Richard Feynman

Richard Feynman was an American theoretical physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for his work on quantum electrodynamics. He is also remembered as one of the most gifted teachers and popularisers of science of the twentieth century.

Early Life and Education

Feynman was born in New York City in 1918 and grew up in the Far Rockaway district of Queens. His father encouraged his curiosity and taught him to think about the natural world.

He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and took his doctorate at Princeton University in 1942 under John Archibald Wheeler.

His doctoral work introduced the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics. The formulation restated quantum theory in terms of the sum over all possible histories of a system.

The Manhattan Project

Feynman joined the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos in 1943. He worked in the theoretical division under Hans Bethe.

He developed methods for the calculation of the efficiency of the fission bomb. He also worked on the problem of the sudden release of energy in a nuclear explosion.

He was present at the Trinity test and was the only person to view the explosion without the protective goggles. He reasoned that the glass would filter the harmful ultraviolet light.

Quantum Electrodynamics

After the war Feynman developed a new formulation of quantum electrodynamics. The theory describes the interaction of light and matter.

He invented the diagrams that represent the interaction of particles and are now known as Feynman diagrams. The diagrams provide an intuitive picture of the complex mathematics.

He developed the technique of renormalisation with Julian Schwinger and Shinichiro Tomonaga. The three men shared the Nobel Prize in 1965.

The theory predicts the magnetic moment of the electron to an extraordinary degree of precision. The agreement between the theory and the experiment is one of the most exact in physics.

The Teaching and the Popular Writing

Feynman taught at Cornell University and at the California Institute of Technology. His lectures on physics were recorded and published as a celebrated three-volume course.

He wrote popular books on science, including Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?. The books reveal his humour and his irreverence.

He served on the commission that investigated the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986. He demonstrated the failure of the rubber seals in a dramatic televised experiment.

He received the Albert Einstein Award and the National Medal of Science. He was a member of the Royal Society and of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Later Years and the Legacy

Feynman worked on the theory of the weak interaction and on the parton model of the structure of the nucleon. The parton model anticipated the discovery of quarks.

He was diagnosed with cancer in the late 1970s and continued to work until the end of his life. He died in 1988 in Los Angeles.

His lectures and his books remain a model of scientific explanation. The Feynman diagram is a standard tool of modern physics.

The Nanotechnology and the Computing

Feynman gave a lecture entitled There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom in 1959. The lecture anticipated the development of the nanotechnology.

He offered a prize for the construction of a tiny motor and for the writing of the whole of a vast reference work on a pinhead. The challenges stimulated the research.

He also worked on the theory of the quantum computing. He was one of the first to consider the use of the quantum systems for the computation.

The Personality and the Reputation

Feynman was famous for his humour and his irreverence. He played the bongo drums and painted and cracked the safes at Los Alamos.

He was a gifted lecturer and his public talks attracted large audiences. He was committed to the idea that science should be explained in plain language.

He insisted on the intellectual honesty and on the importance of the doubt. The phrase the first principle is that you must not fool yourself is attributed to him.

The Honours and the Memory

Feynman shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 with Julian Schwinger and Shinichiro Tomonaga. The award recognised the work on the quantum electrodynamics.

He received the Albert Einstein Award and the National Medal of Science. He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society.

The Feynman diagram and the Feynman path integral are named in his honour. The Feynman School of Physics at the California Institute of Technology commemorates him.

See also

• Quantum electrodynamics
• Feynman diagram
• Path integral formulation
• Nobel Prize in Physics