Richard Feynman: The Scientist Magician
Somehow, I find people having multiple facets to their personalities very interesting compared to the people who are good at a thing or two. They “poke their nose” for good in many fields and set a new benchmark. It is, in deed, difficult to be great at anything and everything you do. These are the blessed people who question the system. They break the image that we have in our mind - our frame of reference. In yesterday’s Gyan I had briefly mentioned a scientist – Richard Feynman. Today’s Gyan is about this Jack – of – all and Master of most of them scientist.
Feynman was born in May, 1918 in a small town named Far Rockaway near New York. He got admitted to MIT for graduation at the age of 17 and then, to Princeton. He would have continued with MIT but as he puts it, he knew that MIT is the best school but he wanted to see how the rest of the world is and hence Princeton! In the meantime, he had also started a company called “Metaplast Corporation”. The “Metaplast Corporation” was dealing in metal plating plastics. In this company with 4 employees, Feynman was the “Chief Chemist” but, alas, the basics of metal plating plastic bombed and the company doomed very soon!
Though a problem child who would always get into one or the other mischief with his experiments, he had earned popularity as the whiz kid who could fix any electrical machine, radios etc. Always curious about why things happen, he developed the skill to get to the depth of the things logically. No wonder, solving puzzles became his hobby. A story goes that in a dance party at MIT, a girl, who was famous (notorious?) for asking difficult puzzles almost fainted when Feynman answered all her puzzles even before she could utter the first few words of the puzzles! Feynman, apparently, had solved almost every puzzle known.
Soon, the World War II started. To serve the nation in its need, Feynman decided to join Army. He wanted to contribute in more meaningful ways, by which his knowledge of Atomic Physics could be applied. So he was put in Los Alamos “Manhattan project” that US had taken up to test the first ever nuclear bomb. The Manhattan project maintained so much secrecy that fake names were given to the scientists even in different time zones of US! Obviously, Los Alamos looked more like a Military camp than a lab. There were strict rules, censorship as per the Military regime. Feynman – a non believer in these so – called rules – wouldn’t let go of any opportunity to find loopholes in the system. He had found an alternate way to get out of the Los Alamos town, bypassing the sentries at the main gate. While leaving, he would make an official entry and would return through the alternate way. Then, again, he would go out officially leaving the sentries baffled to investigate when this man came IN in the first place to go out!
Another story is related to his mail correspondence with his first wife who was bedridden in Albuquerque. Feynman found the 1/243 = 0.004115226337 very “cute” and thought of sharing it with his wife. The letter was outrightly rejected by the authorities stating “Letters to be written only in English, Russian, Spanish, and German etc. No codes.” Feynman was prompt to fight tooth and nail to convince the authorities that it’s not a code. Of course, this was another way of his taking revenge on the rigid system. He, also, went on to ask permission to use Arabic Numerals!
Nonetheless, Feynman was very instrumental in the production of the first Atomic Bomb. He, also, got famous for his ability to question even the experts boldly.
For Feynman, learning every new thing was a challenge in itself. I think, that’s why he was always curious to learn more and learn different things. He learnt and moreover, mastered Italian. He became a proficient safecracker just because he found locks as interesting as puzzles. During his short stay in Brazil, not only did he learn Portuguese (so that he can deliver his Physics lectures in Portuguese for the students to understand them better) but also Bongo – the instrument! Hard to believe, but he also participated in the Carnival and a ballet, playing Bongo like a pro – player.
He, also, tried his hand at paintings. An exhibition of his paintings was arranged which was very well received!
He has penned bestsellers like “Lectures by Richard Feynman” “Surely, you’re joking Mr. Feynman” etc.
And apart from doing all this, he has also won the Nobel Prize for functional integral formulation of quantum mechanics and his contribution to Nuclear Physics in 1965! Also, he has left his mark in many fields of sciences like String Theory, M theory and the list is endless…
I guess, it won’t be exaggerating to say that if there is a perfect man, after Leonardo Da Vinci, it’s Feynman.
Feynman died on 15th February, 1988 due to Cancer. Reportedly, his last sentence was “I don’t want to die twice, it’s so boring”! It’s no surprise comment from a man who always sought the joy in everything he did.
Feynman always made a point to learn the subject with basics, instead of accepting things the way they are or just because some expert says so. He was great at explaining things using routine examples. This made him popular amongst the students as well.
What appealed most to me about Feynman is that while reading his book “Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman, he appears anything but a typical absent minded, thick glassed scientist. Somewhere, we, at least I, can’t imagine a scientist wooing women, playing bongo in carnivals, cracking safes and doing all such things.
Of course, there are scientific terms, jargons and references of laws but they had never looked so friendly! Feynman hasn’t discussed any law or concept, but even the logical approach he takes, to the smallest routine things that we tend to ignore, gives you an idea what this man would have achieved in Physics. Throughout the book, expressions like “That was exciting”, “It’s wonderful” “That’s the funniest thing to happen” tell you that this is a man who enjoyed every moment of his life. And I believe, there can’t be any bigger success than living your life to the fullest.
Well, what exactly Richard Feynman is can be better expressed by quoting what Hans Bethe – his colleague and a Nobel Laureate himself – said about him:
“There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician.”
Regards,
Abhishek
P.S.:
I had started with the intention of writing about another maverick personality from Management but strangely, I ended up writing about Feynman. May be it’s the magic of that word – “Maverick” or that of Feynman – the Magician!
Feynman was born in May, 1918 in a small town named Far Rockaway near New York. He got admitted to MIT for graduation at the age of 17 and then, to Princeton. He would have continued with MIT but as he puts it, he knew that MIT is the best school but he wanted to see how the rest of the world is and hence Princeton! In the meantime, he had also started a company called “Metaplast Corporation”. The “Metaplast Corporation” was dealing in metal plating plastics. In this company with 4 employees, Feynman was the “Chief Chemist” but, alas, the basics of metal plating plastic bombed and the company doomed very soon!
Though a problem child who would always get into one or the other mischief with his experiments, he had earned popularity as the whiz kid who could fix any electrical machine, radios etc. Always curious about why things happen, he developed the skill to get to the depth of the things logically. No wonder, solving puzzles became his hobby. A story goes that in a dance party at MIT, a girl, who was famous (notorious?) for asking difficult puzzles almost fainted when Feynman answered all her puzzles even before she could utter the first few words of the puzzles! Feynman, apparently, had solved almost every puzzle known.
Soon, the World War II started. To serve the nation in its need, Feynman decided to join Army. He wanted to contribute in more meaningful ways, by which his knowledge of Atomic Physics could be applied. So he was put in Los Alamos “Manhattan project” that US had taken up to test the first ever nuclear bomb. The Manhattan project maintained so much secrecy that fake names were given to the scientists even in different time zones of US! Obviously, Los Alamos looked more like a Military camp than a lab. There were strict rules, censorship as per the Military regime. Feynman – a non believer in these so – called rules – wouldn’t let go of any opportunity to find loopholes in the system. He had found an alternate way to get out of the Los Alamos town, bypassing the sentries at the main gate. While leaving, he would make an official entry and would return through the alternate way. Then, again, he would go out officially leaving the sentries baffled to investigate when this man came IN in the first place to go out!
Another story is related to his mail correspondence with his first wife who was bedridden in Albuquerque. Feynman found the 1/243 = 0.004115226337 very “cute” and thought of sharing it with his wife. The letter was outrightly rejected by the authorities stating “Letters to be written only in English, Russian, Spanish, and German etc. No codes.” Feynman was prompt to fight tooth and nail to convince the authorities that it’s not a code. Of course, this was another way of his taking revenge on the rigid system. He, also, went on to ask permission to use Arabic Numerals!
Nonetheless, Feynman was very instrumental in the production of the first Atomic Bomb. He, also, got famous for his ability to question even the experts boldly.
For Feynman, learning every new thing was a challenge in itself. I think, that’s why he was always curious to learn more and learn different things. He learnt and moreover, mastered Italian. He became a proficient safecracker just because he found locks as interesting as puzzles. During his short stay in Brazil, not only did he learn Portuguese (so that he can deliver his Physics lectures in Portuguese for the students to understand them better) but also Bongo – the instrument! Hard to believe, but he also participated in the Carnival and a ballet, playing Bongo like a pro – player.
He, also, tried his hand at paintings. An exhibition of his paintings was arranged which was very well received!
He has penned bestsellers like “Lectures by Richard Feynman” “Surely, you’re joking Mr. Feynman” etc.
And apart from doing all this, he has also won the Nobel Prize for functional integral formulation of quantum mechanics and his contribution to Nuclear Physics in 1965! Also, he has left his mark in many fields of sciences like String Theory, M theory and the list is endless…
I guess, it won’t be exaggerating to say that if there is a perfect man, after Leonardo Da Vinci, it’s Feynman.
Feynman died on 15th February, 1988 due to Cancer. Reportedly, his last sentence was “I don’t want to die twice, it’s so boring”! It’s no surprise comment from a man who always sought the joy in everything he did.
Feynman always made a point to learn the subject with basics, instead of accepting things the way they are or just because some expert says so. He was great at explaining things using routine examples. This made him popular amongst the students as well.
What appealed most to me about Feynman is that while reading his book “Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman, he appears anything but a typical absent minded, thick glassed scientist. Somewhere, we, at least I, can’t imagine a scientist wooing women, playing bongo in carnivals, cracking safes and doing all such things.
Of course, there are scientific terms, jargons and references of laws but they had never looked so friendly! Feynman hasn’t discussed any law or concept, but even the logical approach he takes, to the smallest routine things that we tend to ignore, gives you an idea what this man would have achieved in Physics. Throughout the book, expressions like “That was exciting”, “It’s wonderful” “That’s the funniest thing to happen” tell you that this is a man who enjoyed every moment of his life. And I believe, there can’t be any bigger success than living your life to the fullest.
Well, what exactly Richard Feynman is can be better expressed by quoting what Hans Bethe – his colleague and a Nobel Laureate himself – said about him:
“There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician.”
Regards,
Abhishek
P.S.:
I had started with the intention of writing about another maverick personality from Management but strangely, I ended up writing about Feynman. May be it’s the magic of that word – “Maverick” or that of Feynman – the Magician!
posted by Gyan for the Day! | 7:21 pm
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