Richard Feynman: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|American theoretical physicist (1918–1988)}}

{{Infobox_Biography |

{{Redirect|Feynman}}

subject_name = Richard Feynman |

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image_caption = "What I cannot create, I do not understand" - Richard P. Feynman |

{{Infobox scientist

date_of_birth = [[May 11]], [[1918]] |

| name = Richard Feynman

place_of_birth = [[Queens, New York]] |

| image = Richard Feynman Nobel.jpg{{!}}border

dead=dead |

| caption = Feynman {{c.|1965}}

date_of_death = [[February 15]], [[1988]] |

| alt = Feynman, smiling

place_of_death = [[Los Angeles, California]]

| birth_name = Richard Phillips Feynman

| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|5|11|mf=y}}

| birth_place = New York City,<!--Links not needed per MOS:OVERLINK--> U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1988|2|15|1918|5|11|mf=y}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California,<!--Links not needed per MOS:OVERLINK--> U.S.

| resting_place = [[Mountain View Cemetery, Altadena|Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum]]

| fields = [[Theoretical physics]]

| workplaces = {{Plainlist|

* [[Cornell University]]

* [[California Institute of Technology]]

}}

| education = {{Plainlist|

* [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] ([[Bachelor of Science|SB]])

* [[Princeton University]] ([[PhD]])

}}

| thesis_title = The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics

| thesis_url = https://cds.cern.ch/record/101498/files/Thesis-1942-Feynman.pdf

| thesis_year = 1942

| doctoral_advisor = [[John Archibald Wheeler]]

| academic_advisors =

| doctoral_students = {{Plainlist|

* [[James M. Bardeen]]

* [[Laurie Brown (physicist)|Laurie Mark Brown]]

* [[Michael Cohen (physicist)|Michael Cohen]]

* [[Thomas Curtright]]

* [[Albert Hibbs]]

* [[Giovanni Rossi Lomanitz]]

* [[George Zweig]]

}}

| notable_students = {{Plainlist|

* [[Robert Barro]]

* [[Douglas D. Osheroff]]

* [[Paul J. Steinhardt]]

* [[Stephen Wolfram]]

}}

| known_for = {{collapsible list|title={{nobold|}}|{{ubl|item_style={{longitem}}

|[[Manhattan Project]]

|[[Acoustic wave equation]]

|[[Bethe–Feynman formula]]

|[[Feynman checkerboard]]

|[[Feynman diagram]]s

|[[Feynman gauge]]

|[[Feynman–Kac formula]]

|[[Feynman parametrization]]

|[[Feynman point]]

|[[Feynman propagator]]

|[[Feynman slash notation]]

|[[Feynman sprinkler]]

|[[Hellmann–Feynman theorem]]

|[[Jefimenko's equations#Heaviside–Feynman formula|Heaviside-Feynman formula]]

|[[V−A theory]]

|[[Brownian ratchet]]

|[[Feynman–Stueckelberg interpretation]]

|[[Nanotechnology]]

|[[One-electron universe]]

|[[Parton (particle physics)|Parton]]

|[[Path integral formulation]]

|[[Bongo drum|Playing the bongos]]

|[[Quantum cellular automata]]

|[[Quantum computing]]

|[[Quantum dissipation]]

|[[Quantum electrodynamics]]

|[[Quantum hydrodynamics]]

|[[Quantum logic gates]]

|[[Quantum turbulence]]

|[[Resummation]]

|[[Rogers Commission Report|Rogers Commission]]

|[[Shaft passer]]

|[[Sticky bead argument]]

|[[Synthetic molecular motor]]

|''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]''

|[[Universal quantum simulator]]

|[[Superfluid helium-4|Vortex ring model]]

|[[Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory]]

|[[Variational perturbation theory]]}}

}}

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards = {{Plainlist|

* [[Albert Einstein Award]] (1954)

* [[Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award|E. O. Lawrence Award]] (1962)

* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1965)

* [[Foreign Member of the Royal Society]] (1965)

* [[Oersted Medal]] (1972)

* [[National Medal of Science]] (1979)

}}

| signature = Richard Feynman signature.svg

| spouse = {{Plainlist|

* {{marriage|Arline Greenbaum|1942|1945|end=died}}

* {{marriage|Mary Louise Bell|1952|1958|reason=divorced}}

* {{marriage|Gweneth Howarth|1960}}

}}

| children = 2

| relatives = {{plainlist|

* [[Joan Feynman]] (sister)

* [[Charles Hirshberg]] (nephew)

}}

}}

'''Richard Phillips Feynman''' ([[May 11]], [[1918]] &ndash; [[February 15]], [[1988]]) ([[surname]] pronounced FINE-man; {{IPA|/&#712;fa&#618;nmən/}} in [[International Phonetic Alphabet for English|IPA]]) was one of the most influential [[United States|American]] [[physics|physicists]] of the [[20th century]], expanding greatly the theory of [[quantum electrodynamics]]. As well as being an inspiring lecturer and amateur [[music]]ian, he helped in the development of the [[atomic bomb]] and was later a member of the panel which investigated the [[STS-51-L|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster]]. For his work on quantum electrodynamics, Feynman was one of the recipients of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for [[1965]], along with [[Julian Schwinger]] and [[Shin-Ichiro Tomonaga]].

'''Richard Phillips Feynman''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|aɪ|n|m|ə|n}}; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American [[theoretical physicist]]. He is best known for his work in the [[path integral formulation]] of [[quantum mechanics]], the theory of [[quantum electrodynamics]], the physics of the [[superfluidity]] of supercooled [[liquid helium]], and in [[particle physics]], for which he proposed the [[parton model]]. For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman received the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1965 jointly with [[Julian Schwinger]] and [[Shin'ichirō Tomonaga]].

He is also famous for his many adventures, detailed in the books ''[[Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!]]'', ''[[What Do You Care What Other People Think?]]'' and ''[[Tuva or Bust|Tuva or Bust!]]''. Richard Feynman was, in many respects, an [[eccentricity (behavior)|eccentric]] and a [[free spirit]].

Feynman developed a pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions describing the behavior of [[subatomic particle]]s, which later became known as [[Feynman diagram]]s and is widely used. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal ''[[Physics World]]'', he was ranked the seventh-greatest physicist of all time.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/physics-world-poll-names-richard-feynman-one-10-greatest-physicists-all-time-368|title=Physics World poll names Richard Feynman one of 10 greatest physicists of all time|publisher=[[California Institute of Technology]]|access-date=June 10, 2023|date=December 2, 1999|first=Robert|last=Tindol}}</ref>

==Biography==

[[Image:Nobel feynman.jpg|frame|Richard Feynman's Nobel Prize photograph. ]] Feynman was born in [[Far Rockaway, Queens|Far Rockaway]], [[Queens, New York|Queens]], [[City of New York|New York]]; his parents were [[Jewish]], although they did not practice [[Judaism]] as a religion. The young Feynman was heavily influenced by his father, Melville Feynman, who encouraged him to ask questions in order to challenge orthodox thinking. His mother instilled in him a powerful sense of humor which he kept all his life. As a child, he delighted in repairing radios and had a talent for engineering. He kept experimenting on and re-creating mathematical topics, such as the ''[[half-derivative]]'' (a mathematical ''[[operator]]'', which when applied twice in succession, resulted in the [[derivative]] of a [[function (mathematics)|function]]), utilizing his own notation, before entering college. (Thus, even while in high school, he was developing the mathematical intuition behind his [[Taylor series]] of [[mathematical operator]]s.) His habit of direct characterization would sometimes disconcert more conventional thinkers; one of his questions when learning feline anatomy was: "Do you have a map of the cat?" When he spoke, it was with clarity.

He assisted in the [[Manhattan Project|development of the atomic bomb]] during World War II and became known to the wider public in the 1980s as a member of the [[Rogers Commission Report|Rogers Commission]], the panel that investigated the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]]. Along with his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with having pioneered the field of [[quantum computing]] and introducing the concept of [[nanotechnology]]. He held the [[Richard C. Tolman]] [[Financial endowment#Endowed professorships|professorship]] in [[theoretical physics]] at the California Institute of Technology.

===Education===

Feynman received a [[bachelor's degree]] from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in [[1939]], and was named [[Putnam Fellow]] that same year. He received a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] from [[Princeton University]] in [[1942]]; his thesis advisor was [[John Archibald Wheeler]]. Feynman's thesis applied the [[principle of stationary action]] to problems of quantum mechanics, laying the ground work for the "path integral" approach and [[Feynman diagram]]s. While researching his Ph.D, Feynman married his first wife, Arline<!--not Arlene--> Greenbaum, who had been diagnosed with [[tuberculosis]], a terminal illness at that time; they were careful, and Feynman never contracted TB.

Feynman was a keen popularizer of physics through both books and lectures, including a talk on top-down nanotechnology, "[[There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom]]" (1959) and the three-volumes of his undergraduate lectures, ''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'' (1961–1964). He delivered lectures for lay audiences, recorded in ''[[The Character of Physical Law]]'' (1965) and ''[[QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter]]'' (1985). Feynman also became known through his autobiographical books ''[[Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!]]'' (1985) and ''[[What Do You Care What Other People Think?]]'' (1988), and books written about him such as ''[[Tuva or Bust!]]'' by [[Ralph Leighton]] and the biography ''[[Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman]]'' by [[James Gleick]].

===The Manhattan Project===

[[Image:Feynman and Oppenheimer at Los Alamos.jpg|thumb|Feynman (center) with [[Robert Oppenheimer]] (right) relaxing at a [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]] social function during the top-secret [[Manhattan Project]].]]

== Early life ==

At Princeton, the physicist [[Robert R. Wilson]] encouraged Feynman to participate in the [[Manhattan Project]]&mdash;the wartime [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] project at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]] developing the atomic bomb. Feynman said he was persuaded to join this effort to help make sure that [[Nazi Germany]] did not develop nuclear weapons first. He visited his wife in a sanitarium in [[Albuquerque]] on weekends, right up until her death in July [[1945]]. He immersed himself in work on the project, and was present at the [[Trinity site|Trinity]] bomb test. Feynman claimed to be the only person to see the explosion without the dark glasses provided, looking through a truck windshield to screen out harmful [[ultraviolet]] frequencies.

Feynman was born on May 11, 1918, in New York City,<ref name="nobelbio">{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1965/feynman-bio.html |title=Richard P. Feynman – Biographical |publisher=[[The Nobel Foundation]] |access-date=April 23, 2013 |archive-date=July 1, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060701224503/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1965/feynman-bio.html |url-status=live}}</ref> to Lucille ({{nee|Phillips}}; 1895–1981), a homemaker, and Melville Arthur Feynman (1890–1946), a sales manager.<ref name="turnbull">{{cite web |last1=O'Connor |first1=J. J. |last2=Robertson |first2=E. F. |date=August 2002 |title=Richard Feynman (1918–1988) – Biography – MacTutor History of Mathematics |url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Feynman/ |access-date=June 10, 2023 |publisher=University of St. Andrews}}</ref> Feynman's father was born into a [[Jews|Jewish]] family in [[Minsk]], [[Russian Empire]],{{sfn|Oakes|2007|p=231}} and immigrated with his parents to the United States at the age of five. Feynman's mother was born in the United States into a Jewish family. Lucille's father had emigrated from Poland, and her mother also came from a family of Polish immigrants. She trained as a primary school teacher but married Melville in 1917, before taking up a profession.<ref name="nobelbio" /><ref name="turnbull" /> Richard was a [[late talker]] and did not speak until after his third birthday. As an adult, he spoke with a [[New York accent]]{{sfn|Chown|1985|p=34}}{{sfn|Close|2011|p=58}} strong enough to be perceived as an affectation or exaggeration,{{sfn|Sykes|1994|p=54}}{{sfn|Friedman|2004|p=231}} so much so that his friends [[Wolfgang Pauli]] and [[Hans Bethe]] once commented that Feynman spoke like a "bum".{{sfn|Sykes|1994|p=54}}

The young Feynman was heavily influenced by his father, who encouraged him to ask questions to challenge orthodox thinking, and who was always ready to teach Feynman something new. From his mother, he gained the sense of humor that he had throughout his life. As a child, he had a talent for engineering,{{sfn|Feynman|1985|p=18}} maintained an experimental laboratory in his home, and delighted in repairing radios. This radio repairing was probably the first job Feynman had, and during this time he showed early signs of an aptitude for his later career in theoretical physics, when he would analyze the issues theoretically and arrive at the solutions.{{sfn|Feynman|1985|p=20}} When he was in grade school, he created a home burglar alarm system while his parents were out for the day running errands.{{sfn|Henderson|2011|p=8}}

As a junior physicist, his work on the project was relatively remote from the major action, consisting mostly of administering the [[computation]] group of [[computing|human computers]] in the Theoretical division, and then, with [[Nicholas Metropolis]], setting up the system for using IBM [[punch card]]s for computation. [[John G. Kemeny]], later president of [[Dartmouth College]], worked for Feynman at this time. Feynman actually succeeded in solving one of the equations for the project which were posted on the blackboards. <!-- These were the equations that terrified [[Stanislaw Ulam]] when he first arrived, until Ulam noticed they never changed. --> However, they did not "do the physics right" and Feynman's solution <!--to one of those equations--> was not used in the project.

When Richard was five, his mother gave birth to a younger brother, Henry Phillips, who died at age four weeks.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=25–26}} Four years later, Richard's sister [[Joan Feynman|Joan]] was born and the family moved to [[Far Rockaway, Queens]].<ref name="turnbull" /> Though separated by nine years, Joan and Richard were close, and they both shared a curiosity about the world.<ref name="nytimes2020-09-10">{{cite news |author=Seelye |first=Katharine Q. |date=September 10, 2020 |title=Joan Feynman, Who Shined Light on the Aurora Borealis, Dies at 93 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/science/joan-feynman-dead.html |access-date=September 13, 2020}}</ref> Though their mother thought women lacked the capacity to understand such things, Richard encouraged Joan's interest in astronomy, taking her to see the [[aurora borealis]] in Far Rockaway.{{sfnp| Gleick| 1992| p=27}} As an astrophysicist, Joan would help to explain what caused the northern lights.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2002-04/my-mother-scientist/|title=My Mother, the Scientist |access-date=June 10, 2023 |first=Charles |last=Hirshberg |author-link=Charles Hirshberg |date=April 18, 2002 |magazine=Popular Science}}</ref><ref name="nytimes2020-09-10"/>

Feynman's other work at Los Alamos included calculating [[neutron]] equations for the Los Alamos "Water Boiler", a small [[nuclear reactor]] at the desert lab, in order to measure how close a particular assembly of fissile material was to becoming critical. After this work he was transferred to the [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory|Oak Ridge]] facility, where he aided engineers in calculating safety procedures for material storage (so that inadvertent [[criticality accident]]s could be avoided). He also did crucial theoretical and calculation work on the theoretical uranium-hydride bomb, which was later proven to be infeasible.

===Religion===

Feynman was also sought out by the more senior physicist [[Niels Bohr]] for one-on-one discussions of physics theory. Bohr later explained to Feynman that most physicists were too respectful of his reputation to contradict him, but that Feynman seemed to have no inhibitions about disagreeing with him and offering contradicting ideas, which he needed to progress in his thinking. Feynman said he felt just as much respect for Bohr's reputation as anyone else, but that once anyone got him talking about physics, he couldn't help but forget about mere social considerations and just openly try to figure out how the physics worked.

Feynman's parents were both from Jewish families,<ref name="turnbull"/> and his family went to the [[synagogue]] every Friday.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haynie |first=D. T. |title=And the award goes to... |journal=International Journal of Nanomedicine |issn=1176-9114 |year=2007 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=125–127 |pmid=17722541 |pmc=2673976 }}</ref> However, by his youth, Feynman described himself as an "avowed [[atheist]]".{{sfn|Feynman|1988a|p=25}}{{sfn|Brian|2001|p=49|ps=: "Interviewer: Do you call yourself an agnostic or an atheist? Feynman: An atheist. Agnostic for me would be trying to weasel out and sound a little nicer than I am about this."}} Many years later, in a letter to [[Tina Levitan]], declining a request for information for her book on Jewish Nobel Prize winners, he stated, "To select, for approbation the peculiar elements that come from some supposedly Jewish heredity is to open the door to all kinds of nonsense on racial theory", adding, "at thirteen I was not only converted to other religious views, but I also stopped believing that the Jewish people are in any way 'the [[chosen people]]'".<ref name="Harrison">{{cite news|last=Harrison|first=John|title=Physics, bongos and the art of the nude|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3643596/Physics-bongos-and-the-art-of-the-nude.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3643596/Physics-bongos-and-the-art-of-the-nude.html |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=April 23, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Later in life, during a visit to the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America|Jewish Theological Seminary]], Feynman encountered the [[Talmud]] for the first time. He saw that it contained the original text in a little square on each page, and surrounding it were commentaries written over time by different people. In this way, the Talmud had evolved, and everything that was discussed was carefully recorded. Despite being impressed, Feynman was disappointed with the lack of interest in nature and the outside world expressed by the rabbis, who cared about only those questions which arise from the Talmud.{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=284–287}}

[[Image:Richard Feynman ID badge.png|right|frame|Feynman's ID badge photo from [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]].]]

== Education ==

Los Alamos was isolated; in his own words, "There wasn't anything to ''do'' there". Bored, Feynman indulged his mischievous sense of humour to mock a self-important director (one of the few non-scientists on site). The director's only important responsibility was for document security. He irritated Feynman and other scientists with petty rules for handling documents. Feynman embarrassed the director by breaking into the document safe and leaving a mischievous note. The Director responded by procuring a series of ever more sophisticated safes, each time thinking finally to have outsmarted Feynman, only to discover in short order a new note in each new safe.

Feynman attended [[Far Rockaway High School]], which was also attended by fellow Nobel laureates [[Burton Richter]] and [[Baruch Samuel Blumberg]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rockawave.com/articles/museum-tracks-down-frhs-nobel-laureates/ |title=Museum Tracks Down FRHS Nobel Laureates |last1=Schwach |first1=Howard |date=April 15, 2005 |publisher=The Wave |access-date=April 23, 2013 |archive-date=May 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505210032/https://www.rockawave.com/articles/museum-tracks-down-frhs-nobel-laureates/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Upon starting high school, Feynman was quickly promoted to a higher math class. An IQ test administered in high school estimated his [[Intelligence quotient|IQ]] at 125—high but "merely respectable", according to biographer [[James Gleick]].{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=30}}{{sfn|Carroll|1996|p=9|ps=: "The general experience of psychologists in applying tests would lead them to expect that Feynman would have made a much higher IQ if he had been properly tested."}} His sister Joan, who scored one point higher, later jokingly claimed to an interviewer that she was smarter. Years later he declined to join [[Mensa International]], saying that his IQ was too low.{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=19–20|ps=: Gleick says his IQ was 125; ''No Ordinary Genius'' says 123}}

When Feynman was 15, he taught himself [[trigonometry]], [[algebra|advanced algebra]], [[infinite series]], [[analytic geometry]], and both [[differential calculus|differential]] and [[integral calculus]].{{sfn|Schweber|1994|p=374}} Before entering college, he was experimenting with mathematical topics such as the [[half-derivative]] using his own notation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://atomicarchive.com/resources/biographies/feynman.html |title=Richard Feynman {{pipe}} Biographies |publisher=Atomic Archive |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> He created special symbols for [[logarithm]], [[sine]], [[cosine]] and [[tangent (trigonometry)|tangent]] functions so they did not look like three variables multiplied together, and for the [[derivative]], to remove the temptation of canceling out the <math>d</math>'s in <math>d/dx</math>.{{sfn|Feynman|1985|p=24}}{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=15}} A member of the [[Arista – National Honor Society|Arista Honor Society]], in his last year in high school he won the [[New York University]] Math Championship.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|p=41}} His habit of direct characterization sometimes rattled more conventional thinkers; for example, one of his questions, when learning [[feline anatomy]], was "Do you have a map of the cat?" (referring to an anatomical chart).<!-- The book says "You mean a zoological chart!" but Feynman wanted diagrams about feline anatomy, not feline [[phylogeny]] -->{{sfn|Feynman|1985|p=72}}

As a drummer, Feynman would find an isolated section of the [[mesa]] to drum Indian-style; "and maybe I would dance and chant, a little". These antics did not go unnoticed, but no one knew that "Injun Joe" was actually Feynman. He became a friend of laboratory head [[Robert Oppenheimer|J. Robert Oppenheimer]], who unsuccessfully tried to court him away from his other commitments to work at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] after the war.

Feynman applied to [[Columbia University]] but was not accepted because of its [[Jewish quota|quota for the number of Jews admitted]].<ref name="turnbull" /> Instead, he attended the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], where he joined the [[Pi Lambda Phi]] fraternity.{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=45–46}} Although he originally majored in mathematics, he later switched to electrical engineering, as he considered mathematics to be too abstract. Noticing that he "had gone too far", he then switched to physics, which he claimed was "somewhere in between".<ref>{{cite interview |last1=Feynman |first1=Richard |title=Richard Feynman – Session II |interviewer=Charles Weiner |date=March 5, 1966 |url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-2 |publisher=American Institute of Physics |access-date=May 25, 2017 |archive-date=May 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505210113/https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-2 |url-status=live}}</ref> As an undergraduate, he published two papers in the ''[[Physical Review]]''.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|p=41}} One of these, which was co-written with [[Manuel Vallarta]], was titled "The Scattering of Cosmic Rays by the Stars of a Galaxy".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vallarta |first1=M. S. |last2=Feynman |first2=Richard P. |date=March 1939 |title=The Scattering of Cosmic Rays by the Stars of a Galaxy |url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/1877/1/VALpr39.pdf |url-status=live |journal=[[Physical Review]] |publisher=American Physical Society |volume=55 |issue=5 |pages=506–507 |bibcode=1939PhRv...55..506V |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.55.506.2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125023157/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/1877/1/VALpr39.pdf |archive-date=November 25, 2020 |access-date=December 13, 2019| issn = 0031-899X}}</ref> {{blockquote|Vallarta let his student in on a secret of mentor-protégé publishing: the senior scientist's name comes first. Feynman had his revenge a few years later, when [[Werner Heisenberg|Heisenberg]] concluded an entire book on cosmic rays with the phrase: "such an effect is not to be expected according to Vallarta and Feynman". When they next met, Feynman asked gleefully whether Vallarta had seen Heisenberg's book. Vallarta knew why Feynman was grinning. "Yes," he replied. "You're the last word in cosmic rays."{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=82}}}}

=== Early career: Cornell University===

After the project, Feynman started working as a [[professor]] at [[Cornell University]], where [[Hans Bethe]] (who proved that the sun's source of energy was [[nuclear fusion]]) worked. However he felt uninspired there; despairing that he had burned out, he turned to less useful, but fun problems, such as analyzing the physics of a twirling, [[Nutation|nutating]] dish, as it is being balanced by a juggler. (As it turned out, this work served him well in future research.) He was therefore surprised to be offered professorships from competing universities, eventually choosing to work at the [[California Institute of Technology]] at [[Pasadena, California]], despite being offered a position near [[Princeton University|Princeton]], at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] (which included, at that time, such distinguished faculty as [[Albert Einstein]]).

The other was his senior thesis, on "Forces in Molecules",<ref>{{cite journal |title=Forces in Molecules |url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3515/ |last=Feynman |first=R. P. |journal=Physical Review |volume=56 |issue=4 |pages=340–343 |date=August 1939 |publisher=American Physical Society |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.56.340 |bibcode=1939PhRv...56..340F |s2cid=121972425 |access-date=May 20, 2019 |archive-date=September 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919050513/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3515/ |url-status=live}}</ref> based on a topic assigned by [[John C. Slater]], who was sufficiently impressed by the paper to have it published. Its main result is known as the [[Hellmann–Feynman theorem]].{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=71–78}}

Feynman rejected the Institute on the grounds that there were no teaching duties. Feynman found his students to be a source of inspiration and also, during uncreative times, comfort. He felt that if he could not be creative, at least he could teach. Another major factor in his decision was just a desire to live in a mild climate, a goal he seized on while having to put snow chains on his car's wheels in the middle of a snowstorm in [[Ithaca]], [[New York]].

In 1939, Feynman received a [[bachelor's degree]]{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|p=56}} and was named a [[Putnam Fellow]].<ref name=MMA>{{cite web |title=List of Previous Putnam Winners |url=https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Putnam/Competition_Archive/List%20of%20Previous%20Putnam%20Winners.pdf |publisher=Mathematical Association of America |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> He attained a perfect score on the graduate school entrance exams to [[Princeton University]] in physics—an unprecedented feat—and an outstanding score in mathematics, but did poorly on the history and English portions. The head of the physics department there, [[Henry D. Smyth]], had another concern, writing to [[Philip M. Morse]] to ask: "Is Feynman Jewish? We have no definite rule against Jews but have to keep their proportion in our department reasonably small because of the difficulty of placing them."{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=84}} Morse conceded that Feynman was indeed Jewish, but reassured Smyth that Feynman's "physiognomy and manner, however, show no trace of this characteristic".{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=84}}

[[Image:FeynmanLecturesOnPhysics.jpg|thumb|250px| Feynman the "Great Explainer": ''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'' found an appreciative audience beyond the undergraduate community. ]]

Attendees at Feynman's first seminar, which was on the classical version of the [[Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory]], included [[Albert Einstein]], [[Wolfgang Pauli]], and [[John von Neumann]]. Pauli made the prescient comment that the theory would be extremely difficult to quantize, and Einstein said that one might try to apply this method to gravity in [[general relativity]],{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=77–80}} which [[Sir Fred Hoyle]] and [[Jayant Narlikar]] did much later as the [[Hoyle–Narlikar theory of gravity]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898186,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111213230334/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898186,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 13, 2011 |title=Cosmology: Math Plus Mach Equals Far-Out Gravity |date=June 26, 1964 |magazine=Time |access-date=August 7, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hoyle |first1=F. |last2=Narlikar |first2=J. V. |date=1964 |title=A New Theory of Gravitation |journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society A]] |volume=282 |issue=1389 |pages=191–207 |bibcode=1964RSPSA.282..191H |doi=10.1098/rspa.1964.0227 |s2cid=59402270}}</ref> Feynman received a PhD from Princeton in 1942; his thesis advisor was [[John Archibald Wheeler]].{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=129–130}} In his doctoral thesis titled "The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics",<ref>{{cite thesis |title=The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/101498/files/Thesis-1942-Feynman.pdf |access-date=July 12, 2016 |type=PhD |publisher=Princeton University |year=1942 |first=Richard P. |last=Feynman |archive-date=December 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220132015/https://cds.cern.ch/record/101498/files/Thesis-1942-Feynman.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Feynman applied the [[principle of stationary action]] to problems of quantum mechanics, inspired by a desire to quantize the Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory of electrodynamics, and laid the groundwork for the path integral formulation and Feynman diagrams.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=92–101}} A key insight was that [[positron]]s behaved like [[electron]]s moving backwards in time.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=92–101}} James Gleick wrote:

Feynman is sometimes called the "Great Explainer"; he took great care when explaining topics to his students, making it a moral point ''not'' to make a topic arcane, but accessible to others. His principle was that if a topic could not be explained in a freshman lecture, it was not fully understood yet. Feynman gained great pleasure from coming up with such a "freshman level" explanation of the connection between [[spin (physics)|spin]] and statistics (that groups of particles with spin 1/2 "repel", whereas groups with integer spin "clump"), a question he pondered in his own lectures and which he solved in the 1986 Dirac memorial lecture. He opposed [[rote learning]] and other teaching methods that emphasized form over function, everywhere from a conference on education in [[Brazil]] to a state commission on school textbook selection. ''Clear thinking'' and ''clear presentation'' were fundamental prerequisites for his attention. It could be perilous to even approach him when unprepared, and he did not forget who the fools or pretenders were{{ref|Bet91}}.

{{blockquote|This was Richard Feynman nearing the crest of his powers. At twenty-three&nbsp;... there may now have been no physicist on earth who could match his exuberant command over the native materials of theoretical science. It was not just a facility at mathematics (though it had become clear&nbsp;... that the mathematical machinery emerging in the Wheeler–Feynman collaboration was beyond Wheeler's own ability). Feynman seemed to possess a frightening ease with the substance behind the equations, like Einstein at the same age, like the Soviet physicist [[Lev Landau]]—but few others.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=129–130}} |sign=|source=}}

One of the conditions of Feynman's scholarship to Princeton was that he could not be married; nevertheless, he continued to see his high school sweetheart, Arline Greenbaum, and was determined to marry her once he had been awarded his PhD despite the knowledge that she was seriously ill with [[tuberculosis]]. This was an incurable disease at the time, and she was not expected to live more than two years. On June 29, 1942, they took the [[Staten Island Ferry|ferry]] to [[Staten Island]], where they were married in the city office. The ceremony was attended by neither family nor friends and was witnessed by a pair of strangers. Feynman could kiss Arline only on the cheek. After the ceremony he took her to [[Deborah Heart and Lung Center|Deborah Hospital]], where he visited her on weekends.{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=66–67}}{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=150–151}}

On one [[sabbatical]] year, he returned to [[Isaac Newton|Newton's]] ''Principia'' to study it anew; what he learned from Newton, he also passed along to his students, such as Newton's attempted explanation of [[diffraction]].

== Manhattan Project ==

===The Caltech years===

[[File:Feynman-richard_p.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Feynman smiling|Feynman's Los Alamos ID badge]]

Feynman did much of his best work while at [[California Institute of Technology|Caltech]], including research in:

In 1941, with [[World War II]] occurring in Europe but the United States not yet at war, Feynman spent the summer working on ballistics problems at the [[Frankford Arsenal]] in [[Pennsylvania]].{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=63–64}}{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=99–103}} After the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] brought the United States into the war, Feynman was recruited by [[Robert R. Wilson]], who was working on means to produce [[enriched uranium]] for use in an [[atomic bomb]], as part of what would become the [[Manhattan Project]].{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=64–65}}{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=107–108}} At the time, Feynman had not earned a graduate degree.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY-u1qyRM5w&t=2m16s Richard Feynman Lecture – "Los Alamos From Below"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505010623/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY-u1qyRM5w |date=May 5, 2020}}, talk given at [[UCSB]] in 1975 (posted to YouTube on July 12, 2016)<br />Quote:<br />"I did not even have my degree when I started to work on stuff associated with the Manhattan Project."<br />Later in this same talk, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY-u1qyRM5w&t=5m34s at 5m34s] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304123519/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY-u1qyRM5w&t=5m34s |date=March 4, 2022}}, he explains that he took a six week vacation to finish his thesis so received his PhD prior to his arrival at Los Alamos.</ref> Wilson's team at Princeton was working on a device called an isotron, intended to electromagnetically separate [[uranium-235]] from [[uranium-238]]. This was done in a quite different manner from that used by the [[calutron]] that was under development by a team under Wilson's former mentor, [[Ernest O. Lawrence]], at the [[Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory|Radiation Laboratory]] of the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California]].{{cn|date=May 2025}} On paper, the isotron was many times more efficient than the calutron, but Feynman and [[Paul Olum]] struggled to determine whether it was practical. Ultimately, on Lawrence's recommendation, the isotron project was abandoned.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=141–145}}

At this juncture, in early 1943, [[Robert Oppenheimer]] was establishing the [[Los Alamos Laboratory]], a secret laboratory on a [[mesa]] in [[New Mexico]] where atomic bombs would be designed and built. An offer was made to the Princeton team to be redeployed there. "Like a bunch of professional soldiers," Wilson later recalled, "we signed up, en masse, to go to Los Alamos."{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=59}} Oppenheimer recruited many young physicists, including Feynman, who he telephoned long distance from Chicago to inform that he had found a Presbyterian [[sanatorium]] in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]] for Arline. They were among the first to depart for New Mexico, leaving on a train on March 28, 1943. The railroad supplied Arline with a wheelchair, and Feynman paid extra for a private room for her. There they spent their wedding anniversary.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=158–160}}

* [[Quantum electrodynamics]]. The theory for which Feynman won his [[Nobel Prize]] is known for its extremely accurate [[prediction]]s{{ref|FeyQED}},{{ref|QEDsel}}. He helped develop a [[path integral formulation|functional integral formulation]] of quantum mechanics, in which every possible path from one state to the next is considered, the final path being a ''sum'' over the possibilities.{{ref|FeyQM}}

At Los Alamos, Feynman was assigned to Hans Bethe's Theoretical (T) Division,{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=165–169}} and impressed Bethe enough to be made a group leader.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=157–159}} He and Bethe developed the [[Bethe–Feynman formula]] for calculating the yield of a [[Nuclear weapon design|fission bomb]], which built upon previous work by [[Robert Serber]].{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=183}} As a junior physicist, he was not central to the project. He administered the computation group of [[human computer]]s in the theoretical division. With [[Stanley Frankel]] and [[Nicholas Metropolis]], he assisted in establishing a system for using [[IBM]] [[punched card]]s for computation.{{sfn|Bashe|Johnson|Palmer|Pugh|1986|p=14}} He invented a new method of computing [[Logarithm#Calculation|logarithms]] that he later used on the [[Connection Machine]].{{sfn|Hillis|1989|p=78}}{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=125–129}} An avid drummer, Feynman figured out how to get the machine to click in musical rhythms.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=181}} Other work at Los Alamos included calculating [[neutron]] equations for the Los Alamos "Water Boiler", a small [[nuclear reactor]], to measure how close an assembly of fissile material was to criticality.{{sfn|Galison|1998|pp=403–407}}

* Physics of the [[superfluid]]ity of supercooled liquid [[helium]], where helium seems to display a lack of [[viscosity]] when flowing. Applying the [[Schrödinger equation]] to the question showed that the superfluid was displaying quantum mechanical behavior observable on a macroscopic scale. This helped enormously with the problem of [[superconductivity]].

On completing this work, Feynman was sent to the [[Clinton Engineer Works]] in [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]], where the Manhattan Project had its [[uranium enrichment]] facilities. He aided the engineers there in devising safety procedures for material storage so that [[criticality accident]]s could be avoided, especially when [[enriched uranium]] came into contact with water, which acted as a [[neutron moderator]]. He insisted on giving the rank and file a lecture on nuclear physics so that they would realize the dangers.{{sfn|Galison|1998|pp=407–409}} He explained that while any amount of unenriched uranium could be safely stored, the enriched uranium had to be carefully handled. He developed a series of safety recommendations for the various grades of enrichments.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/06/06/feynman-and-the-bomb/ |title=Feynman and the Bomb |website=Restricted Data |first=Alex |last=Wellerstein |author-link=Alex Wellerstein |date=June 6, 2014 |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> He was told that if the people at Oak Ridge gave him any difficulty with his proposals, he was to inform them that Los Alamos "could not be responsible for their safety otherwise".{{sfn|Feynman|1985|p=122}}

[[File:Los Alamos colloquium.jpg|thumb|alt=A crowd seated in folding chairs|left|At the 1946 colloquium on the [[History of the Teller–Ulam design#Teller's "Super"|"Super"]] at the [[Los Alamos Laboratory]]. Feynman is in the second row, fourth from left, next to Oppenheimer.]]

* A model of [[weak decay]], which showed that the current coupling in the process is a combination of vector and axial. (An example of weak decay is the decay of a [[neutron]] into an [[electron]], a [[proton]], and an anti-[[neutrino]].) Although [[E.C. George Sudharsan]] and [[Robert Marshak]] developed the theory nearly simultaneously, Feynman's collaboration with [[Murray Gell-Mann]] was seen as the seminal one, the theory was of massive importance, and the [[weak interaction]] was neatly described.

Returning to Los Alamos, Feynman was put in charge of the group responsible for the theoretical work and calculations on the proposed [[uranium hydride bomb]], which ultimately proved to be infeasible.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=157–159}}{{sfn|Galison|1998|pp=414–422}} He was sought out by physicist [[Niels Bohr]] for one-on-one discussions. He later discovered the reason: most of the other physicists were too much in awe of Bohr to argue with him. Feynman had no such inhibitions, vigorously pointing out anything he considered to be flawed in Bohr's thinking. He said he felt as much respect for Bohr as anyone else, but once anyone got him talking about physics, he would become so focused he forgot about social niceties. Perhaps because of this, Bohr never warmed to Feynman.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=257}}{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=95–96}} Feynman impressed Oppenheimer, who wrote in a letter to the University of California's physics department chairman, [[Raymond T. Birge]], in November 1943 that Feynman was "by all odds the most brilliant young physicist here, and everyone knows this.{{sfn|Smith|Weiner|1980|p=269}}{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=184}}

At Los Alamos, which was isolated for security, Feynman amused himself by investigating the combination locks on the cabinets and desks of physicists. He often found that they left the lock combinations on the factory settings, wrote the combinations down, or used easily guessable combinations like dates.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=188–190}} He found one cabinet's combination by trying numbers he thought a physicist might use (it proved to be 27–18–28 after the base of [[natural logarithm]]s, ''[[e (number)|e]]'' = 2.71828 ...), and found that the three filing cabinets where a colleague kept research notes all had the same combination. He left notes in the cabinets as a prank, spooking his colleague, [[Frederic de Hoffmann]], into thinking a spy had gained access to them.{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=147–149}}{{sfn|Pugh|2017|pp=1–2}}

He also developed [[Feynman diagram]]s, a ''bookkeeping device'' which helps in conceptualizing and calculating interactions between [[particle]]s in [[spacetime]], notably the interactions between [[electrons]] and their [[antimatter]] counterparts, [[positrons]]. This device allowed him, and now others, to work with concepts which would have been less approachable without it, such as time reversibility and other fundamental processes. Feynman famously painted Feynman diagrams on the exterior of his van.

Feynman's $380 ({{Inflation|US|380|1943|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) monthly salary was about half the amount needed for his modest living expenses and Arline's medical bills, and they were forced to dip into her $3,300 ({{Inflation|US|3300|1943|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) in savings.{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|p=99}} On weekends he borrowed a car from his friend [[Klaus Fuchs]] to drive to Albuquerque to see Arline.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=184}}{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|p=96}} Asked who at Los Alamos was most likely to be a spy, Fuchs mentioned Feynman's [[safe-cracking]] and frequent trips to Albuquerque;{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=184}} Fuchs himself later confessed to spying for the [[Soviet Union]].{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=296–297}} The [[FBI]] would compile a bulky file on Feynman,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Morisy |first1=Michael |last2=Hovden |first2=Robert |date=June 6, 2012 |editor=J Pat Brown |title=The Feynman Files: The professor's invitation past the Iron Curtain |url=https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2012/jun/06/feynman-files-professors-invitation-past-iron-curt/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505211540/https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2012/jun/06/feynman-files-professors-invitation-past-iron-curt/ |archive-date=May 5, 2019 |access-date=July 13, 2016 |website=MuckRock}}</ref> particularly in view of Feynman's [[Q clearance]].<ref>{{cite web|author=SAC (Special Agent in Charge ), Washington Field Office)|url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/366921-responsive-documents.html#document/p324|title=FOI Request FBI files on Richard Feynman Requested by Michael Morisy on March 12, 2012 for the Federal Bureau of Investigation of United States of America and fulfilled on March 21, 2012|date=January 26, 1955|access-date=June 10, 2023|page=1(324)}}{{blockquote|text=In a report by SA{{redacted content|foia-exceptions=(b)(7)(c)}} at [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], dated 3/14/50 captioned{{redacted content|foia-exceptions=(b)(7)(c)}}-R,"<!-- -R," with unbalanced double quote in original --> there is set forth the fact that RICHARD PHILLIPS [F]EYNMAN was employed at Los Alamos, New Mexico, on the atomic bomb project in the Theoretical Physics Division from April 1, 1943, to October 27, 1945. This individual, according to this report, was granted Atomic Energy Commission security clearance rating of '''Q clearance''' on 5/25/49.}}</ref>

Feynman diagrams are now fundamental for [[string theory]] and [[M-theory]], and have even been extended topologically. Feynman's mental picture for these diagrams started with the ''hard sphere'' approximation, and the interactions could be thought of as ''collisions'' at first. It was not until decades later that physicists thought of analyzing the nodes of the Feynman diagrams more closely. The ''world-lines'' of the diagrams have become ''tubes'' to better model the more complicated objects such as ''strings'' and ''M-branes''.

[[File:Feynman and Oppenheimer at Los Alamos.jpg|alt=The scientists standing in a semi-circle, wearing suits|thumb|Feynman (center) with [[Robert Oppenheimer]] (immediately right of Feynman) at a Los Alamos Laboratory social function during the Manhattan Project]]

From his diagrams of a small number of particles interacting in [[spacetime]], Feynman could then [[model (abstract)|model]] ''all of physics''{{ref|FeyFP}} in terms of those particles' [[spin]]s and the range of coupling of the [[fundamental force]]s. The [[quark]] model, however, was a rival to Feynman's [[parton]] formulation. Feynman did not dispute the quark model; for example, when the 5th quark was discovered, Feynman immediately pointed out to his students that the discovery implied the existence of a 6th quark, which was duly discovered in the decade after his death.

Informed that Arline was dying, Feynman drove to Albuquerque and sat with her for hours until she died on June 16, 1945.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=200–202}} He then immersed himself in work on the project and was present at the [[Trinity nuclear test]]. Feynman claimed to be the only person to see the explosion without the very dark glasses or welder's lenses provided, reasoning that it was safe to look through a truck windshield, as it would screen out the harmful [[ultraviolet]] radiation. The immense brightness of the explosion made him duck to the truck's floor, where he saw a temporary "purple splotch" [[afterimage]].{{sfn|Feynman|1985|p=134}}

== Cornell (1945–1949) ==

After the success of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman turned to quantum gravity. By analogy with the photon, which has spin 1, he investigated the consequences of a free massless spin 2 field, and was able to derive the [[Einstein field equation]] of general relativity, but little more{{ref|FeyLG}}. Unfortunately, at this time he became exhausted by working on multiple major projects at the same time, including his ''Lectures in Physics''.

Feynman nominally held an appointment at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] as an assistant professor of physics, but was on unpaid leave during his involvement in the Manhattan Project.{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|p=101}} In 1945, he received a letter from Dean Mark Ingraham of the College of Letters and Science requesting his return to the university to teach in the coming academic year. His appointment was not extended when he did not commit to returning. In a talk given there several years later, Feynman quipped, "It's great to be back at the only university that ever had the good sense to fire me."<ref>{{cite journal |author=March |first=Robert H. |year=2003 |title=Physics at the University of Wisconsin: A History |journal=Physics in Perspective |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=130–149 |bibcode=2003PhP.....5..130M |doi=10.1007/s00016-003-0142-6 |s2cid=120730710}}</ref>

As early as October 30, 1943, Bethe had written to the chairman of the physics department of his university, [[Cornell University|Cornell]], to recommend that Feynman be hired. On February 28, 1944, this was endorsed by [[Robert Bacher]],{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=161–164, 178–179}} also from Cornell,{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=47–52}} and one of the most senior scientists at Los Alamos.{{sfn|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|p=316}} This led to an offer being made in August 1944, which Feynman accepted. Oppenheimer had hoped to recruit Feynman to the University of California, but Birge was reluctant. He made Feynman an offer in May 1945, but Feynman turned it down. Cornell matched its salary offer of $3,900 ({{Inflation|US|3900|1945|fmt=eq|r=-3}}) per annum.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=161–164, 178–179}} Feynman became one of the first of the Los Alamos Laboratory's group leaders to depart, leaving for [[Ithaca, New York]], in October 1945.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=205}}

[[image:Feynman caltech 1974.png|thumb|right|Feynman during his famous [[cargo cult science]] speech at the [[California Institute of Technology|Caltech]] [[1974]] commencement address.]]While at Caltech, Feynman was asked to "spruce up" the teaching of undergraduates. After three years devoted to the task, a series of lectures was produced, eventually becoming the famous ''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics|Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'', which are a major reason that Feynman is still regarded by most physicists as one of the greatest ''teachers'' of physics ever. Feynman later won the [[Oersted Medal]] for teaching, of which he seemed especially proud. His students competed keenly for his attention; once he was awakened when a student solved a problem and dropped it in his mailbox at home; glimpsing the student sneaking across his lawn, he could not go back to sleep, and he read the student's solution. That morning his breakfast was interrupted by another triumphant student, but Feynman informed this student that he was too late.

Because Feynman was no longer working at the Los Alamos Laboratory, he was no longer exempt from [[the draft]]. At his induction physical, Army psychiatrists diagnosed Feynman as suffering from a mental illness and the Army gave him a [[Selective Service System#Classifications|4-F exemption]] on mental grounds.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=225}}{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=162–163}} His father died suddenly on October 8, 1946, and Feynman suffered from depression.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=171–174}} On October 17, 1946, he wrote a letter to Arline, expressing his deep love and heartbreak. The letter was sealed and only opened after his death. "Please excuse my not mailing this," the letter concluded, "but I don't know your new address."<ref>{{cite web |title=I love my wife. My wife is dead. |date=February 15, 2012 |url=https://lettersofnote.com/2012/02/15/i-love-my-wife-my-wife-is-dead/ |website=Letters of Note |access-date=April 23, 2013 }}</ref> Unable to focus on research problems, Feynman began tackling physics problems, not for utility, but for self-satisfaction.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=171–174}} One of these involved analyzing the physics of a twirling, [[Nutation|nutating]] disk as it is moving through the air, inspired by an incident in the cafeteria at Cornell when someone tossed a dinner plate in the air.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=227–229}} He read the work of Sir [[William Rowan Hamilton]] on [[quaternions]], and tried unsuccessfully to use them to formulate a [[special relativity|relativistic]] theory of electrons. His work during this period, which used equations of rotation to express various spinning speeds, ultimately proved important to his Nobel Prize–winning work, yet because he felt burned out and had turned his attention to less immediately practical problems, he was surprised by the offers of professorships from other renowned universities, including the [[Institute for Advanced Study]], the [[University of California, Los Angeles]], and the [[University of California, Berkeley]].{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=171–174}}

Feynman was a keen and influential popularizer of physics in both his books and lectures, notably a seminal [[1959]] talk on top-down [[nanotechnology]] called ''[[There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom]]''. Feynman offered $1000 prizes for two of his challenges in nanotechnology. He was also one of the first scientists to realize the possibility of [[quantum computer]]s. Many of his lectures and other miscellaneous talks were turned into books such as ''The Character of Physical Law'' and ''QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter''. He would give lectures which his students often annotated into books, such as ''Statistical Mechanics'' and ''Lectures on Gravity''. ''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'' took two physicists, [[Robert B. Leighton (physicist)|Robert B. Leighton]] and [[Matthew Sands (physicist)|Matthew Sands]] as full-time editors for a number of years. Even though they were not adopted by the universities as textbooks, the books continue to be bestsellers, as they provide a deep understanding about physics. As of 2005, ''The Feynman Lectures on Physics'' have now sold over 1.5 million copies in [[English language|English]], an estimated 1 million copies in [[Russian language|Russian]], and an estimated half million copies in other languages.

[[File:Feynman EP Annihilation.svg|thumb|left|alt=A diagram displaying two particles colliding and releasing gamma radiation|Feynman diagram of electron/positron annihilation]]

In [[1974]] Feynman delivered the Caltech commencement address on the topic of [[cargo cult science]], work having the semblance of science but which is only [[pseudoscience]] due to a lack of utter integrity on the part of the scientist. He instructed the graduating class that "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that."

Feynman was not the only frustrated theoretical physicist in the early post-war years. [[Quantum electrodynamics]] suffered from [[infinity|infinite]] integrals in [[perturbation theory]]. These were clear mathematical flaws in the theory, which Feynman and Wheeler had tried, unsuccessfully, to work around.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=213–214}} "Theoreticians", noted [[Murray Gell-Mann]], "were in disgrace".{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=232}} In June 1947, leading American physicists met at the [[Shelter Island Conference]]. For Feynman, it was his "first big conference with big men&nbsp;... I had never gone to one like this one in peacetime."{{sfn|Mehra|1994|p=217}} The problems plaguing quantum electrodynamics were discussed, but the theoreticians were completely overshadowed by the achievements of the experimentalists, who reported the discovery of the [[Lamb shift]], the measurement of the [[magnetic moment]] of the electron, and [[Robert Marshak]]'s [[pi-meson|two-meson]] hypothesis.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=218–219}}

Bethe took the lead from the work of [[Hans Kramers]], and derived a [[renormalization|renormalized]] non-relativistic quantum equation for the Lamb shift. The next step was to create a relativistic version. Feynman thought that he could do this, but when he went back to Bethe with his solution, it did not converge.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=223–228}} Feynman carefully worked through the problem again, applying the path integral formulation that he had used in his thesis. Like Bethe, he made the integral finite by applying a cut-off term. The result corresponded to Bethe's version.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=229–234}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Feynman |first=Richard P. |date=December 11, 1965 |title=Richard P. Feynman – Nobel Lecture: The Development of the Space–Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1965/feynman/lecture/ |access-date=June 10, 2023 |publisher=Nobel Foundation}}</ref> Feynman presented his work to his peers at the [[Pocono Conference]] in 1948. It did not go well. [[Julian Schwinger]] gave a long presentation of his work in quantum electrodynamics, and Feynman then offered his version, entitled "Alternative Formulation of Quantum Electrodynamics". The unfamiliar [[Feynman diagrams]], used for the first time, puzzled the audience. Feynman failed to get his point across, and [[Paul Dirac]], [[Edward Teller]] and Niels Bohr all raised objections.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=246–248}}{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=256–258}}

===Personal life===

Feynman's first wife Arline Greenbaum died of tuberculosis while he was working on the Manhattan project. He married a second time, to Mary Louise Bell of Neodesha, Kansas in June, 1952; this marriage was brief and unsuccessful.

To [[Freeman Dyson]], one thing at least was clear: [[Shin'ichirō Tomonaga]], Schwinger and Feynman understood what they were talking about even if no one else did, but had not published anything. He was convinced that Feynman's formulation was easier to understand, and ultimately managed to convince Oppenheimer that this was the case.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=267–269}} Dyson published a paper in 1949, which added new rules to Feynman's that told how to implement renormalization.<ref>{{cite journal|first=F. J. |last=Dyson |author-link=Freeman Dyson |title= The radiation theories of Tomonaga, Schwinger, and Feynman |journal=Physical Review |volume=75|pages=486–502|year=1949|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.75.486|issue=3|bibcode = 1949PhRv...75..486D |doi-access=free}}</ref> Feynman was prompted to publish his ideas in the ''Physical Review'' in a series of papers over three years.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=271–272}} His 1948 papers on "A Relativistic Cut-Off for Classical Electrodynamics" attempted to explain what he had been unable to get across at Pocono.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=251–252}} His 1949 paper on "The Theory of Positrons" addressed the [[Schrödinger equation]] and [[Dirac equation]], and introduced what is now called the [[Feynman propagator]].{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=271–272}} Finally, in papers on the "Mathematical Formulation of the Quantum Theory of Electromagnetic Interaction" in 1950 and "An Operator Calculus Having Applications in Quantum Electrodynamics" in 1951, he developed the mathematical basis of his ideas, derived familiar formulae and advanced new ones.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=301–302}}

Feynman later married Gweneth Howarth from the United Kingdom, who shared his enthusiasm for life. Besides their home in [[Altadena, California]], they had a beach house in [[Baja California]]. They remained married for life, had a son, [[Carl Feynman|Carl]], in [[1962]], and adopted a daughter, Michelle, in [[1968]]{{ref|FeyM}}.

While papers by others initially cited Schwinger, papers citing Feynman and employing Feynman diagrams appeared in 1950, and soon became prevalent.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=275–276}} Students learned and used the powerful new tool that Feynman had created. Computer programs were later written to evaluate Feynman diagrams, enabling physicists to use quantum field theory to make [[Precision tests of QED|high-precision predictions]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Aoyama |first1=Tatsumi |last2=Kinoshita |first2=Toichiro |last3=Nio |first3=Makiko |date=February 8, 2018 |title=Revised and improved value of the QED tenth-order electron anomalous magnetic moment |url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.036001 |journal=Physical Review D |language=en |volume=97 |issue=3 |pages=036001 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.97.036001 |arxiv=1712.06060 |bibcode=2018PhRvD..97c6001A |s2cid=118922814 |issn=2470-0010}}</ref> [[Marc Kac]] adapted Feynman's technique of summing over possible histories of a particle to the study of [[parabolic partial differential equation]]s, yielding what is now known as the [[Feynman–Kac formula]], the use of which extends beyond physics to many applications of [[stochastic processes]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kac|first=Mark|title=On Distributions of Certain Wiener Functionals|journal=Transactions of the American Mathematical Society|author-link=Mark Kac|volume=65|issue=1|pages=1–13|jstor=1990512|year=1949|doi=10.2307/1990512|doi-access=free}}</ref> To Schwinger, however, the Feynman diagram was "pedagogy, not physics".{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=276}}

Feynman had a great deal of success teaching Carl using discussions about ''ants'' and ''Martians'' as a device for gaining perspective on problems and issues; he was surprised to learn that the same teaching devices did not apply for Michelle. Mathematics was a common interest for father and son; they both entered the [[computer]] field as consultants.

Looking back on this period, Feynman would reflect fondly on his time at the [[Telluride House]], where he resided for a large period of his Cornell career. In an interview, he described the House as "a group of boys that have been specially selected because of their scholarship, because of their cleverness or whatever it is, to be given free board and lodging and so on, because of their brains". He enjoyed the house's convenience and said that "it's there that I did the fundamental work" for which he won the Nobel Prize.<ref>{{cite interview |last1=Feynman |first1=Richard |interviewer=Charles Weiner |title=Richard Feynman – Session III |url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-3 |access-date=June 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809045333/https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-3 |archive-date=August 9, 2016 |url-status=live |publisher=American Institute of Physics |date=March 5, 1966}}</ref>{{sfn|Feynman|1985|p=191}}

The [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] retained Feynman as a computational consultant during critical missions. One coworker characterized Feynman as akin to ''Don Quixote'' at his desk, rather than at a computer workstation, ready to do battle with the windmills.

However, Feynman was also reported to have been quite restless during his time at Cornell. By 1949, as the period was coming to a close, he had never settled into a particular house or apartment, moving instead between guest houses or student residences. While he did spend some time living with various married friends, these situations were reported to frequently end because the "arrangements became sexually volatile".{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=277}} The renowned 31 year old was known to frequently pursue his married female friends, undergraduate girls and women, and to hire sex workers, which would sour many of his friendships.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=287}} Additionally, Feynman was not fond of Ithaca's cold winter weather or feeling as though he lived in the shadow of Hans Bethe while at Cornell.{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=232–233}}

According to Professor Steven Frautschi, a colleague of Feynman, Feynman was the only person in the Altadena region to buy flood insurance after the massive 1978 fire, predicting correctly that the fire's destruction would lead to land erosion, causing mudslides and flooding. The flood occurred in 1979 after winter rains and destroyed multiple houses in the neighborhood.

Feynman traveled a great deal, notably to [[Brazil]], and near the end of his life schemed to visit the obscure [[Russia]]n land of [[Tuva]], a dream that, due to [[Cold War]] bureaucratic problems, never succeeded{{ref|Lei91}}. During this period he discovered that he had a form of [[cancer]], but, thanks to surgery, he managed to hold it off.

== Brazil (1949–1952) ==

Feynman did not work only on physics, and had a large circle of friends from all walks of life, including the arts. He took up [[painting]] at one time and enjoyed some success under the [[pseudonym]] "Ofey", culminating in an exhibition dedicated to his work. While at Los Alamos on the Top Secret Manhattan Project, he earned the notoriety of being a master safe-cracker. He learned to play [[drums]] (''frigideira'') in acceptable [[samba]] style in Brazil by persistence and practice, and participated in a samba "school". Such actions earned him a reputation of [[eccentricity (behaviour)|eccentricity]].

Feynman spent several weeks in [[Rio de Janeiro]] in July 1949.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|p=333}} That year, the Soviet Union [[Soviet atomic bomb project|detonated]] its [[RDS-1|first atomic bomb]], generating concerns about espionage.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=278}} Fuchs was arrested as a Soviet spy in 1950 and the FBI questioned Bethe about Feynman's loyalty.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=296}} Physicist [[David Bohm]] was arrested on December 4, 1950,{{sfn|Peat|1997|p=98}} and emigrated to [[Brazil]] in October 1951.{{sfn|Peat|1997|p=120}} Because of the fears of a nuclear war, a girlfriend told Feynman that he should also consider moving to South America.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=278}} He had a sabbatical coming for 1951–1952,{{sfn|Mehra|1994|p=331}} and elected to spend it in Brazil, where he gave courses at the [[Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas]].

[[File:Richard Feynman undated.png|alt=Feynman seated on the floor with drums around him|thumb|Feynman with drums]]

Feynman had very liberal views on [[sexuality]] and was not ashamed of admitting it. In ''Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'', he gives advice on the best way to pick up a girl in a hostess bar and drew a decoration for a [[massage parlor]]. His favorite place was nude/topless bars, which he used to visit six times a week. In addition, he admitted to being a [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] user as well as having experimented with [[LSD]] and [[Ketamine]] under the banner of studying conciousness in the famed [[isolation tank|sensory deprivation tanks]] of his friend [[John Lilly]]. Feynman also enjoyed bike riding and being interviewed.

In Brazil, Feynman was impressed with ''[[samba]]'' music, and learned to play the {{lang|pt|frigideira}},{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=283–286}} a metal percussion instrument based on a frying pan.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Beck |first=John H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8U83AgAAQBAJ |title=Encyclopedia of Percussion |date=2013 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781317747680 |page=155 |language=en |access-date=August 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304123545/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_Percussion/8U83AgAAQBAJ |archive-date=March 4, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> He was an enthusiastic amateur player of bongo and conga drums and often played them in the pit orchestra in musicals.{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=322–327}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://calisphere.org/item/ca3d38126be7f368422ee9a6e0870667/|title=Calisphere: Richard Feynman playing the conga drum| publisher=Calisphere|date=December 1956 |access-date=May 13, 2019|archive-date=May 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513034724/https://calisphere.org/item/ca3d38126be7f368422ee9a6e0870667/|url-status=live}}</ref> He spent time in Rio with his friend Bohm, but Bohm could not convince Feynman to investigate Bohm's ideas on physics.{{sfn|Peat|1997|pp=125–127}}

===Feynman's Caltech and later years= (1952–1978) ==

[[File:Paul Dirac and Richard Feynman at Jabłonna 1962.png|thumb|Paul Dirac and Richard Feynman at Jabłonna, Poland. July 1962.]]

=== Personal and political life ===

Feynman did not return to Cornell. Bacher, who had been instrumental in bringing Feynman to Cornell, had lured him to the [[California Institute of Technology]] (Caltech). Part of the deal was that he could spend his first year on sabbatical in Brazil.{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=233–236}}{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=277}} He had become smitten by Mary Louise Bell from [[Neodesha, Kansas]]. They had met in a cafeteria in Cornell, where she had studied the history of Mexican art and textiles. She later followed him to Caltech, where he gave a lecture. While he was in Brazil, she taught classes on the history of furniture and interiors at [[Michigan State University]]. He proposed to her by mail from Rio de Janeiro, and they married in [[Boise, Idaho]], on June 28, 1952, shortly after he returned. They frequently quarreled and she was frightened by what she described as "a violent temper".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who smeared Richard Feynman? |url=https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/07/11/smeared-richard-feynman/ |access-date=October 17, 2024 |website=Restricted Data: A Nuclear History Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> Their politics were different; although he registered and voted as a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]], she was more conservative, and her opinion on the 1954 [[Oppenheimer security hearing]] ("Where there's smoke there's fire") offended him. They separated on May 20, 1956. An interlocutory decree of divorce was entered on June 19, 1956, on the grounds of "extreme cruelty". The divorce became final on May 5, 1958.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=291–294}}<ref name="Who smeared Richard Feynman?">{{cite web |author1=Wellerstein |first=Alex |author-link=Alex Wellerstein |date=July 11, 2014 |title=Who smeared Richard Feynman? |url=https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/07/11/smeared-richard-feynman/ |access-date=June 10, 2023 |publisher=Restricted Data}}</ref>

{{blockquote| ... the appointee's wife was granted a divorce from him because of appointee's constantly working calculus problems in his head as soon as awake, while driving car, sitting in living room, and so forth, and that his one hobby was playing his African drums. His ex-wife reportedly testified that on several occasions when she unwittingly disturbed either his calculus or his drums he flew into a violent rage, during which time he choked her, threw pieces of bric-a-brac about and smashed the furniture ...

[[Image:STS-51-L-T 75.jpg|thumb|150px|Feynman served on the commission investigating the [[1986]] [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Challenger]] [[STS-51-L|disaster]]. "''For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.''" ]]

|author=Special Agent in Charge in Los Angeles|title=in mail to FBI director, July 24, 1958<ref>{{Cite web |title=FOIA Responsive documents of FBI Files on Richard Feynman |url=https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/fbi-files-on-richard-feynman-1165/#file-4617|page=64 |website=MuckRock.com|date=March 12, 2012 }}</ref>|source=}}

Feynman was requested to serve on the presidential [[Rogers Commission]] which investigated the [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Challenger]] disaster of [[1986]]. Fed clues from a source with inside information, Feynman famously showed on television the crucial role in the disaster played by the [[booster rocket|booster]]'s [[O-ring]] flexible gas seals with a simple demonstration using a glass of ice water, a clamp, and a sample of o-ring material. His opinion of the cause of the accident differed from the official findings and was considerably more critical of the role of management in sidelining the concerns of engineers. After much petitioning, Feynman's minority report was included as an appendix to the official document. The book ''What Do You Care What Other People Think?'' includes stories from Feynman's work on the commission. His engineering skill is reflected in his estimate of the reliability of the Space Shuttle (98%), which is unhappily reflected in the two failures over the 100-odd flights of the Space Shuttle as of [[2003]].

In the wake of the 1957 [[Sputnik crisis]], the U.S. government's interest in science rose for a time. Feynman was considered for a seat on the [[President's Science Advisory Committee]], but was not appointed. At this time, the FBI interviewed a woman close to Feynman, possibly his ex-wife Bell, who sent a written statement to [[J. Edgar Hoover]] on August 8, 1958:{{blockquote|I do not know—but I believe that Richard Feynman is either a Communist or very strongly pro-Communist—and as such is a very definite security risk. This man is, in my opinion, an extremely complex and dangerous person, a very dangerous person to have in a position of public trust&nbsp;... In matters of intrigue Richard Feynman is, I believe immensely clever—indeed a genius—and he is, I further believe, completely ruthless, unhampered by morals, ethics, or religion—and will stop at absolutely nothing to achieve his ends.<ref name="Who smeared Richard Feynman?" />}}

The cancer returned in [[1987]], with Feynman entering the hospital a year later. Complications with surgery worsened his condition, whereupon Feynman decided to die with dignity and not accept any more treatment. He died on [[February 15]], [[1988]]. Reportedly, his final words were "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring." He and his wife Gweneth, who died in [[1989]], are buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Altadena, California.

The U.S. government nevertheless sent Feynman to Geneva for the September 1958 [[Atoms for Peace]] Conference. On the beach at [[Lake Geneva]], he met Gweneth Howarth, who was from [[Ripponden]], West Yorkshire, and working in Switzerland as an ''[[au pair]]''. Feynman's love life had been turbulent since his divorce; his previous girlfriend had walked off with his [[Albert Einstein Award]] medal and, on the advice of an earlier girlfriend, had feigned pregnancy and extorted him into paying for an abortion, then used the money to buy furniture. When Feynman found that Howarth was being paid only $25 a month, he offered her $20 (equivalent to $202 in 2022) a week to be his live-in maid. Feynman knew that this sort of behavior was illegal under the [[Mann Act]], so he had a friend, [[Matthew Sands]], act as her sponsor. Howarth pointed out that she already had two boyfriends, but decided to take Feynman up on his offer, and arrived in [[Altadena, California]], in June 1959. She made a point of dating other men, but Feynman proposed in early 1960. They were married on September 24, 1960, at the [[The Langham Huntington, Pasadena|Huntington Hotel]] in Pasadena. They had a son, Carl, in 1962, and adopted a daughter, Michelle, in 1968.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=339–347}}{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=151–153}} Besides their home in Altadena, they had a beach house in Baja California, purchased with the money from Feynman's Nobel Prize.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://justalifestory.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/a-weekend-at-richard-feynmans-house/ |title=A Weekend at Richard Feynman's House |publisher=It's Just A Life Story |access-date=July 15, 2016 |date= November 19, 2008 |archive-date= October 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007144513/https://justalifestory.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/a-weekend-at-richard-feynmans-house/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Commemorations of Feynman=== [[Image:Scientists4fdc_f.jpg|thumb|150px|The American Scientists Commemorative stamp set. Issued by the US Postal Service, 4 May 2005.]]

Feynman was honored on a U.S. postage stamp in 2005 as one of four American scientists. Along with [[Barbara McClintock]], [[Josiah Willard Gibbs]], and [[John von Neumann]], the set of self-adhesive 37-cent stamps were made available on May 4, 2005 in a pane of 20 stamps with five stamps for each. His stamp, sepia-toned, features a photograph of a 30-something Feynman and eight small Feynman diagrams.

=== Allegations of sexism ===

A [[shuttlecraft]] named after Feynman appeared in two episodes of the [[science fiction]] television show ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' ("The Nth Degree," [[1991]]; "Chain of Command, Part 1," [[1992]]). An error in the art department, however, caused the shuttle name to be misspelled, "FEYMAN."

There were protests over his alleged sexism at Caltech in 1968, and again in 1972. Protesters "objected to his use of sexist stories about 'lady drivers' and clueless women in his lectures."{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=409–412}}<ref name="1999Tech">{{Cite web |author1=Lipman |first=Julia C. |date=March 5, 1999 |title=Finding the Real Feynman |url=http://tech.mit.edu/V119/N10/col10lipman.10c.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010222233/http://tech.mit.edu/V119/N10/col10lipman.10c.html |archive-date=October 10, 2019 |access-date=October 9, 2019 |publisher=The Tech}}</ref> Feynman recalled protesters entering a hall and picketing a lecture he was about to make in San Francisco, calling him a "sexist pig". He later reflected on the incident claiming that it prompted him to address the protesters, saying that "women do indeed suffer prejudice and discrimination in physics, and your presence here today serves to remind us of these difficulties and the need to remedy them".{{sfn|Feynman|1988a|p=74}}

In his 1985 memoir, ''[[Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!]]'', he recalled holding meetings in strip clubs, drawing naked portraits of his female students while lecturing at Caltech, and pretending to be an undergraduate to deceive younger women into sleeping with him.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Feynman |first1=Richard P. |title="Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!": adventures of a curious character |last2=Leighton |first2=Ralph |last3=Hutchings |first3=Edward |date=1985 |publisher=W.W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-01921-6 |___location=New York}}</ref>

Feynman appears in the fiction book [[The Diamond Age]] as one of the heroes of the world where [[nanotechnology]] is ubiquitous.

==Works by= Feynman diagram van ===

In 1975, in [[Long Beach, CA]], Feynman bought a [[Dodge Tradesman]] Maxivan with a bronze-khaki exterior and yellow-green interior, with custom [[Feynman diagram]] exterior murals.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.feynman.com/fun/the-feynman-van/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218131318/https://www.feynman.com/fun/the-feynman-van/ | archive-date=December 18, 2019 | title=The Feynman van – Richard Feynman }}</ref> After Feynman's death, Gweneth sold the van for $1 to one of Feynman's friends, film producer Ralph Leighton, who later put it into storage, where it began to rust. In 2012, video game designer [[Seamus Blackley]], a father of the [[Xbox]], bought the van.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jepsen |first=Kathryn |date=August 5, 2014 |title=Saving the Feynman van |url=https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/may-2014/saving-the-feynman-van |access-date=June 23, 2022 |website=Symmetry Magazine |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Freakonomics">{{cite web |last1=Dubner |first1=Stephen J. |author1-link=Stephen J. Dubner |title=The Brilliant Mr. Feynman |url=https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-brilliant-mr-feynman/ |website=Freakonomics |access-date=February 9, 2024 |language=en |date=February 7, 2024}}</ref> ''Qantum'' was the license plate ID.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.lizalzonaart.com/quantum | title=Quantum }}</ref>{{When|date=March 2025}}

''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'' are perhaps his most accessible work for anyone with an interest in physics. He produced it lecturing to undergraduates in 1962. As the news of the lectures' accessibility grew, a large number of professional physicists began to drop in on them. A professional physicist, Robert B. Leighton, then edited them into book form. The work has endured, and is useful to this day. They were edited and supplemented in 2005 with "Feynman's Tips on Physics: A Problem-Solving Supplement to the Feynman Lectures on Physics" by Michael Gottlieb and Ralph Leighton, Robert B. Leighton's son, with support from [[Kip Thorne]] and several other physicists.

===Books onPhysics physics===

At Caltech, Feynman investigated the physics of the [[superfluid]]ity of supercooled [[liquid helium]], where helium seems to display a complete lack of [[viscosity]] when flowing. Feynman provided a quantum-mechanical explanation for the Soviet physicist [[Lev Landau]]'s theory of superfluidity.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=299–303}} Applying the Schrödinger equation to the question showed that the superfluid was displaying quantum mechanical behavior observable on a macroscopic scale. This helped with the problem of [[superconductivity]], but the solution eluded Feynman.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pines|first1=David|title=Richard Feynman and Condensed Matter Physics|journal=Physics Today|volume=42|page=61|year=1989|doi=10.1063/1.881194|bibcode = 1989PhT....42b..61P|issue=2}}</ref> It was solved with the [[BCS theory]] of superconductivity, proposed by [[John Bardeen]], [[Leon Neil Cooper]], and [[John Robert Schrieffer]] in 1957.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=299–303}}

*{{note|Fey86D}} ''Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics : The 1986 Dirac Memorial Lectures''

*{{note|Fey6E}} ''Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher''

*{{note|Fey6NSE}} ''Six Not So Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry and Space-Time''

*{{note|FeyLec}} ''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'' (with Leighton and Sands). 3 volumes [[1964]], [[1966]]. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 63-20717

*{{note|FeyTOP}} ''Feynman's Tips On Physics: A Problem-Solving Supplement to the Feynman Lectures On Physics'' ISBN 0-8053-9063-4

*{{note|FeyCPL}} ''The Character of Physical Law'' ISBN 0-262-56003-8

*{{note|FeyQED}} ''Quantum Electrodynamics'' ISBN 0-8053-2501-8

*{{note|FeyQLM}} [[QED (book)|''QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter'']]

*{{note|FeySM}} ''Statistical Mechanics'' ISBN 0-8053-2509-3

*{{note|FeyFP}} ''Theory of Fundamental Processes'' ISBN 0-8053-2507-7

*{{note|FeyQM}} ''Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals'' (with Albert Hibbs) ISBN 0-070-20650-3

*{{note|FeyLG}} ''Lectures on Gravitation'' [[1995]] ISBN 0-201-62734-5

*{{note|FeyLC}} ''Lectures on Computation'' ISBN 0201489910

*{{note|FeyLL}} ''[[Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun]]'' ISBN 0099736217

*{{note|FeyQC}} ''The Feynman Processor : Quantum Entanglement and the Computing Revolution'' ISBN 0-7382-0173-1

[[File:RichardFeynman-PaineMansionWoods1984 copyrightTamikoThiel bw.jpg|alt=Feynman standing among trees|thumb|left|Feynman at the [[Robert Treat Paine Estate]] in [[Waltham, Massachusetts]], in 1984]]

===Popular works by and about Feynman===

Feynman, inspired by a desire to quantize the Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory of electrodynamics, laid the groundwork for the path integral formulation and Feynman diagrams.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=92–101}}

* ''Disturbing the Universe'' by Freeman Dyson, Harper and Row, 1979. Dyson's autobiography. The chapter "A Ride to Albuquerque" describes a road trip he took with Feynman.

*{{note|Fey99a}} Feynman, Richard Phillips. (1999). ''The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist''. Perseus Publishing. (Paperback Edition ISBN 0738201669)

*{{note|FeyPF}} ''The Pleasure of Finding Things Out''

*{{note|Fey85}} [[Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!]] (1985) ISBN 0-393-01921-7

*{{note|FeyRL2}} [[What Do You Care What Other People Think?]] (1988) ISBN 0-553-17334-0

*{{note|Gle89}} ''Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman'' (by James Gleick)

*{{note|BroRig}} ''Most of the Good Stuff: Memories of Richard Feynman'' (edited by Laurie M. Brown and John S. Rigden)

*{{note|Syk}} ''No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman'' (edited by Christopher Sykes)

*{{note|Lei91}} ''Tuva Or Bust!'' (by Ralph Leighton)

*{{note|DFST}} ''QED and the Men Who Made It: Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga (Princeton Series in Physics)'' (by Silvan S. Schweber)

*{{note|QEDsel}} ''Selected Papers on Quantum Electrodynamics (Fermi, Jordan, Heisenberg, Dyson, Weisskopf, Lamb, Dirac, Oppenheimer, Retherford, Pauli, Bethe, Bloch, Klein, Schwinger, Tomonaga, Feynman, Wigner, and many others)'' (by Julian Schwinger (Editor))

*{{note|Gri}} ''Richard Feynman: A Life in Science'' (by [[John Gribbin]] and Mary Gribbin)

*{{note|Meh}} ''The Beat of a Different Drum: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman'' (by Jagdish Mehra)

*{{note|Mlo}} ''Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life'' (by Leonard Mlodinow) ISBN 0-446-69251-4

*{{note|FeyM}} ''Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman'' - Edited by Michelle Feynman (Basic Books, ISBN 0-7382-0636-9, April 2005).

*{{note|Bet91}} [[Hans A. Bethe]], ''The Road from Los Alamos'', NY: Simon and Schuster, 1991, ISBN 0671740121 p.241

*{{note|FeyM}} ''The art of Richard P. Feynman: Images by a curious character'' - Edited by Michelle Feynman (G+B Arts International, ISBN 2-88449-047-7 (1995).

With [[Murray Gell-Mann]], Feynman developed a model of [[weak decay]], which showed that the current coupling in the process is a combination of vector and axial currents (an example of weak decay is the decay of a neutron into an electron, a proton, and an [[antineutrino]]). Although [[E. C. George Sudarshan]] and Robert Marshak developed the theory nearly simultaneously, Feynman's collaboration with Gell-Mann was seen as seminal because the [[weak interaction]] was neatly described by the vector and axial currents. It thus combined the 1933 [[beta decay]] theory of [[Enrico Fermi]] with an explanation of [[parity violation]].{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=330–339}}

===Audio recordings===

* ''Safecracker Suite'' (a collection of drum pieces interspersed with Feynman telling anecdotes)

* ''Six Easy Pieces'' (original lectures upon which the book is based)

* ''Six Not So Easy Pieces'' (original lectures upon which the book is based)

* The Feynman Lectures on Physics: The Complete Audio Collection

** Quantum Mechanics, Volume 1

** Advanced Quantum Mechanics, Volume 2

** From Crystal Structure to Magnetism, Volume 3

** Electrical and Magnetic Behavior, Volume 4

** Feynman on Fundamentals: Energy and Motion, Volume 5

** Feynman on Fundamentals: Kinetics and Heat, Volume 6

** Feynman on Science and Vision, Volume 7

** Feynman on Gravity, Relativity and Electromagnetism, Volume 8

** Basic Concepts in Classical Physics, Volume 9

** Basic Concepts in Quantum Physics, Volume 10

** Feynman on Science and Vision, Volume 11

** Feynman on Sound, Volume 12

** Feynman on Fields, Volume 13

** Feynman on Electricity and Magnetism, Part 1, Volume 14

** Feynman on Electricity and Magnetism, Part 2, Volume 15

** Feynman on Electromagnetism, Volume 16

** Feynman on Electrodynamics, Volume 17

** Feynman on Flow, Volume 18

** Masers and Light, Volume 19

** The Very Best Lectures, Volume 20

* Samples of Feynman's drumming, chanting and speech are included in the song "Kargyraa Rap (Durgen Chugaa)" on the album ''Back Tuva Future'' by [[Kongar-ol Ondar]]. The [[hidden track]] on this album also includes excerpts from lectures without musical background.

Feynman attempted an explanation, called the [[parton model]], of the [[strong interaction]]s governing nucleon scattering. The parton model emerged as a complement to the [[quark model]] developed by Gell-Mann. The relationship between the two models was murky; Gell-Mann referred to Feynman's partons derisively as "put-ons". In the mid-1960s, physicists believed that quarks were just a bookkeeping device for symmetry numbers, not real particles; the statistics of the [[omega-minus particle]], if it were interpreted as three identical strange quarks bound together, seemed impossible if quarks were real.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=387–396}}{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=507–514}}

===Video recordings===

* The Messenger Lectures (1964)

** The Law of Gravitation

** The Relation of Mathematics to Physics

** The Great Conservation Principles

** Symmetry in Physical Law

** The Distinction of Past and Future

** Probability and Uncertainty - The Quantum Mechanical View of Nature

** Seeking New Laws

* [http://www.vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8 ''QED in New Zealand''] (1979)

* ''Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics'' (1986)

The [[SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory]] [[deep inelastic scattering]] experiments of the late 1960s showed that [[nucleon]]s (protons and neutrons) contained point-like particles that scattered electrons. It was natural to identify these with quarks, but Feynman's parton model attempted to interpret the experimental data in a way that did not introduce additional hypotheses. For example, the data showed that some 45% of the energy momentum was carried by electrically neutral particles in the nucleon. These electrically neutral particles are now seen to be the [[gluon]]s that carry the forces between the quarks, and their three-valued color quantum number solves the omega-minus problem. Feynman did not dispute the quark model; for example, when the fifth quark was discovered in 1977, Feynman immediately pointed out to his students that the discovery implied the existence of a sixth quark, which was discovered in the decade after his death.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=387–396}}{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=516–519}}

==Quotations==

{{wikiquote}}

* "Dear Mrs. Chown, Ignore your son's attempts to teach you physics. Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is. Best wishes, Richard Feynman."

* "Physics is to math what sex is to masturbation."

* "Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it."

* "Mathematics is not real, but it ''feels'' real. Where is this place?"

* "The same equations have the same solutions." (Thus when you have solved a mathematical problem, you can re-use the solution in another physical situation. Feynman was skilled in transforming a problem into one that he could solve.)

* "When you are solving a problem, ''don't worry''. Now, ''after'' you have solved the problem, then ''that's the time to worry''."

* "The wonderful thing about [[science]] is that it's ''alive''."

* "All [[fundamental process]]es are reversible."

* "What does it mean, to [[understanding|understand]]? ... I don't know."

* "What I cannot create, I do not understand." (''Taken from his chalkboard after his death.'')

* "Know how to solve every problem that has ever been solved." (''Taken from his chalkboard after his death.'')

* "But I don't ''have'' to know an answer. I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose&mdash;which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me."

* "To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature ... If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in."

* "I cannot define the real problem, therefore I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem." (about Quantum Mechanics)

* "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring" [[Famous last words|(last words)]].

After the success of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman turned to [[quantum gravity]]. By analogy with the photon, which has spin 1, he investigated the consequences of a free massless spin 2 field and derived the [[Einstein field equation]] of general relativity, but little more. The computational device that Feynman discovered then for gravity, "ghosts", which are "particles" in the interior of his diagrams that have the "wrong" connection between spin and statistics, have proved invaluable in explaining the quantum particle behavior of the [[Yang–Mills theory|Yang–Mills theories]], for example, [[quantum chromodynamics]] and the [[electro-weak]] theory.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=505–507}} He did work on all four of the [[fundamental interactions]] of nature: [[electromagnetic force|electromagnetic]], the [[weak force]], the [[strong force]] and gravity. John and Mary Gribbin state in their book on Feynman that "Nobody else has made such influential contributions to the investigation of all four of the interactions".{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|p=189|1997}}

===Quotations About Feynman===

* The "Feynman Problem Solving Algorithm", as facetiously observed by a colleague, [[Murray Gell-Mann]] in the [[NY Times]], was:

:# write down the problem;

:# think very hard;

:# write down the answer.

Partly as a way to bring publicity to progress in physics, Feynman offered $1,000 prizes for two of his challenges in nanotechnology; one was claimed by [[William McLellan (nanotechnology)|William McLellan]] and the other by [[Tom Newman (scientist)|Tom Newman]].{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|p=170}}

* The [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel laureate]] physicist and mathematician [[Eugene Wigner|E.P. Wigner]] said about Feynman, "He is a second [[Paul Dirac|Dirac]]. Only this time human".

Feynman was also interested in the relationship between physics and computation. He was also one of the first scientists to conceive the possibility of [[quantum computer]]s.<ref name="mike_ike">{{Cite book|last1=Nielsen|first1=Michael A.|author-link1=Michael Nielsen |last2=Chuang|first2=Isaac L. |author-link2=Isaac Chuang |title=Quantum Computation and Quantum Information|title-link=Quantum Computation and Quantum Information|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|___location=Cambridge|year=2010|edition=10th anniversary|oclc=844974180 |isbn=978-1-107-00217-3 |page=7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title-link= Quantum Computing: A Gentle Introduction |title=Quantum Computing: A Gentle Introduction|last1=Rieffel|first1=Eleanor G.|last2=Polak|first2=Wolfgang H.|date=March 4, 2011|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-01506-6|language=en|author-link=Eleanor Rieffel |page=44}}</ref>{{sfn|Deutsch|1992|pp=57–61}} In the 1980s he began to spend his summers working at [[Thinking Machines Corporation]], helping to build some of the first parallel supercomputers and considering the construction of quantum computers.{{sfn|Hillis|1989|pp=78–83}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Feynman |first=Richard |title=Simulating Physics with Computers |journal=International Journal of Theoretical Physics |volume=21 |pages=467–488 |year=1982 |doi=10.1007/BF02650179 |bibcode=1982IJTP...21..467F |issue=6–7|citeseerx = 10.1.1.45.9310 |s2cid=124545445}}</ref>

* [[Jeff Coffin]] (of [[ Béla Fleck]] [[Béla Fleck and the Flecktones| and the Flecktones]]) says in the song "Hoedown" (during a live show recorded and released on DVD as "[[Live at the Quick]]"):

:''This verse is for Richard Feynman, He was not a simple simon.''

Between 1984 and 1986, he developed a variational method for the approximate calculation of path integrals, which has led to a powerful method of converting divergent perturbation expansions into convergent strong-coupling expansions ([[variational perturbation theory]]) and, as a consequence, to the most accurate determination<ref>{{cite journal |title=Specific heat of liquid helium in zero gravity very near the lambda point |last=Kleinert |first=Hagen |journal=Physical Review D |volume=60 |page=085001 |year=1999 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevD.60.085001 |arxiv=hep-th/9812197 |bibcode=1999PhRvD..60h5001K |author-link=Hagen Kleinert |issue=8|s2cid=117436273}}</ref> of [[critical exponent]]s measured in satellite experiments.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Specific heat of liquid helium in zero gravity very near the lambda point |last1=Lipa |first1=J. A. |journal=Physical Review B |volume=68 |page=174518 |year=2003 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevB.68.174518 |last2=Nissen |first2=J. |last3=Stricker |first3=D. |last4=Swanson |first4=D. |last5=Chui |first5=T. |arxiv=cond-mat/0310163 |bibcode=2003PhRvB..68q4518L |issue=17|s2cid=55646571}}</ref> At Caltech, he once chalked "What I cannot create I do not understand" on his blackboard.<ref name="Way2017">{{cite journal|last1=Way|first1=Michael|title=What I cannot create, I do not understand|journal=Journal of Cell Science|volume=130|issue=18|year=2017|pages=2941–2942|issn=1477-9137|doi=10.1242/jcs.209791|pmid=28916552|s2cid=36379246|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==See also==

*[[Physics]]

*[[Stückelberg-Feynman interpretation]]

*[[QED (book)]]

*[[Infinity (film)]]

==External=Machine linkstechnology===

[[Image:Protein translation.gif|thumb|300px| Feynman's [[There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom | vision]] of a [[Nanomedicine#Cell repair machines | medical use]] for [[nanotechnology]] by ''swallowing the doctor'' may be partially achieved by the [[ribosome]], which functions as a [[biological machine]]. Such [[protein ___domain dynamics]] can only now be seen by [[neutron spin echo]] spectroscopy.]]

{{wikiquote}}

Feynman had studied the ideas of [[John von Neumann]] while researching quantum field theory. His most famous lecture on the subject was delivered in 1959 at the California Institute of Technology, published under the title "[[There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom]]" a year later. In this lecture he theorized on future opportunities for designing miniaturized machines, which could build smaller [[reproduction]]s of themselves. This lecture is frequently cited in technical literature on [[microtechnology]], and nanotechnology.<ref>{{Cite book|title= Algorithms and Law | editor1=Martin Ebers | editor2= Susana Navas |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9781108424820 | pages=5–6}}</ref>

*[http://www.321books.co.uk/reviews/physics/feynman-lectures.htm Lectures: Physics, Nanotechnology, Essays: On High School Math Textbooks, On Teaching]

*[http://www.feynman.com Feynman Online!]

*[http://www.vega.org.uk/series/lectures/feynman/ Unique freeview videos of Feynman's lectures on QED courtesy of The Vega Science Trust and The University of Auckland]

*[http://lib-www.lanl.gov/infores/history/feynman.htm Los Alamos National Laboratory Richard Feynman page]

*[http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1965/ The Nobel Prize Winners in Physics 1965]

*[http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/richard_phillips_feynman.html About Richard Feynman]

*[http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html Feynman's classic 1959 talk:''There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom'']

*[http://www.longnow.org/about/articles/ArtFeynman.html Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine]

*{{imdb title|id=0116635|title=Infinity}}

*[http://physicsweb.org/article/review/14/5/3 PhysicsWeb review of the play ''QED'']

*[http://www.sykes.easynet.co.uk/pofto.html BBC Horizon: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out &mdash; with Richard Feynman. A 50-minute documentary interview with Feynman recorded in 1981]

*[http://www.nobelprizes.com/nobel/physics/1965c.html Richard Feynman, Winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics]

*[http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/feynman/feynmanpub.htm Feynman's Scientific Publications]

*[http://www.basicfeynman.com The Letters of Richard P. Feynman Online]

*[http://www.heyfeynman.com/ A Feynman Resource site - Articles, anecdotes, letters and other informative materials to occupy the curious minds like news/rss feeds, jokes, trivia questions and more.]

Feynman also suggested that it should be possible, in principle, to make [[nanobots|nanoscale machines]] that "arrange the atoms the way we want" and do chemical synthesis by mechanical manipulation.<ref name=room>Feynman, Richard P. (1959) [https://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom]. zyvex.com</ref>

He also presented the possibility of "[[biological machine |swallowing the doctor]]", an idea that he credited in the essay to his friend and graduate student [[Albert Hibbs]]. This concept involved building a tiny, swallowable surgical robot.<ref name=room/>

[[Category:Queensites|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:Jewish Americans|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:Manhattan Project|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:Nobel Prize in Physics winners|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:American physicists|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:Putnam Fellows|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:MIT alumni|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:Nanotechnologists|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:Physics professors|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:Jewish scientists|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:1918 births|Feynman, Richard]]

[[Category:1988 deaths|Feynman, Richard]]

=== Pedagogy ===

[[bg:Ричард Файнман]]

[[File:Feynman lecture 1964 (10481714045).jpg|alt=Feynman standing before a large blackboard with chalk writing all over it|thumb|upright=1.2|Feynman during a lecture]]

[[bn:রিচার্ড ফাইনম্যান]]

In the early 1960s, Feynman acceded to a request to "spruce up" the teaching of undergraduates at the California Institute of Technology, also called Caltech. After three years devoted to the task, he produced a series of lectures that later became ''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]''. Accounts vary about how successful the original lectures were. Feynman's own preface, written just after an exam on which the students did poorly, was somewhat pessimistic. His colleagues [[David L. Goodstein]] and [[Gerry Neugebauer]] said later that the intended audience of first-year students found the material intimidating while older students and faculty found it inspirational, so the lecture hall remained full even as the first-year students dropped away. In contrast, physicist Matthew Sands recalled the student attendance as being typical for a large lecture course.<ref>{{Cite journal| last=Sands|first=Matthew| date=April 1, 2005| title=Capturing the Wisdom of Feynman| journal=Physics Today| volume=58| issue=4|pages=49–55 |doi=10.1063/1.1955479| issn=0031-9228| bibcode=2005PhT....58d..49S| doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[ca:Richard Feynman]]

[[cs:Richard Feynman]]

Converting the lectures into books occupied [[Matthew Sands]] and [[Robert B. Leighton]] as part-time co-authors for several years. Feynman suggested that the book cover should have a picture of a drum with mathematical diagrams about vibrations drawn upon it, in order to illustrate the application of mathematics to understanding the world. Instead, the publishers gave the books plain red covers, though they included a picture of Feynman playing drums in the foreword.{{sfn| Feynman| 1985| pp=318}} Even though the books were not adopted by universities as textbooks, they continue to sell well because they provide a deep understanding of physics.{{sfn|Gleick |1992| pp=357–364}}

[[da:Richard Feynman]]

[[de:Richard Feynman]]

Many of Feynman's lectures and miscellaneous talks were turned into other books, including ''[[The Character of Physical Law]]'', ''[[QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter]]'', ''Statistical Mechanics'', ''Lectures on Gravitation'', and the ''Feynman Lectures on Computation''.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=12–13}}

[[el:Ρίτσαρντ Φάινμαν]]

[[eo:Richard FEYNMAN]]

Feynman wrote about his experiences teaching physics undergraduates in [[Brazil]]. The students' studying habits and the Portuguese language textbooks were so devoid of any context or applications for their information that, in Feynman's opinion, the students were not learning physics at all. At the end of the year, Feynman was invited to give a lecture on his teaching experiences, and he agreed to do so, provided he could speak frankly, which he did.{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=241–246}}{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=336–341}}

[[es:Richard Feynman]]

[[fa:ریچارد فاینمن]]

Feynman opposed [[rote learning]], or unthinking [[memorization]], as well as other [[teaching method]]s that emphasized form over function. In his mind, ''clear thinking'' and ''clear presentation'' were fundamental prerequisites for his [[attention]]. It could be perilous even to approach him unprepared, and he did not forget fools and pretenders.{{sfn|Bethe|1991|p=241}}

[[fr:Richard Feynman]]

[[ko:리처드 파인먼]]

In 1964, he served on the California State Curriculum Commission, which was responsible for approving [[textbook]]s to be used by schools in [[California]]. He was not impressed with what he found.{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=288–302}} Many of the mathematics texts covered subjects of use only to [[Pure mathematics|pure mathematicians]] as part of the "[[New Math]]". Elementary students were taught about [[Set (mathematics)|sets]], but: {{blockquote|It will perhaps surprise most people who have studied these textbooks to discover that the symbol ∪ or ∩ representing union and intersection of sets and the special use of the brackets { } and so forth, all the elaborate notation for sets that is given in these books, almost never appear in any writings in theoretical physics, in engineering, in business arithmetic, computer design, or other places where mathematics is being used. I see no need or reason for this all to be explained or to be taught in school. It is not a useful way to express one's self. It is not a cogent and simple way. It is claimed to be precise, but precise for what purpose?<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/2362/1/feynman.pdf|title=New Textbooks for the "New" Mathematics|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|journal=Engineering and Science| issn=0013-7812| volume=28| issue=6| pages=9–15| publisher=California Institute of Technology| date=March 1965| access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref>}}

[[hr:Richard Feynman]]

[[id:Richard Feynman]]

In April 1966, Feynman delivered an address to the [[National Science Teachers Association]], in which he suggested how [[student]]s could be made to think like [[scientist]]s, be open-minded, curious, and especially, to [[doubt]]. In the course of the lecture, he gave a definition of science, which he said came about by several stages. The evolution of [[intelligent]] life on planet Earth—creatures such as cats that play and learn from experience. The evolution of humans, who came to use language to pass knowledge from one individual to the next, so that the knowledge was not lost when an individual died. Unfortunately, incorrect [[knowledge]] could be passed down as well as correct knowledge, so another step was needed. [[Galileo]] and others started doubting the truth of what was passed down and to investigate ''[[ab initio]]'', from experience, what the true situation was—this was science.{{sfn|Feynman|1999|pp=184–185}}

[[is:Richard Feynman]]

[[it:Richard Feynman]]

In 1974, Feynman delivered the Caltech commencement address on the topic of ''[[cargo cult science]]'', which has the semblance of science, but is only [[pseudoscience]] due to a lack of "a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty" on the part of the scientist. He instructed the graduating class that "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that."<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.pdf|title=Cargo Cult Science|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|journal=Engineering and Science| issn=0013-7812| volume=37|issue=7| pages=10–13| publisher=California Institute of Technology|date=June 1974|access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref>

[[he:ריצ'רד פיינמן]]

[[jv:Richard Feynman]]

Feynman served as doctoral advisor to 30 students.<ref name="31students">{{cite journal |last=Van Kortryk |first=T. |date=May 2017 |title=The doctoral students of Richard Feynman |journal=Physics Today |issue=5 |article-number=12179 |arxiv=1801.04574 |doi=10.1063/PT.5.9100 |bibcode=2017PhT..2017e2179. |s2cid=119088526}}</ref>

[[hu:Richard Feynman]]

[[nl:Richard Feynman]]

=== Case before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ===

[[ja:リチャード・P・ファインマン]]

In 1977, Feynman supported his English literature colleague [[Jenijoy La Belle]], who had been hired as Caltech's first female professor in 1969, and filed suit with the [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] after she was refused tenure in 1974. The EEOC ruled against Caltech in 1977, adding that La Belle had been paid less than male colleagues. La Belle finally received tenure in 1979. Many of Feynman's colleagues were surprised that he took her side, but he had gotten to know La Belle and liked and admired her.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=409–412}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/175/1/La_Belle,_J._OHO.pdf |title=Interview with Jenijoy La Belle | publisher=Caltech |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref>

[[pl:Richard Feynman]]

[[pt:Richard Feynman]]

=== ''Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'' ===

[[ru:Фейнман, Ричард Филлипс]]

In the 1960s, Feynman began thinking of writing an autobiography, and he began granting interviews to historians. In the 1980s, working with [[Ralph Leighton]] (Robert Leighton's son), he recorded chapters on [[tape recorder|audio tape]] that Ralph transcribed. The book was published in 1985 as ''[[Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!]]'' and became a best-seller.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=409–411}}

[[sco:Richard Feynman]]

[[sk:Richard Feynman]]

Gell-Mann was upset by Feynman's account in the book of the weak interaction work, and threatened to sue, resulting in a correction being inserted in later editions.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=411}} This incident was just the latest provocation in decades of bad feeling between the two scientists. Gell-Mann often expressed frustration at the attention Feynman received;<ref>{{cite news |author-link=George Johnson (writer) |first=George |last=Johnson |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/07/the-jaguar-and-the-fox/378264/ |title=The Jaguar and the Fox |newspaper=[[The Atlantic]] |date=July 2000 |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> he remarked: {{nobr|"[Feynman]}} was a great scientist, but he spent a great deal of his effort generating anecdotes about himself."<ref name="Gell-Mann">{{YouTube|rnMsgxIIQEE|title=Murray Gell-Mann talks about Richard Feynman in January 12, 2012}}</ref>

[[sl:Richard Phillips Feynman]]

[[sr:Ричард Фајман]]

Feynman has been criticized for a chapter in the book entitled "You Just ''Ask'' Them?", where he describes how he learned to seduce women at a bar he went to in the summer of 1946. A mentor taught him to ask a woman if she would sleep with him before buying her anything. He describes seeing women at the bar as "bitches" in his thoughts, and tells a story of how he told a woman named Ann that she was "worse than a whore" after Ann persuaded him to buy her sandwiches by telling him he could eat them at her place, but then, after he bought them, saying they actually could not eat together because another man was coming over. Later on that same evening, Ann returned to the bar to take Feynman to her place.{{sfn|Feynman|1985|pp=184–191}}{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=287–291, 341–345}}<ref>Multiple sources:

[[fi:Richard Feynman]]

*{{cite web |url=https://qz.com/quartzy/1394785/replacing-names-in-science-after-metoo |title=Replacing names in science after #MeToo |first=Jane C. |last=Hu |publisher=Quartzy |date=September 19, 2018 |access-date=June 10, 2023 |ref=none}}

[[sv:Richard P. Feynman]]

*{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/09/opinion/urry-women-science/index.html |title=Sexual harassment in science needs to stop (Opinion) |first=Meg |last=Urry |publisher=CNN |date=August 9, 2014 |access-date=June 10, 2023 |ref=none}}

[[th:ริชาร์ด ไฟน์แมน]]

*{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/lawrence-krauss-sexual-misconduct-me-too-arizona-state/573844/ |title=Lawrence Krauss and the Legacy of Harassment in Science: The theoretical physicist isn't the first celebrity scientist to be accused of sexual misconduct, but he is the first to face consequences |first=Marina |last=Koren |magazine=The Atlantic |date=October 24, 2018 |access-date=September 26, 2019 |archive-date=May 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210530042235/https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/lawrence-krauss-sexual-misconduct-me-too-arizona-state/573844/ |url-status=live |ref=none}}</ref> Feynman states at the end of the chapter that this behaviour was not typical of him: "So it worked even with an ordinary girl! But no matter how effective the lesson was, I never really used it after that. I didn't enjoy doing it that way. But it was interesting to know that things worked much differently from how I was brought up."{{sfn|Feynman|1985|p=191}}

[[vi:Richard Feynman]]

[[tr:Richard Feynman]]

=== ''Challenger'' disaster ===

[[zh:理查德·費曼]]

[[File:Challenger explosion.jpg|alt=A cloud of smoke|thumb|The 1986 [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]]]]

Feynman played an important role on the Presidential [[Rogers Commission]], which investigated the 1986 [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]]. He had been reluctant to participate, but was persuaded by advice from his wife.<ref name="1988_Orings">{{Cite journal |doi=10.1063/1.881143 |last=Feynman |first=Richard P |title=An Outsider's Inside View of the Challenger Inquiry |journal=Physics Today |year=1988b |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=26–37 |bibcode=1988PhT....41b..26F |quote=Gweneth... explained how she thought I would make a unique contribution—in a way that I am modest enough not to describe. Nevertheless, I believed what she said. So I said, 'OK. I'll accept.' |url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/51304/1/challenger.pdf |access-date=April 26, 2021 |archive-date=August 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817022920/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/51304/1/challenger.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Feynman clashed several times with commission chairman [[William P. Rogers]]. During a break in one hearing, Rogers told commission member [[Neil Armstrong]], "Feynman is becoming a pain in the ass."{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=423}}

During a televised hearing, Feynman demonstrated that the material used in the shuttle's [[O-ring]]s became less resilient in cold weather by compressing a sample of the material in a clamp and immersing it in ice-cold water.<ref>{{Harvnb|Feynman|1988a|p=151}}.</ref> The commission ultimately determined that the disaster was caused by the primary O-ring not properly sealing in unusually cold weather at [[Cape Canaveral]].<ref name="NYT_Feynman">{{cite news |author=Gleick |first=James |date=February 17, 1988 |title=Richard Feynman Dead at 69; Leading Theoretical Physicist |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/21/reviews/feynman-obit.html |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref>

Feynman devoted the latter half of his 1988 book ''[[What Do You Care What Other People Think?]]'' to his experience on the Rogers Commission, straying from his usual convention of brief, light-hearted anecdotes to deliver an extended and sober narrative. Feynman's account reveals a disconnect between [[NASA]]'s engineers and executives that was far more striking than he expected. His interviews of NASA's high-ranking managers revealed startling misunderstandings of elementary concepts. For instance, NASA managers claimed that there was a 1 in 100,000 probability of a catastrophic failure aboard the Shuttle, but Feynman discovered that NASA's own engineers estimated the probability of a catastrophe at closer to 1 in 200. He concluded that NASA management's estimate of the reliability of the Space Shuttle was unrealistic, and he was particularly angered that NASA used it to recruit [[Christa McAuliffe]] into the Teacher-in-Space program. He warned in his appendix to the commission's report (which was included only after he threatened not to sign the report), "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."<ref>{{cite web |author=Feynman |first=Richard P. |title=Appendix F – Personal observations on the reliability of the Shuttle |url=https://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v2appf.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505212635/https://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v2appf.htm |archive-date=May 5, 2019 |access-date=September 11, 2017 |publisher=Kennedy Space Center}}</ref>

=== Recognition and awards ===

The first public recognition of Feynman's work came in 1954, when [[Lewis Strauss]], the chairman of the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] (AEC) notified him that he had won the Albert Einstein Award, which was worth $15,000 and came with a gold medal. Because of Strauss's actions in stripping Oppenheimer of his security clearance, Feynman was reluctant to accept the award, but [[Isidor Isaac Rabi]] cautioned him: "You should never turn a man's generosity as a sword against him. Any virtue that a man has, even if he has many vices, should not be used as a tool against him."{{sfn|Gleick|1992|pp=295–296}} It was followed by the AEC's [[Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award]] in 1962.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://science.osti.gov/lawrence/Award-Laureates/1960s/feynman |title=LAWRENCE Richard P. Feynman, 196... |date=December 28, 2010 |publisher=United States Department of Energy |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> Schwinger, Tomonaga and Feynman shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1965/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1965 |publisher=The Nobel Foundation |access-date=July 15, 2016 |archive-date=April 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407012150/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1965/ |url-status=live}}</ref> He was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1965#Foreign Members|Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1965]],<ref name="nobelbio" /><ref name=frs>{{Cite journal | last1 = Mehra | first1 = J.| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2002.0007 | title = Richard Phillips Feynman 11 May 1918&nbsp;– 15 February 1988 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 48 | pages = 97–128 | year = 2002 | s2cid = 62221940}}</ref> received the [[Oersted Medal]] in 1972,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aapt.org/programs/awards/oersted.cfm |title=The Oersted Medal |publisher=[[American Association of Physics Teachers]] |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> and the [[National Medal of Science]] in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.jsp?recip_id=126 |title=The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details |publisher=[[National Science Foundation]] |access-date=July 15, 2016 |archive-date=May 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505210032/https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.jsp?recip_id=126 |url-status=live}}</ref> He was elected a [[Member of the National Academy of Sciences]], but ultimately resigned<ref name="elitist">{{cite journal|url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v8n3/toumey.html|publisher=[[Virginia Tech]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190319115654/https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v8n3/toumey.html|archive-date=March 19, 2019|first=Chris |last=Toumey|year=2005|title=SPT v8n3 – Reviews – Feynman Unprocessed|issue=3|journal=Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology|volume=8|doi=10.5840/techne20058314}}</ref><ref name=f1>{{Cite book|title=Perfectly reasonable deviations from the beaten track : the letters of Richard P. Feynman|date=2005|publisher=Basic Books|first1=Richard|last1=Feynman|last2=Feynman|first2= Michelle|isbn=0738206369|___location=New York|oclc=57393623}}</ref> and is no longer listed by them.{{sfn|Feynman|1999|p=13}} Schwinger called him "an honest man, the outstanding intuitionist of our age, and a prime example of what may lie in store for anyone who dares follow the beat of a different drum."{{sfnp| Gleick| 1992| p=16}}

== Death ==

[[File:Richard P. Feynman’s Grave.jpg|thumb|Richard P. and Gweneth M. Feynman’s grave]]

In 1978, Feynman sought medical treatment for abdominal pains and was diagnosed with [[liposarcoma]], a rare form of cancer. Surgeons removed a "very large" tumor that had crushed one kidney and his spleen. In 1986 doctors discovered another cancer, [[Waldenström macroglobulinemia]].<ref>John Simmons, Lynda Simmons, The Scientific 100, p. 250.</ref> Further operations were performed in October 1986 and October 1987.{{sfn|Mehra|1994|pp=600–605}} He was again hospitalized at the [[UCLA Medical Center]] on February 3, 1988. A ruptured [[duodenal ulcer]] caused kidney failure, and he declined to undergo the [[Kidney dialysis|dialysis]] that might have prolonged his life for a few months. Feynman's wife Gweneth, sister Joan, and cousin [[Frances Lewine]] watched over him during the final days of his life until he died on February 15, 1988.{{sfn|Gleick|1992|p=437}}

When Feynman was nearing death, he asked his friend and colleague [[Danny Hillis]] why Hillis appeared so sad. Hillis replied that he thought Feynman was going to die soon. Hillis quotes Feynman as replying:

{{blockquote| "Yeah," he sighed, "that bugs me sometimes too. But not so much as you think. [...] When you get as old as I am, you start to realize that you've told most of the good stuff you know to other people anyway."<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-and-connection-machine/ |title=Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine|first=W. Daniel|last=Hillis|journal=Physics Today|publisher=American Institute of Physics|volume=42|issue=2|year=1989 |via=The Long Now|issn=0031-9228 | doi=10.1063/1.881196 | pages=78–83|bibcode=1989PhT....42b..78H}} Hillis on his conversation with Feynman about his dying.</ref>}}

Near the end of his life, Feynman attempted to visit the [[Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]] (ASSR) in the Soviet Union, a dream thwarted by [[Cold War]] bureaucratic issues. The letter from the Soviet government authorizing the trip was not received until the day after he died. His daughter Michelle later made the journey.{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=257–258}} Ralph Leighton chronicled the attempt in ''[[Tuva or Bust!]]'', published in 1991.

His burial was at [[Mountain View Cemetery, Altadena|Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum]] in Altadena, California.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |title=History Exhumed Via Computer Chip |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-05-me-then5-story.html |date=June 5, 2005 |first=Cecilia |last=Rasmussen |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> His last words were: "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring."{{sfn|Gribbin|Gribbin|1997|pp=257–258}}

== Popular legacy ==

{{See also|List of things named after Richard Feynman}}

[[File:Richard-Feynman-bust-NTHU-campus.jpg|alt=A bronze bust with flowers next to it, resting on a stone base|thumb|upright=0.7|Bust of Feynman on [[National Tsing Hua University|NTHU]] campus, Taiwan]]

Aspects of Feynman's life have been portrayed in various media. Feynman was portrayed by [[Matthew Broderick]] in the 1996 biopic ''[[Infinity (1996 film)|Infinity]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Holden|first=Stephen|title=A Man, a Woman and an Atomic Bomb|date=October 4, 1996|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/04/movies/a-man-a-woman-and-an-atomic-bomb.html|access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> Actor [[Alan Alda]] commissioned playwright [[Peter Parnell]] to write a two-character play about a fictional day in the life of Feynman set two years before Feynman's death. The play, ''[[QED (play)|QED]]'', premiered at the [[Mark Taper Forum]] in Los Angeles in 2001<ref>{{cite news| last=Goodstein| first=David| title=Feynman returns to center stage| work=[[Physics World]]| date=May 1, 2001| url=https://physicsworld.com/a/feynman-returns-to-centre-stage/}}</ref> and was later presented at the [[Vivian Beaumont Theater]] on Broadway, with both productions starring Alda as Richard Feynman.<ref>{{cite news| title=On Stage, a Day in the Life of an Idiosyncratic Physicist| last=Overbye| first=Dennis| author-link=Dennis Overbye| date=November 13, 2001| work=[[The New York Times]]| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/13/science/on-stage-a-day-in-the-life-of-an-idiosyncratic-physicist.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/qed-13181 |title=''QED'' (play)|publisher=[[Internet Broadway Database]]|date=November 18, 2001 |___location=[[Vivian Beaumont Theatre]]}}</ref> [[Real Time Opera]] premiered its opera ''Feynman'' at the Norfolk (Connecticut) Chamber Music Festival in June 2005.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.realtimeopera.org/productions |title=Real Time Opera productions |publisher=[[Real Time Opera]] |access-date=January 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928180551/http://www.realtimeopera.org/productions |archive-date=September 28, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2011, Feynman was the subject of a biographical [[graphic novel]] entitled simply ''Feynman'', written by [[Jim Ottaviani]] and illustrated by [[Leland Myrick]].{{sfn|Ottaviani|Myrick|2011}} In 2013, Feynman's role on the Rogers Commission was dramatised by the [[BBC]] in ''[[The Challenger Disaster|The Challenger]]'' (US title: ''The Challenger Disaster''), with [[William Hurt]] playing Feynman.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/the-challenger.html|publisher=BBC|title=The Challenger|access-date=March 18, 2013|archive-date=January 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117043731/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/the-challenger.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zstkn|publisher=[[BBC Two]]|title=The Challenger|access-date=March 19, 2013|archive-date=April 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418181131/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zstkn|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=September 26, 2012 |first=Lesley |last=Goldberg |title=William Hurt to Star in Science Channel/BBC Challenger Docu-Drama (Exclusive) |access-date=June 10, 2023 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/william-hurt-science-channel-challenger-374576/}}</ref> In 2016, [[Oscar Isaac]] performed a public reading of Feynman's 1946 love letter to the late Arline.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Feynman|first1=Richard|title=Richard Feynman's Poignant Letter to His Departed Wife Arline: Watch Actor Oscar Isaac Read It Live Onstage|url=https://www.openculture.com/2016/11/richard-feynmans-poignant-letter-to-his-departed-wife-arline-read-by-oscar-isaac.html|website=OpenCulture|access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> In the 2023 American film ''[[Oppenheimer (film)|Oppenheimer]]'', directed by [[Christopher Nolan]] and based on ''[[American Prometheus]]'', Feynman is portrayed by actor [[Jack Quaid]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/photos/2023/07/oppenheimer-cast-actors-vs-real-people|title=The Cast of 'Oppenheimer' and the Real People They Play|date=July 20, 2023|magazine=Vanity Fair}}</ref>

Feynman is commemorated in various ways. On May 4, 2005, the [[United States Postal Service]] issued the "American Scientists" commemorative set of four 37-cent self-adhesive stamps in several configurations. The scientists depicted were Richard Feynman, John von Neumann, [[Barbara McClintock]], and [[Josiah Willard Gibbs]]. Feynman's stamp, sepia-toned, features a photograph of Feynman in his thirties and eight small Feynman diagrams.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.feynmangroup.com/who-is-feynman |title=Who is Richard Feynman? |publisher=feynmangroup.com |access-date=December 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105041708/http://www.feynmangroup.com/company/whos_feynman.cfm |archive-date=November 5, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The stamps were designed by [[Victor Stabin]] under the artistic direction of Carl T. Herrman.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=beyondtheperf.com |url=http://www.beyondtheperf.com/content/american-scientists-series-slideshow#4 |title=American Scientists Series Slideshow |access-date=December 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523141839/http://www.beyondtheperf.com/content/american-scientists-series-slideshow |archive-date=May 23, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Stamps MC">{{cite news|last=Lauer-Williams|first=Kathy|title=Carbon artist designs stamps|url=https://www.mcall.com/2008/03/07/carbon-artist-designs-stamps/|access-date=June 10, 2023|newspaper=Morning Call|date=October 5, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Philately|url=https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2005/html/pb22151/phi.html|date=March 31, 2005|access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=USPS – The 2005 Commemorative Stamp Program|url=http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2004/sr04_076.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230070402if_/http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2004/sr04_076.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 30, 2006|date=December 2, 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Feynman Stamp – Richard Feynman|url=http://www.feynman.com/fun/stamps/the-feynman-stamp/|date=May 11, 2005|access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> The main building for the Computing Division at [[Fermilab]] is named the "Feynman Computing Center" in his honor,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fnal.gov/openhouse/computing/computing.html|title=Fermilab Open House: Computing Division|publisher=fnal.gov|access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> as is the Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.<ref>{{cite web |title=Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation |publisher= LANL |url=https://www.lanl.gov/engage/collaboration/feynman-center |access-date=16 July 2025}}</ref> Two photographs of Feynman were used in [[Apple Computer]]'s "[[Think Different]]" advertising campaign, which launched in 1997.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Think Different|url=http://fotuva.org/online/different.htm |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Schwab |first=Katharine |date=November 16, 2017 |title=The Female Supercomputer Designer Who Inspired Steve Jobs |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90151279/the-woman-supercomputer-designer-who-inspired-steve-jobs |access-date=July 23, 2022 |website=Fast Company |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Sheldon Cooper]], a fictional theoretical physicist from the television series ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', was depicted as a Feynman fan, even emulating him by playing the bongo drums.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/big-bang-theory-sheldons-top-5-moments |title=Big Bang Theory: Sheldon's Top 5 Moments |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Magazine]] |date=March 13, 2013 |first=Anthony |last=Miller |access-date=June 10, 2023}}</ref> On January 27, 2016, co-founder of [[Microsoft]] [[Bill Gates]] wrote an article describing Feynman's talents as a teacher ("The Best Teacher I Never Had"), which inspired Gates to create [[Project Tuva]] to place the videos of Feynman's [[Messenger Lectures]], ''[[The Character of Physical Law]]'', on a website for public viewing.<ref name=":0" /> In 2015, Gates made a video in response to Caltech's request for thoughts on Feynman for the 50th anniversary of Feynman's 1965 Nobel Prize, on why he thought Feynman was special.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Gates |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Gates |title=The Best Teacher I Never Had |url=https://www.gatesnotes.com/the-best-teacher-i-never-had |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2025-08-05 |publisher=The Gates Notes}}</ref>

== Works ==

=== Selected scientific works ===

* {{cite book|first=Richard P.|last=Feynman|title=The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics|year=1942|series=PhD Dissertation, Princeton University|publisher=World Scientific (with title "Feynman's Thesis: a New Approach to Quantum Theory")|publication-date=2005|editor=Laurie M. Brown|isbn=978-981-256-380-4|url=https://archive.org/details/feynmansthesisne00feyn_0|ref=none}}

* {{cite journal|author1-link=John A. Wheeler|first1=John A.|last1=Wheeler|first2=Richard P.|last2=Feynman|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/11095/|title=Interaction with the Absorber as the Mechanism of Radiation|journal=[[Reviews of Modern Physics]]|volume=17|pages=157–181|year=1945|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.17.157|bibcode=1945RvMP...17..157W|issue=2–3|ref=none|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=April 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417074134/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/11095/|url-status=dead}}

* {{cite book|first=Richard P.|last=Feynman|osti=4341197|title=A Theorem and its Application to Finite Tampers|publisher=[[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory]], [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]|year=1946|doi=10.2172/4341197|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1016199/|ref=none}}

* {{cite book|first1=Richard P.|last1=Feynman|author2-link=Thomas A. Welton|first2=T. A.|last2= Welton|osti=4381097|title=Neutron Diffusion in a Space Lattice of Fissionable and Absorbing Materials|publisher=Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Atomic Energy Commission|year=1946|doi=10.2172/4381097|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1018687/|ref=none}}

* {{cite book|first1=Richard P.|last1=Feynman|author2-link=Nicholas Metropolis|last2=Metropolis|first2= N.|author3-link=Edward Teller|first3=E.|last3= Teller|osti=4417654|title=Equations of State of Elements Based on the Generalized Fermi-Thomas Theory|publisher=[[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory]], Atomic Energy Commission|year=1947|doi=10.2172/4417654|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3519/1/FEYpr49a.pdf|ref=none}}

* {{cite journal|first=Richard P.|last=Feynman|title=Space-time approach to non-relativistic quantum mechanics|journal=[[Reviews of Modern Physics]]|volume=20|pages=367–387|year=1948|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.20.367|bibcode=1948RvMP...20..367F|issue=2|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/47756/|ref=none|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917091657/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/47756/|url-status=dead}}

* {{cite journal |last=Feynman |first=Richard P. |title=A Relativistic Cut-Off for Classical Electrodynamics |journal=Physical Review |volume=74 |issue=8 |pages=939–946 |year=1948 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.74.939 |bibcode=1948PhRv...74..939F |url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3516/ |ref=none |access-date=May 20, 2019 |archive-date=September 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919084455/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3516/ |url-status=dead }}

* {{cite journal|first=Richard P.|last=Feynman|title=Relativistic Cut-Off for Quantum Electrodynamics|journal=Physical Review|volume=74|pages=1430–1438|year=1948|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.74.1430|bibcode=1948PhRv...74.1430F|issue=10|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3517/|ref=none|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=September 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919121911/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3517/|url-status=dead}}

* {{cite journal|author1-link=John A. Wheeler|first1=John A.|last1=Wheeler|first2=Richard P.|last2= Feynman|title= Classical Electrodynamics in Terms of Direct Interparticle Action|journal= Reviews of Modern Physics|volume= 21|pages=425–433|year=1949|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.21.425|bibcode = 1949RvMP...21..425W|issue=3 |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1062647/files/RevModPhys.21.425.pdf|ref=none|doi-access=free}}

* {{cite journal|first=Richard P.|last=Feynman|title=The theory of positrons|journal=Physical Review|volume=76|pages=749–759|year=1949|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.76.749|bibcode=1949PhRv...76..749F|issue=6|s2cid=120117564|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3520/|ref=none|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=August 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809030941/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3520/|url-status=dead}}

* {{cite journal|first=Richard P.|last=Feynman|title=Space-Time Approach to Quantum Electrodynamic|journal=Physical Review|volume=76|pages=769–789|year=1949|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.76.769|bibcode=1949PhRv...76..769F|issue=6|doi-access=free|ref=none}}

* {{cite journal|first=Richard P.|last=Feynman|title=Mathematical formulation of the quantum theory of electromagnetic interaction|journal=Physical Review|volume=80|pages=440–457|year=1950|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.80.440|bibcode=1950PhRv...80..440F|issue=3|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3528/|ref=none|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=September 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914231627/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3528/|url-status=dead}}

* {{cite journal|first=Richard P.|last=Feynman|title=An Operator Calculus Having Applications in Quantum Electrodynamics|journal=Physical Review|volume=84|issue=1|pages=108–128|year=1951|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.84.108|bibcode=1951PhRv...84..108F|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3530/|ref=none|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=September 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200915070057/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3530/|url-status=dead}}

* {{cite journal|first=Richard P.|last=Feynman|title=The λ-Transition in Liquid Helium|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3536/|journal=Physical Review|volume=90|pages=1116–1117|year=1953|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.90.1116.2|bibcode=1953PhRv...90.1116F|issue=6|ref=none|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=September 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917202229/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3536/|url-status=dead}}

* {{cite book|first1=Richard P.|last1=Feynman|author2-link=Frederic de Hoffmann|last2=de Hoffmann|first2= F.|author3-link=Robert Serber|last3=Serber|first3=R.|osti=4354998|title=Dispersion of the Neutron Emission in U235 Fission|publisher=Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Atomic Energy Commission|year=1955|doi=10.2172/4354998|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1026050/|ref=none}}

* {{cite journal|pmid = 17774518|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|publication-date=February 24, 1956|year=1956|title=Science and the Open Channel

|volume=123|issue=3191|periodical=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|page=307|doi = 10.1126/science.123.3191.307|bibcode = 1956Sci...123..307F |doi-access=|ref=none}}

* {{cite journal|first1=M.|last1=Cohen|first2=Richard P.|last2=Feynman|title=Theory of Inelastic Scattering of Cold Neutrons from Liquid Helium|journal=Physical Review|volume=107|issue=1|pages=13–24|year=1957|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.107.13|bibcode=1957PhRv..107...13C|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/6093/|ref=none|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=September 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914191032/https://authors.library.caltech.edu/6093/|url-status=dead}}

* {{cite journal |first1=Richard P. |last1=Feynman |first2=F. L. |last2=Vernon |first3=R. W. |last3=Hellwarth |title=Geometric representation of the Schrödinger equation for solving maser equations |journal=Journal of Applied Physics |year=1957 |doi=10.1063/1.1722572 |volume=28 |issue=1 |page=49 |bibcode=1957JAP....28...49F |url=https://www.chem.uci.edu/~unicorn/249/Handouts/FeynmanPaper.pdf |ref=none}}

* {{cite journal|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|url=https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/1976/|title=There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom|journal=Engineering and Science |year=1960|volume=23 |issue=5 |pages=22–36 |ref=none}}

* {{cite journal|pmid = 13889186|last1=Edgar|first1=R. S.|last2=Feynman|first2=Richard P.|last3=Klein|first3=S.|last4=Lielausis|first4=I.

|publication-date=February 1962|year=1962|title=Mapping experiments with r mutants of bacteriophage T4D

|volume=47|periodical=[[Genetics (journal)|Genetics]]|pages=179–86|last5 = Steinberg|first5 = C. M. |pmc = 1210321|issue = 2|doi=10.1093/genetics/47.2.179|ref=none}}

* {{cite journal |last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|url=https://profizgl.lu.lv/pluginfile.php/32795/mod_resource/content/0/WHAT_IS_SCIENCE_by_R.Feynman_1966.pdf |access-date=June 10, 2023 |title=What is Science? |orig-date=1966 |journal=The Physics Teacher |volume=7 |issue=6 |pages=313–320|date=1968 |doi=10.1119/1.2351388|bibcode=1969PhTea...7..313F |ref=none}} Lecture presented at the fifteenth annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association, 1966 in New York City.

* {{cite journal|pmid = 17791121|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|publication-date=August 12, 1966|year=1966

|title=The Development of the Space-Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics

|volume=153|issue=3737|periodical=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|pages=699–708|doi = 10.1126/science.153.3737.699|bibcode = 1966Sci...153..699F

|ref=none}}

* {{cite journal|pmid = 17778830|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|publication-date=February 15, 1974|year=1974a|title=Structure of the proton

|volume=183|issue=4125|periodical=Science|pages=601–610|doi = 10.1126/science.183.4125.601|bibcode = 1974Sci...183..601F |jstor=1737688|publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science|s2cid=9938227|ref=none}}

* {{cite journal| url=https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/02/CargoCult.pdf|title = Cargo Cult Science| last = Feynman |first=Richard P. |journal= Engineering and Science|volume=37|issue=7| year= 1974|ref=none}}

* {{cite journal|pmid = 9897894|last1=Feynman|first1=Richard P.|last2=Kleinert|first2=Hagen|author2-link=Hagen Kleinert|publication-date=December 1986|year=1986|title=Effective classical partition functions|volume=34|issue=6|periodical=Physical Review A|pages=5080–5084|doi = 10.1103/PhysRevA.34.5080|bibcode = 1986PhRvA..34.5080F |url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/3553/1/FEYpra86.pdf|ref=none}}

* {{cite book |last=Feynman |first=Richard P. |url=https://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v2appf.htm |title=Rogers Commission Report, Volume 2 Appendix F – Personal Observations on Reliability of Shuttle |year=1986 |publisher=[[NASA]] |ref=none}}

* {{citation |last=Feynman |first=Richard P. |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814390187_0003 |chapter=Difficulties in Applying the Variational Principle to Quantum Field Theories |title=Variational Calculations in Quantum Field Theory |year=1988 |editor=Polley |editor-first=L. |publisher=[[World Scientific]] |language=en |isbn=9971-50-500-2 |pages=28–40 |doi=10.1142/9789814390187_0003 |publication-date=August 1, 1988 |ref=none |editor2-last=Pottinger |editor2-first=D. E. L.}} Proceedings of the International Workshop at Wangerooge Island, Germany; Sept 1–4, 1987.

* {{cite book|title=Selected Papers of Richard Feynman: With Commentary|url=https://archive.org/details/selectedpapersof0000feyn|url-access=registration|first=Richard P.|last=Feynman|editor=Laurie M. Brown|editor-link=Laurie Brown (physicist)|publisher= World Scientific|series=20th Century Physics|year= 2000|isbn=978-981-02-4131-5|ref=none}}

=== Textbooks and lecture notes ===

[[File:The Feynman Lectures on Physics.jpg|thumb|alt=A box set of several slim red books|''The Feynman Lectures on Physics'' including Feynman's ''Tips on Physics: The Definitive and Extended Edition'' (2nd edition, 2005)]]

''The Feynman Lectures on Physics'' is perhaps his most accessible work for anyone with an interest in physics, compiled from lectures to [[Caltech]] undergraduates in 1961–1964. As news of the lectures' lucidity grew, professional physicists and graduate students began to drop in to listen. Co-authors [[Robert B. Leighton]] and Matthew Sands, colleagues of Feynman, edited and illustrated them into book form. The work has endured and is useful to this day. {{anchor|Feynman's Tips}} They were edited and supplemented in 2005 with ''Feynman's Tips on Physics: A Problem-Solving Supplement to the Feynman Lectures on Physics'' by Michael Gottlieb and Ralph Leighton (Robert Leighton's son), with support from [[Kip Thorne]] and other physicists.

* {{cite book |last1=Feynman |first1=Richard P. |last2=Leighton |first2=Robert B. |last3=Sands |first3=Matthew |title=The Feynman Lectures on Physics: The Definitive and Extended Edition |orig-year=1970 |year=2005 |publisher=Addison Wesley |edition=2nd |isbn=0-8053-9045-6 |ref=none}} Includes ''Feynman's Tips on Physics'' (with Michael Gottlieb and Ralph Leighton), which includes four previously unreleased lectures on problem solving, exercises by Robert Leighton and [[Rochus Eugen Vogt|Rochus Vogt]], and a historical essay by Matthew Sands. Three volumes; originally published as separate volumes in 1964 and 1966.

* {{cite book|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|title=Theory of Fundamental Processes|publisher= Addison Wesley|year= 1961|ref=none}}

* {{cite book|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|title=Quantum Electrodynamics|publisher= Addison Wesley|year= 1962|ref=none}}

* {{cite book|last1=Feynman|first1=Richard P.|first2=Albert|last2=Hibbs|title=Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals|publisher=McGraw Hill|year=1965|isbn=0-07-020650-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/quantummechanics0000feyn|ref=none}}

* {{cite book|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|title=The Character of Physical Law: The 1964 Messenger Lectures|publisher=MIT Press|year=1967|isbn=0-262-56003-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/characterofphysi0000feyn_a6t9|ref=none}}

* {{cite book|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|title=Statistical Mechanics: A Set of Lectures|url=https://archive.org/details/statisticalmecha00rich|url-access=registration|publisher=[[W. A. Benjamin]]|year= 1972|place=Reading, Mass|isbn=0-8053-2509-3|ref=none}}

* {{cite book|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|title=Photon-Hadron interactions|url=https://archive.org/details/photonhadroninte0000feyn/mode/2up|publisher=[[W. A. Benjamin]]|year= 1972|place=Reading, Mass|isbn=0201360748|ref=none}}

* {{cite book|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|title=QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter|publisher= [[Princeton University Press]]|year=1985b|isbn= 0-691-02417-0|title-link=QED (book)|ref=none}}

* {{cite book|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|title=Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics: The 1986 Dirac Memorial Lectures|url=https://archive.org/details/elementarypartic0000feyn|url-access=registration|publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]]|year= 1987|isbn=0-521-34000-4|ref=none}}

* {{cite book|last=Feynman|first=Richard P.|title=Lectures on Gravitation|url=https://archive.org/details/feynmanlectureso0000feyn_g4q1|url-access=registration|editor=Brian Hatfield|publisher= Addison Wesley Longman|year= 1995|isbn= 0-201-62734-5|ref=none}}

* {{cite book |last=Feynman |first=Richard P. |title=Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun |year=1997 |edition=Vintage Press |isbn=0-09-973621-7 |publisher=Vintage |___location=London, England |language=en |title-link=Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun |ref=none}}

* {{cite book |last=Feynman |first=Richard P. |title=Feynman Lectures on Computation |editor=Hey |editor-first=Tony |editor-link=Tony Hey |language=en-us |publisher=Perseus Books Group |year=2000 |isbn=0-7382-0296-7 |ref=none |editor-last2=Allen |editor-first2=Robin W. |quote="Computer science also differs from physics in that it is not actually a science. It does not study natural objects. Neither is it, as you might think, mathematics; although it does use mathematical reasoning pretty extensively. Rather, computer science is like engineering – it is all about getting something to do something, rather than just dealing with abstractions"}}.

=== Popular works ===

* {{cite book |first=Richard P. |last=Feynman |title=Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character |editor=Leighton |editor-first=Ralph |language=en-us |publisher=[[W. W. Norton]] & Company |year=1985 |isbn=0-393-01921-7 |oclc=10925248}}

* {{cite book |first=Richard P. |last=Feynman |title=What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character |editor=Leighton |editor-first=Ralph |language=en-us |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1988a |isbn=0-393-02659-0}}

* ''No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman'', ed. Christopher Sykes, W. W. Norton & Company, 1996, {{ISBN|0-393-31393-X}}.

* ''Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher'', Perseus Books, 1994, {{ISBN|0-201-40955-0}}. Listed by the board of directors of the [[Modern Library]] as one of the 100 best nonfiction books.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-nonfiction/ |title=100 Best Nonfiction |publisher=Modern Library |access-date=November 12, 2016 |archive-date=August 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825211346/http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-nonfiction/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

* ''Six Not So Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry and Space-Time'', Addison Wesley, 1997, {{ISBN|0-201-15026-3}}.

* {{cite book |first=Richard P. |last=Feynman |title=The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist |publisher=Perseus Publishing |year=1998 |___location=Reading, Massachusetts |isbn=0-7382-0166-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/meaningofitallth0000feyn |ref=none}}

* {{cite book |first=Richard P. |last=Feynman |title=The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman |url=https://archive.org/details/pleasureoffindin00feyn |url-access=registration |editor-first=Jeffrey |editor-last=Robbins |___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Perseus Books |year=1999 |isbn=0-7382-0108-1}}

* ''Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character'', edited by Ralph Leighton, W. W. Norton & Company, 2005, {{ISBN|0-393-06132-9}}. Chronologically reordered omnibus volume of ''[[Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!]]'' and ''What Do You Care What Other People Think?'', with a bundled CD containing one of Feynman's signature lectures.

=== Audio and video recordings ===

* ''Safecracker Suite'' (a collection of drum pieces interspersed with Feynman telling anecdotes)

* ''Los Alamos From Below'' (audio, talk given by Feynman at Santa Barbara on February 6, 1975)

* ''The Feynman Lectures on Physics: The Complete Audio Collection,'' selections from which were also released as ''Six Easy Pieces'' and ''Six Not So Easy Pieces''

* The [[Messenger Lectures]] ([https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/messenger.html link]), given at Cornell in 1964, in which he explains basic topics in physics;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/messenger.html |title=Feynman's Messenger Lectures |access-date=July 23, 2022 |year=2021 |website=feynmanlectures.caltech.edu}}</ref> they were also adapted into the book ''[[The Character of Physical Law]]''

* [http://vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8 The Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures], four public lectures of which the four chapters of the book ''[[QED (book)|QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter]]'' are transcripts. (1979)

* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018dvyg The Pleasure of Finding Things Out], ''BBC Horizon'' episode (1981) (not to be confused with the later published book of the same title)

* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/richard-feynman/z6bhd6f Richard Feynman: Fun to Imagine Collection], BBC Archive of six short films of Feynman talking in a style that is accessible to all about the physics behind common to all experiences. (1983)

* ''Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics'', from the 1986 [[Dirac]] Memorial Lectures (video, 1986)

* ''Tiny Machines: The Feynman Talk on Nanotechnology'' (video, 1984)

* ''Computers From the Inside Out'' (video)

* Quantum Mechanical View of Reality: Workshop at Esalen (video, 1983)

* Idiosyncratic Thinking Workshop (video, 1985)

* Bits and Pieces—From ''Richard's Life and Times'' (video, 1988)

* Strangeness Minus Three (video, ''BBC Horizon'' 1964)

* ''No Ordinary Genius'' (video, Cristopher Sykes Documentary)

* Four [[List of Nova episodes|NOVA episodes]] are made about or with him. (TV program, 1975, 1983, 1989, 1993)

* ''The Motion of Planets Around the Sun'' (audio, sometimes titled "Feynman's Lost Lecture")

* Nature of Matter (audio)

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== Sources ==

* {{cite book |title=IBM's Early Computers |last1=Bashe |first1=Charles J. |last2=Johnson |first2=Lyle R. |last3=Palmer |first3=John H. |last4=Pugh |first4=Emerson W. |year=1986 |publisher=MIT |___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=0-262-02225-7 |oclc=12021988 |url=https://archive.org/details/ibmsearlycompute00bash}}

* {{cite book |last=Bethe |first=Hans A. |author-link=Hans Bethe |title=The Road from Los Alamos |series=Masters of Modern Physics |volume=2 |___location=New York |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1991 |isbn=0-671-74012-1 |oclc=24734608 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/roadfromlosalamo00beth}}

* {{cite book |last=Brian |first=Denis |title=The Voice of Genius: Conversations with Nobel Scientists and Other Luminaries |___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Perseus |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7382-0447-5 |oclc=751292707}}

* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=John Bissell |author-link=John Bissell Carroll |editor-last=Sternberg |editor-first=Robert J. |editor-link=Robert J. Sternberg |editor-last2=Ben-Zeev |editor-first2=Talia |title=The Nature of Mathematical Thinking |year=1996 |___location= Mahwah, New Jersey |publisher=L. Erlbaum Associates |isbn=978-0-8058-1799-7|oclc=34513302}}

* {{cite journal |last=Chown |first=Marcus |author-link=Marcus Chown |title=Strangeness and Charm |journal=[[New Scientist]] |pages=34 |issn=0262-4079 |date=May 2, 1985 }}

* {{cite book |last=Close |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Close |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Po1ijAJEvq0C&pg=PA58 |title=The Infinity Puzzle: The Personalities, Politics, and Extraordinary Science Behind the Higgs Boson |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-959350-7 |oclc=840427493}}

* {{cite journal |last=Deutsch |first=David |author-link=David Deutsch|title=Quantum computation |journal=[[Physics World]] |issn=0953-8585 |date=June 1, 1992 |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=57–61 |doi=10.1088/2058-7058/5/6/38}}

* {{cite book |last=Friedman |first=Jerome |author-link=Jerome Isaac Friedman |language=en-us |contribution=A Student's View of Fermi |title=Fermi Remembered |editor-first=James W. |editor-last=Cronin |editor-link=James Cronin |___location=Chicago, Illinois |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-226-12111-6 |oclc=835230762}}

* {{cite journal |last=Galison |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Galison |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=391–434 |year=1998 |title=Feynman's War: Modelling Weapons, Modelling Nature |doi=10.1016/S1355-2198(98)00013-6 |bibcode=1998SHPMP..29..391G}}

* {{cite book |last=Gleick |first=James |author-link=James Gleick |title=[[Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman]] |publisher=[[Pantheon Books]] |year=1992 |isbn=0-679-40836-3|oclc=243743850}}

* {{cite book |last1=Gribbin |first1=John |author-link1=John Gribbin |last2=Gribbin |first2=Mary |title=Richard Feynman: A Life in Science |publisher=Dutton |year=1997 |isbn=0-525-94124-X |oclc=636838499 |url=https://archive.org/details/richardfeynmanli00grib}}

* {{cite book |last=Henderson |first=Harry |title=Richard Feynman: Quarks, Bombs, and Bongos |year=2011 |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |isbn=978-0-8160-6176-1 |oclc=751114185}}

* {{cite book |last1=Hoddeson |first1=Lillian|author-link=Lillian Hoddeson|first2=Paul W. |last2=Henriksen |first3=Roger A. |last3=Meade |first4=Catherine L. |last4=Westfall|author4-link= Catherine Westfall|title=Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos During the Oppenheimer Years, 1943–1945 |___location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1993 |isbn=0-521-44132-3 |oclc=26764320 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/criticalassembly0000unse}}

* {{cite book |last=Mehra |first=Jagdish|author-link=Jagdish Mehra |year=1994 |title=The Beat of a Different Drum: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman |publisher=Oxford University Press |___location=New York |isbn=0-19-853948-7|oclc=28507544}}

* {{cite book |last= Oakes |first= Elizabeth H.|title= Encyclopedia of World Scientists, Revised edition |___location=New York |publisher=Facts on File |date=2007 |isbn= 978-1-4381-1882-6|oclc=466364697}}

* {{cite book |last=Peat |first=David |author-link=F. David Peat |title=Infinite Potential: the Life and Times of David Bohm |___location=Reading, Massachusetts |publisher=Addison Wesley |year=1997 |isbn=0-201-40635-7 |oclc=1014736570 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780201406351}}

* {{cite book |last=Pugh |first=Kevin J. |title=Computers, Cockroaches, and Ecosystems: Understanding Learning Through Metaphor |year=2017 |publisher=Information Age Publishing |___location=Charlotte, North Carolina |isbn=978-1-68123-776-3 |oclc=971941339 }}

* {{cite book |last=Schweber |first=Silvan S. |author-link=Silvan S. Schweber |title=QED and the Men Who Made It: Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga |url=https://archive.org/details/qedmenwhomadeitd0000schw |url-access=registration |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1994 |isbn=0-691-03327-7 |oclc=918243948}}

* {{cite book |last=Sykes |first=Christopher |title=No Ordinary Genius: the Illustrated Richard Feynman |___location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton |year=1994 |isbn=0-393-03621-9 |oclc=924553844 |url=https://archive.org/details/noordinarygenius00feyn}}

* {{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Alice Kimball|author-link=Alice Kimball Smith|last2=Weiner|first2=Charles|title=Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections|url=https://archive.org/details/robertoppenheime00oppe|publisher=Harvard University Press|___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|year=1980|isbn=978-0-8047-2620-7|url-access=registration}}

== Further reading ==

=== Articles ===

* ''Physics Today'', [[American Institute of Physics]] magazine, February 1989 Issue. (Vol. 42, No. 2.) Special Feynman memorial issue containing non-technical articles on Feynman's life and work in physics.

* {{cite journal |url=https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3570/ |title=Mr. Feynman Goes to Washington |first=Richard P. |last=Feynman |journal=Engineering and Science |volume=51 |issue=1 |publisher=Caltech |year=1987 |editor-last=Leighton |editor-first=Ralph |pages=6–22 |issn=0013-7812 |ref=none}}

=== Books ===

* Brown, Laurie M. and [[Rigden, John S.]] (editors) (1993) ''Most of the Good Stuff: Memories of Richard Feynman'' Simon & Schuster, New York, {{ISBN|0-88318-870-8}}. Commentary by Joan Feynman, John Wheeler, [[Hans Bethe]], Julian Schwinger, Murray Gell-Mann, [[Daniel Hillis]], [[David Goodstein]], [[Freeman Dyson]], and Laurie Brown

* Dyson, Freeman (1979) ''Disturbing the Universe''. Harper and Row. {{ISBN|0-06-011108-9}}. Dyson's autobiography. The chapters "A Scientific Apprenticeship" and "A Ride to Albuquerque" describe his impressions of Feynman in the period 1947–1948 when Dyson was a graduate student at Cornell

* {{cite book |last=Krauss |first=Lawrence M. |author-link=Lawrence M. Krauss |year=2011 |title=Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |isbn=978-0-393-06471-1|oclc=601108916 |title-link=Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science |ref=none}}

* {{cite book |last=Leighton |first=Ralph |title=Tuva or Bust!: Richard Feynman's last journey |title-link=Tuva or Bust! |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2000 |isbn=0-393-32069-3 |ref=none}}

* {{cite book |last=LeVine |first=Harry |year=2009 |title=The Great Explainer: The Story of Richard Feynman |publisher=Morgan Reynolds |___location=Greensboro, North Carolina |isbn=978-1-59935-113-1 |ref=none}} for high school readers

* {{cite book |last=Milburn |first=Gerald J. |author-link=Gerard J. Milburn |year=1998 |title=The Feynman Processor: Quantum Entanglement and the Computing Revolution |url=https://archive.org/details/feynmanprocessor0000milb_f8a8 |url-access=registration |___location=Reading, Massachusetts |publisher=Perseus Books |isbn=0-7382-0173-1 |ref=none}}

* {{cite book |last=Mlodinow |first=Leonard |author-link=Leonard Mlodinow |year=2003 |title=Feynman's Rainbow: A Search For Beauty In Physics And In Life |url=https://archive.org/details/feynmansrainbow00leon |url-access=registration |___location=New York |publisher=Warner Books |isbn=0-446-69251-4 |ref=none}} Published in the United Kingdom as ''Some Time With Feynman''

* {{cite book |last1=Ottaviani |first1=Jim |author-link=Jim Ottaviani |first2=Leland |last2=Myrick |author-link2=Leland Myrick |title=Feynman: The Graphic Novel |___location=New York |publisher=First Second |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-59643-259-8 |oclc=664838951}}

=== Films and plays ===

* ''[[Infinity (1996 film)|Infinity]]'' (1996), a movie both directed by and starring [[Matthew Broderick]] as Feynman, depicting his love affair with his first wife and ending with the Trinity test.

* [[Peter Parnell|Parnell, Peter]] (2002), ''[[QED (play)|QED]]'', Applause Books, {{ISBN|978-1-55783-592-5}} (play)

* Whittell, Crispin (2006), ''Clever Dick'', [[Oberon Books]], (play)

* "The Quest for Tannu Tuva", with Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton. 1987, ''BBC Horizon'' and ''PBS Nova'' (entitled "Last Journey of a Genius").

* ''No Ordinary Genius'', a two-part documentary about Feynman's life and work, with contributions from colleagues, friends and family. 1993, ''BBC Horizon'' and ''PBS Nova'' (a one-hour version, under the title ''The Best Mind Since Einstein'') (2 × 50-minute films)

* ''[[The Challenger Disaster|The Challenger]]'' (2013), a BBC Two factual drama starring [[William Hurt]], tells the story of American Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman's determination to reveal the truth behind the 1986 [[space shuttle Challenger disaster|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster]].

* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p016d3kk ''The Fantastic Mr Feynman'']. One hour documentary. 2013, BBC TV

* ''How We Built The Bomb'', a docudrama about The Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. Feynman is played by actor/playwright [[Michael Raver]]. 2015

* [[Oppenheimer (film)|Oppenheimer]] (2023), a biopic based on the 2005 biography ''[[American Prometheus]]''. Feynman is played by actor [[Jack Quaid]].

== External links ==

{{sisterlinks|d=Q39246|wikt=no|n=no|b=no|s=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|f=no|species=no|c=Category:Richard Feynman}}

{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?186829-1/perfectly-reasonable-deviations-beaten-track Presentation by Michelle Feynman (his daughter) on ''Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters Of Richard P. Feynman'', May 9, 2005], [[C-SPAN]]}}

* {{official website|http://richardfeynman.com}}

* {{C-SPAN|119788}}

* [https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ Online edition of ''The Feynman Lectures on Physics''] by [[California Institute of Technology]], Michael A. Gottlieb, and Rudolf Pfeiffer

* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-1 Oral history interview transcript with Richard Feynman on 4 March 1966 – Session I] from Oral History Interviews, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, [[American Institute of Physics]]

* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-2 Oral history interview transcript with Richard Feynman on 5 March 1966 – Session II] from Oral History Interviews, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, [[American Institute of Physics]]

* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-3 Oral history interview transcript with Richard Feynman on 27 June 1966 – Session III] from Oral History Interviews, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, [[American Institute of Physics]]

* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-4 Oral history interview transcript with Richard Feynman on 28 June 1966 – Session IV] from Oral History Interviews, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, [[American Institute of Physics]]

* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-5 Oral history interview transcript with Richard Feynman on 4 February 1973 – Session V] from Oral History Interviews, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, [[American Institute of Physics]]

* [http://www.feynman.com/ Richard Feynman – Scientist. Teacher. Raconteur. Musician] {{--}} A site dedicated to Richard Feynman

* [https://www.lanl.gov/media/publications/the-vault/1023-richard-feynman Los Alamos National laboratory page on Feynman]

{{Richard Feynman|state=expanded}}

{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1951–1975}}

{{1965 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Manhattan Project}}

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