Science Guys Episode-3: Richard P. Feynman
Richard P. Feynman (Richard Phillips Feynman) was one of the
revolutionary scientists of the twentieth-century and by far the coolest among his
generation of Physicists. Born in New York in 1918, he had Russian and Polish
genes which did contribute to his geniuses. He had a nick for Physics since
his childhood and pursued this field with such coolness and ambition that he is
regarded as one of the best teachers in Physics as well. He was awarded the
Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965 for his work which tied together with light, radio,
electricity, and magnetism. This work revolutionized Quantum Physics and
Quantum Electrodynamics and made the study of the interaction of subatomic particles
easier. This work was later called “FeynmanDiagrams”.
Feynman’s high standing among physicists was not only due to his brilliance in Physics but his bold and colorful personality, not only this but he mostly used this bold personality more than physics in order to claim rightful victory in the scientific community and that is the reason, at Los Alamos during World War-2, he became the youngest group leader in the theoretical division of the Manhattan Project under the supervision of Hans Bethe. And after World War-2 at age 27 became associate professor at CornellUniversity and at 32 became full professor which was a great feat at that time and such a young age. This was the time he started working full time in Quantum Physics and went on to win a Nobel Prize in 1965.
Just like other greats like Einstein and Curies, Feynman
also had a great observation of his surroundings and this is a trait of greats
in his field. Hence he is the only one in the whole lot who said that coming up
with Feynman diagrams was very easy. Just observing a plastic plate wobble in the air made him win a Nobel Prize.
“It was effortless. It was easy to play with these things.
It was like uncorking a bottle: Everything flowed out effortlessly. I almost tried
to resist it! There was no importance to what I was doing, but ultimately there
was. The diagrams and the whole business that I got the Nobel Prize for came
from that piddling around with the wobbling plate” - “Surely you're joking, Mr.
Feynman”, by Richard Feynman, Copyright 1985
But this is just one prize of the lot. In addition to a
share of the Nobel Prize in Physics, he won the Albert Einstein Award, Niels
Bohr International Gold Medal, Atomic Energy Commission's E.O. Lawrence Award,
National Medal, and Orsted Medal of the American Association of Physics
Teachers, a prize of which he was especially proud due to his love in teaching.
Feynman’s love for teaching pertains throughout his teaching
career. He was viewed as a great teacher not only because of his brilliance but
due to his approach especially in a dry subject in Physics. Feynman’s lectures at Caltech evolved into the
books like Quantum Electrodynamics and
The Theory of Fundamental Processes.
In 1961, he began reorganizing and teaching the introductory physics course at
Caltech and recorded as video lectures which later on were published as The Feynman Lectures on Physics and were
written as a book as well.
He achieved growing popular fame after his death and most
of his fame came during his illness and battle with cancer. And even today
students of Physics listen to his recorded lectures. Richard P. Feynman died on
February 15, 1988.
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