67. RICHARD FEYNMAN: The universe in a glass
FEYNMAN WEEK: Part 1
Not only did Richard Feynman have a brilliant mind, he also had a free and curious spirit. He called himself an explorer and always looked for new adventures to get into to with an almost childlike sense of fun. He travelled extensively, spending a lot of time in Brazil. He asked for a transfer there because he picked up a hitchhiker who told him it was a good place to visit. Feynman was like “Brazil huh? Okay, sounds like fun”. So he got a position at a Brazilian College, lived in a hotel at the Copacabana, studied Portuguese and learnt how to play percussion in a samba street band, eventually getting so good he danced and played in Carnival. He loved studying different disciplines and tried to ‘fake’ his way into that field. Besides playing in that samba band, he once played music for a ballet, gave some biology lectures (he was a physics teacher) and sold his paintings as a professional artist. Everything he did because he thought it was fun, including science.
- Feynman spent years at the end of his life trying to plan one more adventure – travelling to the tiny Russian country, Tuva. There was no particular reason he wanted to go, he just liked the name ‘Tuva’ and upon discovering it had barely been explored by westerners he was determined to gain access to the country. Unfortunately he died before he could fulfull his dream. There’s a documentary about his quest on YouTube.
- Do you know anymore Feynman stories? Share them in the comments – I’d like to know as much about him as possible.
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One thing about Feynman: like many men of his generation, I’m sure, he spent part of his life in doubt of women’s ability to learn math and science. He related a story of hearing two women in a cafeteria at Cornell talking about how to calculate the intercept point of two sloped lines, and being astonished at their grasp of analytical geometry – and then discovering that one was teaching the other to knit an argyle sock. (I read this in “The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out” – worth reading just for the anecdotes about his time on the Manhattan Project.)
I’m curious about whether he ever got over that particular blind spot.
His sister’s a physicist too lol. Read “What do you care what other people think” It’s got another great set of his anecdotes, one of which (I think it’s in this book, it may be in another) includes him being accused of sexism during a lecture and a whole feminist protest arising from it. He found the entire concept of him being sexist laughable. Then, in typical Feynamn fashion, he managed to turn the tables on the feminists, making them the prejudiced ones.
I thought the same too. But then I realized that within it’s context, the anecdote is about how someone who is teaching requires to understand what the pupil can most easily relate to.
I read “six easy pieces” earlier this year. I have to say it was far more accessible than anything by Stephen Hawking. Part of Feynman’s genius is making the concepts of physics accessible to us lay folk.
@Cathy — he did, and he addresses it through more of his books/biographies. Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track reprints some of his letters and it’s worth taking a look at if you’re curious.
@Gavin If you like Feynman stories, definitely check out FEYNMAN, the graphic novel by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick!
I really liked this one, the pictures were really great in describing his words.
Ive looked at all of these in the past 2 days (granted work and all). I have to say i CAN NOT WAIT till you do another one!!! simply amazing work!
Every Monday or Tuesday and Wednesday or Thursday, depending on your time (for him it is the latter, for I, the former.)
At Caltech, one of the textbooks used for a physics classed was authored by Feynman. At the final exam, students were told that they could bring with them ‘Feynman’ – meaning the book, as reference during the exam. One of the students asked Prof. Feynman to accompany him to the exam, and he gladly accepted. The student got an A+ on that exam, and starting the following year the exam instructions were much more restrictive.
Great story!
You’re misremembering the story. Caltech uses an honor system and the exams are take-home exams. The instructions for the exam read “You have three hours. You may use your class notes and Feynman.” The student took the exam to Feynman’s office, and he agreed that the instructions included him as a valid resource. Feynman completed the exam in half an hour and the student got a perfect score.
That’s the story anyway. I don’t know if it’s true.
Alright, this is a great one. Props, gav. I might actually look into the guy this time, he sounds awesome!
Thanks for sharing a quote from this guy! I’ve heard of him before but never really knew who he was. He seems so much like my physics teacher. He’s interested not only in physics but also in everything else in this world and other worlds, and his mission is to learn his students that there are no boundaries for any subject and especially that physics is quite transcendenting. It’s really quite a shame that the school system is so separative – physics, biology, mathematics, chemistry, etc. – when in fact it all has to do one with another.
You can read about Feynman here
http://kvtrust.blogspot.in/2006/11/richard-feynman.html
Charles Wood, who became an outstanding physics teacher, loved to tell the story of how he knew somethi ng that Dr. Feynman didn’t know. Chuck was a graduate student at the Univdersiy of California where he was alone walking down the hallway of one of the buildings when a side door opened and he immediately recognized that the person entering the building was DR. Feynman. Dr. Feynman asked, “Can you tell me how to get to the cafeteria? Chuck gave him directions and realized that he knew something that Dr. Feynman didn’t know.
Feynman is full of win.
You should illustrate some of Eminem’s qoutes.
This is cool
Are you a fan of P.Craig Russell by any chance?
If you could look at each drop of falling water, another universe can be seen inside.
^_^
Richard Feynman worked on the Manhattan Project, and was constantly testing their security system there. They’d write each other letters, and include secret codes, just to see if they could slip one by the censors that read their mail. He also learned to pick locks, in order to gain access to top secret documents, as a way of showing flaws in the system. When they replaced the padlocks with more complex combination locks, he learned how to exploit the security flaws with them, too.
They kept thinking that Feynman was the security risk, rather than the poor locks.
Any chance of seeing this as a print? I work in a Wine tasting room, and I think this would be amazing on our wall there!
Poke around on Amazon and get “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” – it’s well worth the read…
Heh, well, nevermind. I just saw on the previous post (#66 – yes, I’m reading through these backwards; I just found zenpencils today!) that you mentioned that book. Sorry for the noise.
That book single handedly made me laugh when I was in Ice Cream cafe by myself. Everyone kept staring at me, because everyone else was on a date.
Alas they didn’t know Surely You’re Joking was far more entertaining than the times they were having.
Sometimes, the comments are more fun and encouragement than the comic. (alhough, it’s still great)
It’s a nice community