Outstanding American scientist Richard Feynman: biography and achievements, quotes

2024 Author: Angel Austin | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:14

Richard Phillips Feynman (years of life - 1918-1988) - an outstanding physicist from the USA. He is one of the founders of such a direction as quantum electrodynamics. Between 1943 and 1945, Richard was involved in the development of the atomic bomb. He also created the path integration method (in 1938), the Feynman diagram method (in 1949). With their help, it is possible to explain such a phenomenon as the transformation of elementary particles. Richard Feynman also proposed in 1969 the parton model of the nucleon, the theory of quantized vortices. In 1965, together with J. Schwinger and S. Tomonaga, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Richard's childhood

Richard Feynman was born into a we althy Jewish family. His parents (perhaps only his father or even his grandfather were from Russia), Lucille and Melville, lived in Far Rockaway, which is located in New York, in the south of Queens. His father worked at a clothing factory in the sales department. He had great respect for scientists and had a passion for science. Melville equipped a small houselaboratory in which he allowed his son to play. The father immediately decided that if a boy was born, he would be a scientist. Girls in those years were not expected to have a scientific future, although they could get an academic degree. However, Joan Feynman, Richard's younger sister, refuted this notion. She became a famous astrophysicist. Melville tried from early childhood to arouse in Richard an interest in understanding the world. He answered the child's questions in detail, using knowledge from physics, biology, and chemistry in his answers. Melville often referred to various reference materials. During training, he did not apply pressure, never told his son that he should become a scientist. The boy liked the chemical tricks that his father showed him. Soon Richard himself mastered them and began to gather neighbors and friends, for whom he arranged spectacular shows. Feynman inherited his mother's sense of humor.

First job

At the age of 13, Richard got his first job - he began to repair radios. The boy gained fame - many neighbors turned to him, because, firstly, Richard repaired them efficiently and quickly, and secondly, he tried to logically determine the cause of the malfunction before he started work. Neighbors admired Feynman Jr., who always thought before taking apart another radio.

Training

After completing four years of study at the Department of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Richard Feynman continued to study at Princeton University. During the Second World War, he tried to govolunteered for the front, but was unfairly screened out during a psychiatric check.

Marrying Arlene Greenbaum

Richard Feynman continued his studies, now for a Ph. D. During this time, he married Arlene Greenbaum. Richard was in love with this girl from the age of 13, and at 19 he was engaged to her. Arlene was doomed to death at the time of the wedding, because she had tuberculosis.

Richard's parents were against their wedding, but Feynman did his own thing. The wedding was played on the way to the train station before leaving for Los Alamos. An accountant and accountant from Richmond City Hall testified. The ceremony was not attended by relatives of the newlyweds. When it was time to kiss the bride, Feynman, mindful of her illness, placed a kiss on her cheek.

Participation in the development of the atomic bomb

Richard at Los Alamos took part in the Atomic Bomb Development Project (Manhattan Project). He was still studying at Preston when the recruiting process took place. The idea to join this project was given to him by Robert Wilson, a famous physicist. Feynman was not enthusiastic at first, but then he thought about what would happen if the Nazis invented it first, and decided to join the development. While Richard was busy with such a responsible matter as the Manhattan Project, his wife was in a hospital located near Los Alamos in the city of Albuquerque. They saw each other every weekend. Physicist Richard Feynman spent all his weekends with her.

Feynman becomes a cracker

Feynman duringwork on the bomb project acquired good skills as a safecracker. Richard was able to convincingly prove that the security measures applied at that time were not effective enough. He stole information related to the development of the atomic bomb from the safes of other employees. True, these documents were necessary for him for his own research. In 1985, an autobiographical book written by Richard Feynman ("You're joking, Mr. Feynman!") was first published. In it, he noted that, out of curiosity, he was engaged in opening safes (as well as many other things in his life). Richard studied the subject carefully and discovered a few tricks that he tested in the lab on safe cabinets. In this case, luck often helped him. All this created a reputation for Richard as a cracker in his team.

Drumming

Richard's other hobby was drumming. He accidentally picked up a drum one day and has been playing it almost every day since then. Richard admitted that he practically did not know rhythms, but he used Indian ones, which were quite simple. Sometimes he took drums with him into the forest so as not to disturb anyone, sang and beat them with a stick.

A new stage in life

Since the 1950s, Richard Feynman, whose biography continues with a new stage of life, worked at the California Institute of Technology as a researcher. After the end of the war and the death of his wife, he felt devastated. Feynman never ceased to be surprised by the many letters offering department positionsvarious universities. He was even called to work at Princeton, which taught great geniuses such as Einstein. Feynman eventually decided that if the world wanted it, it would get it. But whether the expectations of getting a great physicist will come true is no longer his problem. After Feynman stopped doubting himself, he again felt a surge of inspiration and strength.

Richard's main achievements

Richard continued research in the field of his theory of quantum transformations. He also made a breakthrough in the physics of superfluidity by applying the Schrödinger equation to this phenomenon. This discovery, together with the explanation of superconductivity, which was obtained a little earlier by three scientists, led to the fact that the theoretical physics of low temperatures began to develop actively. In addition, Richard, together with M. Gell-Mann, the discoverer of quarks, worked on the theory of the so-called weak decay. It manifests itself best when the beta decay of a free neutron into an antineutrino, an electron, and a proton occurs. This theory by Richard Feynman actually opened up a new law of nature. The scientist owns the idea of quantum computing. Theoretical physics has advanced greatly thanks to him.

At the request of the Academy in the 1960s, Feynman spent 3 years creating his new physics course. By 1964, a textbook was published called The Feynman Lectures on Physics (Richard Feynman), a book that is still considered the best textbook for physics students to this day. In addition, Richard contributedcontribution to the very methodology of scientific knowledge. He explained the principles of scientific honesty to his students, and also published relevant articles on this topic (in particular, about the cargo cult).

Psychological experiments

Feynman was involved in sensory deprivation experiments in the 1960s by John Lilly, a friend of his. In his autobiographical book, which we have already mentioned, he describes the experiences of hallucinations that he experienced in a special chamber, isolated from all external influences. Feynman even smoked marijuana during the experiments, but refused to experiment with LSD for fear of brain damage.

Personal events

In the 1950s, Richard remarried - to Mary Lou. However, he soon divorced, realizing that he mistook for love a feeling that was only a strong passion. At a conference in Europe in the early 1960s, he met the woman who would become his third wife. It was Gwyneth Howarth, an Englishwoman. The couple had a child, Carl. In addition, they also adopted an adopted daughter named Michelle.

Passion for drawing

After a while, Feynman became interested in art in order to understand what effect it has on people. Richard began taking drawing lessons. His work at first did not differ in beauty, but over time Feynman got the hang of it and even became a very good portrait painter.

Missed trip

Richard Feynman, along with his wife and friend Ralph Leighton, who was the son of Robert Leighton, the great physicist, in the 1970s conceived a trip tostate of Tuva. It was at that time an independent country, surrounded by impregnable mountains on all sides. It was located between Mongolia and Russia. The small state was under the jurisdiction of the USSR (Tuva ASSR). According to the only researcher who specialized in Tuva, a report on this trip could double the knowledge about this state. Before the trip, Feynman and his wife re-read all the literature about this country that existed at that time in the world - two books. Feynman was fond of deciphering ancient texts belonging to disappeared civilizations, and indeed riddles in the history of mankind. In the Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, as he suggested, there could be clues to many world mysteries. However, the scientist was not given a visa, so, unfortunately, this historic trip never took place.

Feynman experiment

National Aerospace Agency 1986-28-01 launched the reusable Space Shuttle Challenger. 73 seconds after launch, it exploded. As it turned out, the rocket boosters that lifted the shuttle and the fuel tank were the cause. The design flaws and rubber burnouts that had already taken place were reported to Feynman by scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. And General Kutina told him that at launch the air temperature was close to zero, and under these conditions, there is a loss of rubber elasticity. In an experiment conducted by Feynman using a ring, a glass of ice and pliers, it was shown that the ring lost its strength at low temperatures.elasticity. Due to the violation of tightness, hot gases burned through the case. This is what happened on January 28.

The experiment demonstrated live brought Feynman fame as a man who unraveled the mystery of the catastrophe (we note that it was undeserved), which, however, he did not claim. The fact is that NASA was aware that at low temperatures a rocket launch is fraught with disaster, but it was decided to take a chance. Maintenance personnel and technicians who knew about the possible disaster were silenced.

Sickness and death

In the 1970s, it was discovered that Richard Feynman had cancer, a rare form of it. A tumor located in the abdominal region was excised, but the body was badly damaged. One of the kidneys refused to work. Several repeated operations did not have a significant effect on the course of the disease. The Nobel Prize winner in physics was doomed.

Richard Feynman's condition gradually worsened. In 1987, another tumor was found in him. It was cut out, but Feynman was already very weak and was in pain all the time. He was again hospitalized in 1988, in February. In addition to cancer, the doctors also discovered a burst ulcer. In addition, the remaining kidney failed. It was possible to give Richard a few more months of life by connecting an artificial kidney. However, he decided that enough was enough and refused medical attention. Richard Feynman died on February 15, 1988. He was buried in Altadena, in a simple grave. The ashes of his wife lie next to him.

Feynman car

Feynman purchased a Dodge Tradesman van in 1975. It was painted in the mustard colors popular at the time, and the inside was painted in shades of green. The Feynman diagrams that brought Richard the Nobel Prize were drawn on this car. On the van, he made many long trips. The scientist also ordered special QANTUM number plates for him.

Feynman sometimes drove this car to work, but it was usually used by Gwyneth, his wife. At a traffic light, she was once asked why the car had Feynman diagrams on it. The woman replied that it was because her name was Gwyneth Feynman.

The car was sold after Richard's death for $1 to Ralph Leighton, a family friend. Selling for this nominal fee is the standard way Feynman disposes of his old cars. The car served its new owner for a long time. In 1993, she took part in the march in memory of R. Feynman.