, and an impatience with mediocrity. Feynman was certainly one of the most famous and most beloved physicists of all time and an American cultural icon.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. He has taught college courses on regulatory and compliance issues at Ivy Tech, Grace College and Butler University. Sherman has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on all levels. Eclectic Science, the title of his column, touches on famed doctors and scientists, human senses, aging, various diseases, and little-known facts about many species, including their contributions to scientific research. His new book “Science Snippets” is available from Amazon and other book sellers. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
One exception may be Richard P. Feynman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1965.
Dr. Feynman was born in New York City on May 11, 1918, and died Feb. 15, 1988. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in 1939 and at Princeton University where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1942. He was a research assistant at Princeton, professor theoretical physics at Cornell University, visiting professor and thereafter appointed professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
James Gleick describes Feynman as the most brilliant, iconoclastic and influential physicist of modern times. He took the half-made physics conceptions of waves and particles in the 1940s and shaped them into tools that ordinary physicists could use and understand. He has been rated as one of the 10 best physicists of all time. The list includes such stalwarts as Archimedes, Galileo, Albert Einstein, Johannes Kepler. Niels Bohr, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell and Paul Dirac among others.
Feynman took center stage and remained there for forty years, dominating the science of the postwar era —forty years that turned the study of matter and energy down an unexpectedly dark and spectral road. During several of those years he assisted in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.
Much of his work is beyond my level of understanding for he was instrumental in turning quantum mechanics into a more complete and useful method and developed a new mathematical language of Feynman diagrams which made accurate calculations in quantum electrodynamics.
His diagrams are now indispensible for calculations in quantum field theories. He also created in new field of nanotechnology and what can be achieved by manipulating individual atoms. Nanotechnology is helping to considerably improve, even revolutionize, many technology and industry sectors including information technology, homeland security, medicine, transportation, energy, food safety and environmental science.
Feynman was driven to develop a deep faith in pure thought and developed a profound theoretical understanding of nature. He laid the foundation for what is now called New Physics. His diagrams are a powerful way of picturing what is going on when electrons, protons and other particles interact with each other. The diagrams have become a routing aid in calculations and marked a departure from the traditional way of doing theoretical physics. Feynman acquired a formidable grasp of the accepted principles of physics at an early age and he chose to work almost entirely on conventional problems. His special talent was to approach essentially mainstream topics in a different way.
Feynman was also widely considered a great educator and left deep imprints on his students. However, he did not have the patience to guide a student through a research problem, and he raised high barriers against students who sought him as a thesis adviser.
His lectures are contained in a number of his books, the three volume publication of his undergraduate lectures, The Feynman Lectures on Physics and some which are autobiographical including “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman” and “What Do You Care What Other People Think.” “Surely You’re Joking” was transcribed and edited by Ralph Leighton, and includes stories about Feynman’s habits of safecracking, drawing nudes, painting, playing the bongos and deciphering Mayan texts while interwoven with his life in science.
Final Thoughts
Feynman was so gifted that many wondered whether he was even human. Many have compared his genius to that of Leonardo DaVinci. Leonardo's boundless interests spanned such broad swaths of art, science and technology and he remains to this day the quintessential Renaissance man. For Feynman, his admirers envied the inspiration that came (so it seemed to them) in flashes. They praised him for other qualities as well: a faith in nature’s simple truths, a skepticism about official wisdom, and an impatience with mediocrity. Feynman was certainly one of the most famous and most beloved physicists of all time and an American cultural icon.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. He has taught college courses on regulatory and compliance issues at Ivy Tech, Grace College and Butler University. Sherman has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on all levels. Eclectic Science, the title of his column, touches on famed doctors and scientists, human senses, aging, various diseases, and little-known facts about many species, including their contributions to scientific research. His new book “Science Snippets” is available from Amazon and other book sellers. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
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