Your Typical Genius:

1
Your Typical Genius

• The Eccentric Richard Feynman

2
Early Life/Education

• B. May 11, 1918, d. February 15, 1988
• Understood differential and integral calculus at
  15
• IQ of 123 while in high school
• In last year of school, won NYU Math Championship
• Attended MIT, took every physics course
• First ever perfect scores in math and physics on
  Princeton entrance exams
• Received PhD in 1942

3
Manhattan Project

• Worked at Los Alamos
• Spent most time organizing human computers
• Picked locks, left notes as prank, and drummed in
  spare time

• After bombings, entered period of depression
• Thought that there was no use to build for
  future, as world would be destroyed eventually

4
Teaching Career

• Despite other options, Feynman chose a
  professorship at Caltech
• Nicknamed The Great Explainer
• Tried to make all topics accessible to freshmens
• Won Oersted Medal for teaching

5
Quantum Electrodynamics

• Developed theory for quantum electrodynamics
• Won Nobel Prize along with Julian
  Schwinger/Sin-Itiro Tomonaga
• Interactions between atomic particles
  electromagnetic radiation

6
Feynman Diagrams

• Helps calculate particle interactions
• Essential to string/M-theory

7
Other Works

• Model of weak nuclear decay (Collaboration with
  Murray Gell-Mann)
• Nanotechnology (Theres Plenty of Room at the
  Bottom)
• Superconductivity
• Challenger disaster (Rogers Commission)
• Computational consultant

8
Other Interests

• Tuva
• Mayan hieroglyphs
• Samba
• Art (Ofey)
• LSD

9
Prizes/Commemorations/Works

• Feynman Computing Centre at Fermilab
• QED
• Think Different Apple ad campaign
• Infinity
• The Diamond Age science fiction book
• The Nth Degree, 1991 Chain of Command, Part 1
  1991 Star Trek The Next Generation
• USPS American Scientists on one of four 37-cent
  stamps along with John von Neumann, Barbara
  McClintock, and Josiah Willard Gibbs
• Challenger
• Theres Plenty of Room at the Bottom
• The Feynman Lectures on Physics
• Surely Youre Joking, Mr. Feynman!
• What Do You Care What Other People Think?
• QED The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

10
Bibliography

• "Richard Feynman." Wikipedia, The Free
  Encyclopedia. 3 Oct 2007, 1238 UTC.
• Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 3 Oct 2007
  lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/w/
• Index.php?titleRichard_Feynmanoldid162001106gt.
  
• Roukes, Michael. Plenty of Room Indeed.
  Scientific American Special Edition. Sep. 2007
  Vol. 17 Issue 3, p4-11. Student Research Centre.
  EBSCOhost, Inc. Churchill Library, Vancouver, BC.
  8 Oct. 2007 lthttp//web.ebscohost.comgt.
• Stuewe, Roger. Feynman, Richard Phillips.
  World Book. 2004 ed.
• The Pleasure of Finding Things Out Avoiding
  Humanities. Horizon. BBC. 1981.
• The Pleasure of Finding Things Out Doubt and
  Uncertainty. Horizon. BBC. 1981.
• The Pleasure of Finding Things Out The Beauty
  of a Flower Horizon. BBC. 1981.
• Whitmarsh, J.R. Shuttle disaster. Letter. The
  Times UK. 5 Feb. 2003. Student Research Centre.
  EBSCOhost, Inc. Churchill Library, Vancouver, BC.
  8 Oct. 2007 lthttp//web.ebscohost.comgt.
• Zhu, Steven. Online Interview. 14 Oct. 2007.

11
Images

• Top bar, right photo
• Ahmad, Muhammad. Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad's
  Richard P. Feynman Site. 10 Oct. 2007.
  lthttp//www.geocities.com/feynmang/fmain.jpggt.
• All Feynman Diagrams
• Bryson, Steve. Whats the Matter? Steve and
  Hannahs Web Site. 10 Oct. 2007. lt
  http//homepage.mac.com/stevepur/physics/matter/
  matter.3.htmlgt.
• Front page, right photo Courtesy of Apple, Inc.
• Third slide, right photo Department of Defense

12
Los Alamos Laboratory Photos

• Third slide, left photo Los Alamos Laboratory
  Photos
• Unless otherwise indicated, this information has
  been authored by an employee or employees of the
  University of California, operator of the Los
  Alamos National Laboratory under Contract No.
  W-7405-ENG-36 with the U.S. Department of Energy.
  The U.S. Government has rights to use, reproduce,
  and distribute this information. The public may
  copy and use this information without charge,
  provided that this Notice and any statement of
  authorship are reproduced on all copies. Neither
  the Government nor the University makes any
  warranty, express or implied, or assumes any
  liability or responsibility for the use of this
  information.

13
Activity

• Choose one interesting fact about Feynman, and
  explain why its interesting to you
• Compare Feynman to your own topic, and explain
  why its important
• Who is the best physicist in the world?
• Write a story of any length regarding Feynman and
  one of his pursuits