Richard Phillips Feynman (1918 - 1988)

Born 11 May 1918 in New York City, New York, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Arline Helen (Greenbaum) Feynman — married 28 Jun 1942 (to 16 Jun 1945) in Staten Island, New York City, New York, United States

Died 15 Feb 1988 at age 69 in Altadena, Los Angeles County, California, United States

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Biography

Richard Feynman is Notable.

Richard Feynman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.

Richard Feynman was a theoretical physicist best known for his contributions to particle physics, quantum mechanics, Quantum Electrodynamics and superfluidity. He was a joint recipient of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Personal Life

Richard Feynman was born on 11 May 1918 in New York City to Jewish parents Melville Feynman and Lucille (Phillips) Feynman. His father was born in Minsk, Russia, in 1890 and immigrated to the United States in 1916. His mother was born in New York City, a daughter of Polish immigrants.^[1][2][3][4] His parents had married in Manhattan, New York, on 26 March 1916.^[5]

Feynman showed an aptitude for engineering from an early age. An IQ test administered at Far Rockaway High School indicated that his IQ was 125.

Feynman was denied admission to Columbia University due to the quota on the number of Jews admitted. Instead he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he achieved a bachelor’s degree in 1939. He then attended Princeton University, where he received a PhD in 1942 with a thesis entitled “The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics”. His PhD advisor was John Archibald Wheeler.

After the completion of his PhD Feynman secured an assistant professor position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. However this appointment was spent on leave in Los Alamos where he joined the Manhattan Project and became involved in the development of the atomic bomb. Working in the theoretical division under Hans Bethe, he helped develop the Bethe-Feynman Formula for the fission yield from an atomic bomb. He was also responsible for coordinating the group of human computers who did most of the calculations for the theoretical division. After the war Feynman moved to Cornell University, where he taught from 1945 to 1950.

Feynman was married three times. His first wife, Arline Greenbaum, died of tuberculosis. His second marriage, to Mary Loiuse Bell,^[6] ended in divorce. His third marriage, to Gweneth Howarth,^[7] resulted in the birth of their son, Carl, in 1962. They also adopted a daughter, Michelle, in 1968.

Feynman died from cancer on 15 February 1988.^[8][9] He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum, Altadena, California.^[10]

The Scientist

Feynman developed a system of diagrams used to understand the interactions between elementary particles. These "Feynman's Diagrams" are now used routinely in elementary particle physics.

During World War II Feynman contributed to the Manhattan Project which developed the atomic bomb at Los Alamos.

Feynman worked on a bewildering array of problems, however, his largest contributions were perhaps to Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), where he devised a path integral formulation which ultimately lead to the award of a Nobel Prize. Feynman interpreted Landau’s theory of superfluidity in terms of quantum mechanics, showing that a superfluid is a macroscopic manifestation of quantum mechanical behaviour. He also made significant contributions to the fields of parallel computating, numerical methods, neural networks and cellular automata.

Feynman was a member of the Rogers Commission which investigated the space shuttle Challenger disaster. He demonstrated that the disaster was probably due to O-rings becoming less resilient at low temperatures. This explanation was ultimately accepted by the commission.

The Teacher

Feynman was a legendary teacher and published his undergraduate lectures as the three-volume The Feynman Lectures on Physics.

Quotes

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that."

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJBM-5TK : accessed 14 December 2020), Richard Fry*man in household of Melville Fry*man, New York City, New York, United States; citing ED 693, sheet 27B, line 83, family 609, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1202; FHL microfilm 1,821,202.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RCW-S25?cc=1810731&wc=QZFQ-R7R%3A649437801%2C651941001%2C652029301%2C1589284928 : 10 December 2015), New York > Queens > Queens (Districts 0251-0500) > ED 437 > image 1 of 12; citing NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002).
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K798-7HN : 28 July 2019), Richard Feynman in household of Melville Feynman, Assembly District 5, Queens, New York City, Queens, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 41-1611, sheet 2A, line 11, family 23, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 2749.
4. ↑ "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-91N7-N8P?cc=1968530&wc=9FZ1-K6D%3A928312401%2C929054001 : 14 May 2014), New York > New York City no 145; Coyle, Luke-Schwartz, Harry > image 739 of 4911; citing NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
5. ↑ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24QD-2SH : 10 February 2018), Melvill A. Feynman and Lucille Phillips, 26 Mar 1916; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,614,464.
6. ↑ "Idaho Marriage Index, 1947-1961," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8HD-PJH : 9 December 2014), Mary Louise Bell and Richard Phillips Feynman, 28 Jun 1952; citing Marriage, Ada, Idaho, United States, certificate 19075, Idaho Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Boise.
7. ↑ "California Marriage Index, 1960-1985," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V6JC-1JL : 27 November 2014), Richard P Feynman and Gweneth M Howarth, 24 Sep 1960; from "California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2007); citing Los Angeles, California, Center of Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
8. ↑ "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPMK-5S7 : 26 November 2014), Richard Phillips Feynman, 15 Feb 1988; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
9. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKGW-82W : 4 December 2020), Richard P Feynman, 15 Feb 1988; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
10. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 14 December 2020), memorial page for Richard Phillips Feynman (11 May 1918–15 Feb 1988), Find a Grave Memorial no. 2562, citing Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum, Altadena, Los Angeles County, California, USA; Maintained by Find A Grave.

See also:

• The Britannica Guide to The 100 Most Influential Scientists (2007), pp. 301-305.

• Wikipedia: Richard Feynman

• Wikidata: Item Q39246, en:Wikipedia

• James Gleick, "Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman", Vintage, 1993.

• Richard P. Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!", W. W. Norton & Company, 1985

• https://getpocket.com/explore/item/one-of-the-last-living-manhattan-project-scientists-looks-back-at-the-atomic-bomb-tests?utm_source=pocket-newtab