The Meaning of It All (14 page)

Problems

farm,
65–66

grappling with,
56–57

what is probable,
77

Products, health,
97

Programs

Point Four,
7–8

Ranger,
112–13

Promises, campaign,
66

Propaganda and going to moon,
113

Proportion, sense of,
105

Proteins

of bacteria,
11–12

of humans,
11–12

Protocol of the Elders of Zion,
106

Psychoplasmic

inheritance,
53

Questions, asking intelligent,
65

Radioactivity

danger from,
107

protection from effects of,
108–9

unsafe level of,
107–8

Radio religion people,
94–95

Ranger program,
112–13

Read, ability to,
116

Real estate in California,
96

Reasoning

and positive inventions,
18

scientific,
18

Relations among scientists,
21–22

Relationships, human,
22

Religion

as answering all kinds of questions,
41

ethical aspect of,
41

and inspiration,
47

inspirational aspects of,
41–42

metaphysical aspects of,
41–42

radio people,
94–95

Religious beliefs,
43

Religious experiences,
39–40

Reporters, newspaper,
88–89

Resurgence of

Germany, fear of,
52

Rules

to be checked,
23

and consistency of science,
23

exception tests,
15–16

powerfulness of,
20

specificity of,
19

testing of,
19

that describe nature,
24

Russia

backward country,
50

and biology,
53–54

development of ideas,
55

and modern art,
55

not free,
53

Sampling,

statistical,
84
,
89–91

Science

Arabian scholars of,
115

contents of,
9

development speed of,
62

doubt as value in,
28

facts learned in,
38–39

imagination in,
22–23

key to gates of heaven,
6–7

limitation of,
63

meaning of,
4–5

as method,
15

as misunderstood,
36–37

objectivity of,
18–19

philosophy of,
18

practical aspects of,
9

and religion

conflict between,
35

relation of,
34–35

rules and consistency of,
23

and society relationships,
7

and technology,
50

three aspects of,
4–5

uncertainty of,
1–28

value of,
6

Scientific realm, moral values as outside,
43–45

Scientific reasoning,
18

Scientists

as atheists,
36

dealing with doubt and uncertainty,
26–27

relations among,
21–22

Seaton, Mother,
77–79

Society and science, relations between,
7

Speech, parts of,
115–16

Spinning of tops,
24–26

S.P.X. Research Associates,
102
,
105

Statistical sampling,
84
,
89–91

Stupidity, phenomena result of a general,
95

Systems, traffic,
118

Technology

applications of,
62

and science,
50

Telekinesis,
68

Telepathy, mental,
71–74

Television

advertising in,
85

looker, intelligence of average,
87–88

Testing, nuclear,
106–7

Theories, allowing for alternative,
69

Thoroughness, concept of,
17

Tops, spinning,
24–26

Traffic systems,
118

Troubles and lack of information,
91

Truth

of ideas,
21

writing,
56

Uncertainties

admission of,
34

dealing with,
66–67
,
71

relative certainties out of,
98

remaining,
70–71

of science,
1–28

scientists dealing with,
26–27

of values,
29–57

Uncertainty,
67–68

Universe

contemplation of,
39

origins of,
12

Unscientific age,
59–122

Values

ethical,
43

moral,
120–21

uncertainty of,
29–57

Venus

flying saucers from,
75

Mariner II voyage to,
109–12

Vocabulary,
116

War, dislike of,
32

Water, and deserts,
96

Weight, as not affected by motion,
24

Western civilization,
47

Witch doctors,
114

Words, as meaningless,
20

Writing truth,
56

Born in 1918 in Brooklyn, Richard P. Feynman received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1942. Despite his youth, he played an important part in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos during World War II. Subsequently, he taught at Cornell and at the California Institute of Technology. In 1965 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Sin–Itero Tomanaga and Julian Schwinger, for his work in quantum electrodynamics.

Dr. Feynman won his Nobel Prize for successfully resolving problems with the theory of quantum electrodynamics. He also created a mathematical theory that accounts for the phenomenon of superfluidity in liquid helium. Thereafter, with Murray Gell–Mann, he did fundamental work in the area of weak interactions such as beta decay. In later years Feynman played a key role in the development of quark theory by putting forward his parton model of high energy proton collision processes.

Beyond these achievements, Dr. Feynman introduced basic new computational techniques and notations
into physics—above all, the ubiquitous Feynman diagrams, which, perhaps more than any other formalism in recent scientific history, have changed the way in which basic physical processes are conceptualized and calculated.

Feynman was a remarkably effective educator. Of all his numerous awards, he was especially proud of the Oersted Medal for Teaching, which he won in 1972.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics
, originally published in 1963, were described by a reviewer in
Scientific American
as “tough, but nourishing and full of flavor. After 25 years it is
the
guide for teachers and for the best of beginning students.” In order to increase the understanding of physics among the lay public, Dr. Feynman wrote
The Character of Physical Law
and
Q.E.D.: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
. He also authored a number of advanced publications that have become classic references and textbooks for researchers and students.

Richard Feynman was a constructive public man. His work on the Challenger commission is well known, especially his famous demonstration of the susceptibility of the O-rings to cold, an elegant experiment, which required nothing more than a glass of ice water. Less well known were Dr. Feynman's efforts on the California State Curriculum Committee in the 1960s where he protested the mediocrity of textbooks.

A recital of Richard Feynman's myriad scientific and educational accomplishments cannot adequately
capture the essence of the man. As any reader of even his most technical publications knows, Feynman's lively and multisided personality shines through all his work. Besides being a physicist, he was at various times a repairer of radios, a picker of locks, an artist, a dancer, a bongo player, and even a decipherer of Mayan hieroglyphics. Perpetually curious about his world, he was an exemplary empiricist.

Richard Feynman died on February 15, 1988, in Los Angeles.