Difference between revisions 25512 and 25523 on enwiki

What Dr. Kemp and some others seem not to understand is that liberals constantly try to undermine traditional morality, while claiming not to be doing so. To be NPOV, the wikipedia needs to attribute views to their proponents, not state them as facts. Larry has said this repeatedly, and I agree with him. 

Liberals, however, often have trouble following the NPOV policy. Although I hesitate to speculate about the motives of people I haven't spoken with in person, it may be either a conscious or unconscious attempt to win debating points on their part. Be that as it may, I have no wish to engage in ''ad hominem'' arguments. I will leave that to others, if they enjoy it. 

My proposal, for those who are interested, is that we all focus on improving articles which we know something about and care about. No one is forced to contribute, and no one's words are immune to merciless revision. Generally, if other contributors repeatedly delete my contributions, I choose not to retaliate (an eye for an eye makes us both blind). But the difficulty of adhering to NPOV knows no ideological bounds, and sometimes I fall short of the mark. I really do appreciate the help I get from others. 

I do make a practice of being open about my motivations. I think it saves time to tell the truth, as Mr. Kiku said in Heinlein's "The Star Beast". I hope others will be equally open, but I do not think it's nearly as important as remembering to attribute views to their proponents. --Ed
----
''I moved this debate with Dr. Kemp, who is mischaracterizing me so consistently I can only question her sincerity. -- Ed''

:No need to question, Ed.  I'm entirely sincere in everything I've said. It is not a mischaracterization, because I've only stated the impressions I have based on what you've said.  Oh -- and I didn't actually call you the representative of good -- merely pointed out that you seemed to have given yourself this role.  You must have been confused.  [[user:J Hofmann Kemp|J Hofmann Kemp]]

::It seems confusion is our mutual enemy. If we agree on this at least, perhaps it can give us something to build on. --Ed

Hi, Ed! -- Welcome back.  I notice you are again starting articles on which you cannot be neutral, and I have to ask, WHY????  By the way, I went to school in California when the schools were ranked highest in the country.  They were well funded, and fairly liberal.  My sex education classes ranged from basic anatomy (you're going to get your period, girls) to encouraging a healthy attitude towards accepting our bodies and sexuality.  Birth control was discussed, but the teachers always claimed that abstinence was the best method of birth control and that sex was not a substitute for liking yourself.  Byt the time I was a senior in high school, we also discussed STDs and, the day before Senior Prom, my biology teacher brought in some ex-students who worked at planned parenthood, who demonstrated how to put on a condom without breaking it.  Some people surreptitiously palmed a couple of condoms for later, but most of us just laughed and filed the info away for future reference.  At no time were we pushed to "accept immoral practices".  We were, however, taught that some people, for whatever reason, were gay, and that, even if we found it an immoral practice, we lived in a country where it was legal to be gay, and it was wrong to attack people (verbally or physically) because of it.  I'm sure sex ed has changed -- i'll have to ask my daughter.  But really...could you please not write articles if you know in advance you can't be neutral? [[user:J Hofmann Kemp|J Hofmann Kemp]]

:In the battle between good and evil, the mere failure to condemn evil is the precise equivalent of accepting it. Education which promotes a "non-judgmental attitude" toward something thus pushes students to accept it. I refuse to be neutral: I oppose evil. However, I have agreed to '''write''' from an [[NPOV]] when contributing to the wikipedia. I will still call a spade a spade, but in cases where many others want to call it a diamond I will try to indicate a '''source''' for its identification as a spade. Fair enough? --Ed Poor

::You oppose ''what you consider to be evil'' and many other people consider to be good. And that's just fine, but advocacy like that does not belong into an encyclopedia. [[user:AxelBoldt|AxelBoldt]]

:::If you think that way, perhaps you are evil. Beware. --your friend, Ed Poor

::::If you think that way, perhaps you also believe that encyclopedias are evil.  Conundrum.  [[user:Olof|Olof]]

::::No, Olof, I don't think encyclopedias are evil. Assembling human knowledge is a worthy goal. However, forcing children to accept immorality is evil. Calling this force "non-judgmental" does not make it good. --Ed Poor

:::::QED [[user:Olof|Olof]]

Ed, I hardly think that believing in free will and that man was granted the ability to reason and make choices can be construed as evil.  As usual, you are oversimplifying the argument and condemning others who disagree.  Whether or not you like it, not even all Christians believe the same thing (or at least not all to the same degree) when it comes to sexual mores. Your "traditional" does not make it the only viewpoint, and is certainly not the only moral one, nor does it represent the views of all religions and cultures.  It's insulting and arrogant for you to claim that you are somehow the representative of good vs. evil, and those of us who wish for a balanced article that includes information with which you don't agree represent some corrupting force. [[user:J Hofmann Kemp|J Hofmann Kemp]]

:You sound a bit confused. That's natural, because evil's best weapon is confusion. Let me give you a bit of guidance.
*''Well, that's one of the most patronizing and offensive statements yet.  I'm not at all confused, Ed.  Nor do I accept your implication that I am somehow confused because I am under the influence of evil.  How dare you reduce a debate on the presentation of information in a neutral, inclusive, and objective style to Ed = good, people who think Ed can't be objective = confused or under some evil influence?''

#I agree with you that believing in free will and that man was granted the ability to reason and make choices can not be construed as evil. You seem to think I believe otherwise, although you don't say way.

*''I think you believe otherwise because you have consistently negated arguments of people who discuss using reason to make moral decisions, absent a membership in a social group that follows what you so blithely (and incorrectly) call traditional morality.  If this is not what you mean, perhaps you should write more clearly.''

#If there is indeed, as you seem to suggest, an argument which should not be simplified, please delineate its complexity in the article. I will be happy to read your contribution.
*''Ed, one of my objections is that almost all of your contributions start out as this one has.  To wit: Ed places a very non-NPOV  stub on the site; immediately, many people jump in to try to add to and neutralize the content; Ed takes offense and sparks major debate over morality; Ed answers objections on NPOV, etc., with something like, "please delineate its complexity in the article. I will be happy to read your contribution" -- implying that you have some type of editorial rights that the rest of us don't.''  
*''Have you not realized that: 1)'''you are not the arbiter of what goes into an article''', and 2)'''you are abusing the time and efforts of others by working in this fashion'''?'' Understand that I call abuse because you depend upon people who care about the quality of the content on the site to jump in and contribute to subjects they may not have wanted to write on, but feel obligated because they care about the project.  It's really inconsiderate and (based on my own experience and the inferences I've drawn from that experience) manipulative of you.  Your methods force others to do the bulk of the work while you take advantage of the evangelical opportunities that always arise from the debate on "traditional" morality -- traditional in quotes because I know right-wing, Rush limbaugh Republicans who would disagree with you -- not to mention tons of other people who are very moral.''

#I condemn no one, except those who deliberately choose evil. Axel implied that I shouldn't oppose evil. If he's really saying that, I repeat that he should beware: refusing to oppose evil lets it triumph (as Edmund Burke or someone said).
*''As above -- you imply that those of us who argue with you about the characteristics of morality are somehow of lesser mental capacity, moral worth, and/or influenced by evil -- it's offensive and likely untrue.''

::Don't put words in my mouth. I said that you are welcome to oppose ''what you consider evil'' and advocate for ''what you consider good'', just like I do, '''but not on Wikipedia'''. This is not a space to advocate viewpoints. Do it on your website, on Usenet, write letters to the editor, whatever. Your goal in contributing to Wikipedia, quite obviously, is not to create a good encyclopedia, but to sneak in your point of view. By doing that, you suck time out of the rest of us. [[user:AxelBoldt|AxelBoldt]]

#I agree that the traditional viewpoint is not the only one. If there's another one you'd like to see in the articl, please add it. Perhaps you could even describe variations within the traditional viewpoint. 

*''As above, buddy.  You started the article -- it's '''your responsibility''' to do your best to present other viewpoints as well.  Otherwise, you're not really a contributer -- just a gadfly who doesn't respect the time of other Wikipedians.''

#If there are other opinions about what is "moral", please describe these, too, and say who advances these opinions.
*''As above -- and don't be disingenuous -- it's insulting.''

#I am not the world's leading advocate of goodness, but that should be no bar to contributing ideas about goodness vs. evil to the wikipedia. You do it, yourself.
*Perhaps on talk pages, but my article writing is  based in a career of scholarship, which demands objectivity.''
#Your biggest mistake, would be to think that I don't want a balanced article. Is this what you really think? Come on, now, what would make you think I opposed balance and NPOV? I have no objection whatsoever to "including information with which I don't agree" -- it must merely be labeled correctly as to who believes it, in accordance with [[NPOV]] policy.
*''Ed, what I believe about you is that you are deliberately creating situations like this to make yourself feel important and perhaps even more comfortable with your own moral choices.  Moreover, I believe that you are trying to use these pages to evangelize others on the truth as seen by the [[Unification church]], but in a fairly subtle way.  I believe that you don't have the ability to write a fair and balanced article, but would like to think of yourself as some kind of arbiter of what information belongs in that article -- thereby boosting your own importance in your own little world.  I believe that you are so wrapped up in your little control games that you do not feel obliged to treat the rest of us as colleagues -- in short, the traditional virtue of charity and the Christian tradition of the Golden Rule seem to be absent from your wikipedia life.  Those are some of the nicer things I believe about you, Ed.''
*The straight (but not narrow), happily married, Christian, environmentalist, Feminist, Mrs. Dr. [[user:J Hofmann Kemp|J Hofmann Kemp]]

I hoped I had cleared up any false impression Dr. Kemp may have formed of me, but plainly I have failed. Nevertheless, i still would like us cooperate to make the Wikipedia comprehensive, accurate, and neutral (in the [[NPOV]] sense). -- Ed

----
After giving this a lot of thought, I am going to take a radical point of view here and say that any piece that assumes "morality" cannot, by nature, be NPOV. Morality in general is a cultural construct, deeply rooted in Western society, but not necessarily existent among other cultures. That is not to say that other cultures do not have concepts of right and wrong or good and evil--rather, it claims that morality is a third construct. For instance, the Jewish religion forbids its adherents from eating pork. Eating pork can therefore be classified as a "wrong" act or even as a sin. However, no Jew would say that the act is inherently immoral. It simply falls within the confines of certain strictures. In a similar sense, other religions and cultures will use terms such as 'pure and impure,' 'allowed and forbidden,' etc. This does not imply morality. 
Following these same lines, I would argue that certain religions might forbid certain sexual activities. That does not imply that the activities are necessarily immoral, just  that they are forbidden. 
By using terms such as "traditional morality," we are imposing a set of values on others. By talking about the 'morality' of premarital sex or homosexuality, we are doing the same. If we do choose to use the term morality, I vote that we qualify it to show specifically whose morality it is. 
Oh, and I don't buy the liberal and conservative distinctions that have been used either. There are NOT two sides to this issue: there is a spectrum of opinions. Are Log Cabin Republicans really liberals? [[user:Danny|Danny]] 
⏎

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{{Infobox_Biography |
  subject_name   = Richard Feynman |
  image_name     = richard_feynman.jpg |
  image_caption  = "... I think I can safely say that nobody understands Quantum Mechanics" - Richard P. Feynman |
  date_of_birth  = [[May 11]], [[1918]] |
  place_of_birth = [[Queens, New York]] |
  date_of_death  = [[February 15]], [[1988]] |
  place_of_death = [[Los Angeles, California]]
}}
'''Richard Phillips Feynman''' ([[May 11]], [[1918]]–[[February 15]], [[1988]]) ([[surname]] pronounced "FINE-man") was one of the most influential [[United States|American]] [[physics|physicists]] of the [[20th century]], expanding greatly the theory of [[quantum electrodynamics]]. As well as being an inspiring lecturer and amateur [[music]]ian, he helped in the development of the [[atomic bomb]] and was later a member of the panel which investigated the [[STS-51-L|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster]]. For his work on quantum electrodynamics, Feynman was one of the recipients of the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for [[1965]], along with [[Julian Schwinger]] and [[Sin-Itiro Tomonaga]].

He is also famous for his many adventures, detailed in the books ''[[Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!]]'', ''[[What Do You Care What Other People Think?]]'' and ''Tuva Or Bust!''. Richard Feynman was, in many respects, an [[eccentricity (behavior)|eccentric]] and a [[free spirit]].

==Biography==
[[Image:Nobel_feynman.jpg|frame|Richard Feynman]] Feynman was born in [[Rockaway|Far Rockaway]], [[Queens, New York|Queens]], [[City of New York|New York]]; his parents were [[Jewish]], although they did not practice [[Judaism]] as a religion. The young Feynman was heavily influenced by his father who encouraged him to ask questions in order to challenge orthodox thinking. His mother instilled in him a powerful sense of humor which he kept all his life. As a child, he delighted in repairing radios and had a talent for engineering. He kept experimenting on and re-creating mathematical topics, such as the ''[[half-derivative]]'' (a mathematical ''[[operator]]'', which when applied twice in succession, resulted in the [[derivative]] of a [[function_(mathematics)|function]]), utilizing his own notation, before entering college. (Thus, even while in high school, he was developing the mathematical intuition behind his [[Taylor series]] of [[mathematical operator]]s.) His habit of direct characterization would sometimes disconcert more conventional thinkers; one of his questions when learning feline anatomy was: "Do you have a map of the cat?" When he spoke, it was with clarity.
===Education===
Feynman received a [[bachelor's degree]] from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] in [[1939]], and was named [[Putnam Fellow]] that same year.  He received a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] from [[Princeton University]] in [[1942]]; his thesis advisor was [[John Archibald Wheeler]]. After Feynman completed his thesis on quantum mechanics, Wheeler showed it to [[Albert Einstein]], but Einstein was unconvinced. While researching his Ph.D, Feynman married his first wife, Arline<!--not Arlene--> Greenbaum, who had been diagnosed with [[tuberculosis]], a terminal illness at that time; they were careful, and Feynman never contracted TB.

===The Manhattan Project===
[[Image:Feynman and Oppenheimer at Los Alamos.gif|thumb|Feynman (center) with [[Robert Oppenheimer]] (right) relaxing at a [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]] social function during the top-secret [[Manhattan Project]].]] 
At Princeton, the physicist [[Robert R. Wilson]] encouraged Feynman to participate in the [[Manhattan Project]]&mdash;the wartime [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] project at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]] developing the atomic bomb. He visited his wife in a sanitarium in [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] on weekends, right up until her death in July [[1945]]. He immersed himself in work on the project, and was present at the [[Trinity site|Trinity]] bomb test. Feynman claimed to be the only person to see the explosion without the dark glasses provided, looking through a truck windshield to screen out harmful [[ultraviolet]] frequencies. 

As a junior physicist, his work on the project was relatively removed from the major action, consisting mostly of administering the [[computation]] group of human [[computer]]s in the Theoretical division, and then, with [[Nicholas Metropolis]], setting up the system for using IBM [[punch card]]s for computation. Feynman actually succeeded in solving one of the equations for the project which were posted on the blackboards. <!--  These were the equations that terrified [[Stanislaw Ulam]] when he first arrived, until Ulam noticed they never changed. --> However, they didn't "do the physics right" and Feynman's solution <!--to one of those equations--> was not used in the project. 

Los Alamos was isolated; in his own words, "There wasn't anything to ''do'' there". Bored, Feynman found pastimes such as [[lock picking|picking locks]], breaking into safes and leaving mischievous notes to prove that the security at the lab was not as good as people would like to believe; as a drummer, he would find an isolated section of the [[mesa]] to drum Indian-style; "and maybe I would dance and chant, a little". These antics did not go unnoticed, but no one knew that "Injun Joe" was actually Feynman. He became a friend of laboratory head [[Robert Oppenheimer|J. Robert Oppenheimer]], who unsuccessfully tried to court him away from his other commitments to work at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] after the war.

=== Early career: Cornell University===
After the project, Feynman started working as a [[professor]] at [[Cornell University]], where [[Hans Bethe]], who proved that the Sun's source of energy was [[nuclear fusion]], worked. However he felt uninspired there; despairing that he had burned out, he turned to less useful, but fun problems, such as analyzing the physics of a twirling, [[Nutation|nutating]] dish, as it is being balanced by a juggler. As it turned out, this work served him in future researches. He was therefore surprised to be offered professorships from competing universities, eventually choosing to work at the [[California Institute of Technology]] at [[Pasadena, California]], despite being offered a position near [[Princeton University|Princeton]], at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] (which included, at that time, such distinguished faculty as [[Albert Einstein]]).

Feynman rejected the Institute on the grounds that there were no teaching duties. Feynman found his students to be a source of inspiration and also, during uncreative times, comfort. He felt that if he could not be creative, at least he could teach.

[[Image:FeynmanLecturesOnPhysics.jpg|thumb|250px| Feynman the "Great Explainer": ''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'' found an appreciative audience beyond the undergraduate community. ]]

Feynman is sometimes called the "Great Explainer"; he took great care when explaining topics to his students, making it a moral point ''not'' to make a topic arcane, but accessible to others. He opposed the [[rote learning]] and other teaching methods that emphasised form over function everywhere, from a conference on education in Brazil to state commission on school textbook selection. ''Clear thinking'' and ''clear presentation'' were fundamental prerequisites for his attention. It could be perilous to even approach him when unprepared, and he did not forget who the fools or pretenders were. On one sabbatical year, he returned to Newton's ''Principia'' to study it anew; what he learned from Newton, he also passed along to his students, such as Newton's attempted explanation of [[diffraction]].

===The Caltech years===
Feynman did much of his best work while at [[California Institute of Technology|Caltech]], including research in:

* [[Quantum electrodynamics]]. The problem for which Feynman won his [[Nobel Prize]] involved the probability of quantum states changing. He helped develop a [[path integral formulation|functional integral formulation]] of quantum mechanics, in which every possible path from one state to the next is considered, the final path being a ''sum'' over the possibilities.

* Physics of the [[superfluid]]ity of supercooled liquid [[helium]], where helium seems to display a lack of [[viscosity]] when flowing. Applying the [[Schrödinger equation]] to the question showed that the superfluid was displaying quantum mechanical behavior observable on a macroscopic scale. This helped enormously with the problem of [[superconductivity]].

* A model of [[weak decay]], which showed that the current coupling in the process is a combination of vector and axial. (An example of weak decay is the decay of a [[neutron]] into an [[electron]], a [[proton]], and an anti-[[neutrino]].)  Although [[E.C. George Sudharsan]] and [[Robert Marshak]] developed the theory nearly simultaneously, Feynman's collaboration with [[Murray Gell-Mann]] was seen as the seminal one, the theory was of massive importance, and the [[weak interaction]] was neatly described.

He also developed [[Feynman diagram]]s, a ''bookkeeping device'' which helps in conceptualising and calculating interactions between [[particle]]s in [[spacetime]]. This device allowed him, and now others, to work with concepts which would have been less approachable without it, such as time reversibility and other fundamental processes. These diagrams are now fundamental for [[string theory]] and [[M-theory]], and have even been extended topologically. Feynman's mental picture for these diagrams started with the ''hard sphere'' approximation, and the interactions could be thought of as ''collisions'' at first. It was not until decades later that physicists thought of analyzing the nodes of the Feynman diagrams more closely. The ''world-lines'' of the diagrams have become ''tubes'' to better model the more complicated objects such as ''strings'' and ''M-branes''.

From his diagrams of a small number of particles interacting in [[spacetime]], Feynman could then [[model]] ''all of physics'' in terms of those particles' [[spin]]s and the range of coupling of the [[fundamental force]]s. The [[quark]] model, however, was a rival to Feynman's [[parton]] formulation. Feynman did not dispute the quark model; for example, when the 5th quark was discovered, Feynman immediately pointed out to his students that the discovery implied the existence of a 6th quark, which was duly discovered in the decade after his death.

After the success of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman turned to quantum gravity. By analogy with the photon, which has spin 1, he investigated the consequences of a free massless spin 2 field, and was able to derive the [[Einstein field equation]] of general relativity, but little more. Unfortunately, at this time he became exhausted by working on multiple major projects at the same time, including his ''Lectures in Physics''. 

While at Caltech, Feynman was asked to "spruce up" the teaching of undergraduates. After three years devoted to the task, a series of lectures was produced, eventually becoming the famous ''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics|Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'', which are a major reason that Feynman is still regarded by most physicists as one of the greatest ''teachers'' of physics ever. Feynman later won the [[Oersted Medal]] for teaching, of which he seemed especially proud. His students competed keenly for his attention; once he was awakened when a student solved a problem and dropped it in his mailbox at home; glimpsing the student sneaking across his lawn, he could not go back to sleep, and he read the student's solution. That morning his breakfast was interrupted by another triumphant student, but Feynman informed this student that he was too late.

Feynman was a keen and influential popularizer of physics in both his books and lectures, notably a seminal [[1959]] talk on [[nanotechnology]] called ''[[There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom]]''. Feynman offered $1000 prizes for two of his challenges in nanotechnology. He was also one of the first scientists to realise the possibility of [[quantum computer]]s. Many of his lectures and other miscellaneous talks were turned into books such as ''The Character of Physical Law'' and ''QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter''. He would give lectures which his students would annotate into books, such as ''Statistical Mechanics'' and ''Lectures on Gravity''. ''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'' took a physicist, [[Robert B. Leighton (physicist)|Robert B. Leighton]], as full-time editor a number of years.

===Personal life===
Feynman's first wife died while he was working on the Manhattan project. He married a second time, to Mary Louise Bell of Neodesha, Kansas in June, 1952; this marriage was brief and unsuccessful. 

Feynman later married Gweneth Howarth from the United Kingdom, who shared his enthusiasm for life. Besides their home in [[Altadena, California]], they had a beach house in [[Baja California]]. They remained married for life, and had a child of their own, [[Carl Feynman|Carl]], and adopted a daughter, Michelle. 

Feynman had a great deal of success teaching Carl using discussions about ''ants'' and ''Martians'' as a device for gaining perspective on problems and issues; he was surprised to learn that the same teaching devices did not apply for Michelle. Mathematics was a common interest for father and son; they both entered the [[computer]] field as  consultants. 

The [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] retained Feynman as a computational consultant during critical missions. One coworker characterized Feynman as akin to ''Don Quixote'' at his desk, rather than at a computer workstation, ready to do battle with the windmills. 

According to Professor Steven Frautschi, a colleague of Feynman, Feynman was the only person in the Altadena region to buy flood insurance after the massive 1978 fire, predicting correctly that the fire's destruction would lead to land erosion, causing mudslides and flooding.  The flood occurred in 1979 after winter rains and destroyed multiple houses in the neighborhood.
 
Feynman traveled a great deal, notably to [[Brazil]], and near the end of his life schemed to visit the obscure [[Russia]]n land of [[Tuva]], a dream that, due to [[Cold War]] bureaucratic problems, never succeeded. During this period he discovered that he had a form of [[cancer]], but, thanks to surgery, he managed to hold it off.


Feynman did not work only on physics, and had a large circle of friends from all walks of life, including the arts. He took up [[painting]] at one time and enjoyed some success under a [[pseudonym]], culminating in an exhibition dedicated to his work. He learned to play [[drums]] (''frigideira'') in acceptable [[samba]] style in Brazil by persistence and practice, and participated in a samba "school". Such actions earned him a reputation of [[eccentricity (behaviour)|eccentricity]].

Feynman had very liberal views on [[sexuality]] and was not ashamed of admitting it. In ''Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'', he explains that he enjoyed [[hostess bar]]s and [[topless dancing]], and drew a decoration for a [[massage parlor]].  In addition, he admitted to being a [[cannabis]] user as well as having experimented with [[LSD]]. Feynman also enjoyed bike riding and being interviewed.

===Feynman's later years===

[[Image:STS-51-L-T 75.jpg|thumb|150px|Feynman served on the commission investigating the [[1986]] [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Challenger disaster]]. "''For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.''" ]]
Feynman was requested to serve on the presidential [[Rogers Commission]] which investigated the [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Challenger]] disaster of [[1986]]. Fed clues from a source with inside information, Feynman famously showed on television the crucial role in the disaster played by the [[booster rocket|booster]]'s [[O-ring]] flexible gas seals with a simple demonstration using a glass of ice water and a sample of o-ring material.  His opinion of the cause of the accident differed from the official findings, and were considerably more critical of the role of management in sidelining the concerns of engineers.  After much petitioning, Feynman's minority report was included as an appendix to the official document. The book ''What Do You Care What Other People Think?'' includes stories from Feynman's work on the commission. His engineering skill is reflected in his estimate of the reliability of the Space Shuttle (98%), which is unhappily reflected in the two failures over the 100-odd flights of the Space Shuttle as of [[2003]]. 

The cancer returned in [[1987]], with Feynman entering hospital a year later. Complications with surgery worsened his condition, whereupon Feynman decided to die with dignity and not accept any more treatment. He died on [[February 15]], [[1988]].

It has been announced that Feynman will be honored on a U.S. postage stamp in 2005.

==Works by Feynman==
''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'' are perhaps his most accessible work for anyone with an interest in physics. He produced it lecturing to undergraduates in 1962. As the news of the lectures' accessibility grew, a large number of professional physicists began to drop in on them. A professional physicist, Robert B. Leighton, then edited them into book form. The work has endured, and is useful to this day. 

===Books on physics===
<!-- <sup id="fn_1_back">[[#fn_1|Fey86]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_1">[[#fn_1_back|Fey86:]]</cite>-->
* ''Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics : The 1986 Dirac Memorial Lectures''
<!-- <sup id="fn_2_back">[[#fn_2|Fey6E]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_2">[[#fn_2_back|Fey6E:]]</cite>-->
* ''Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher''
<!-- <sup id="fn_3_back">[[#fn_3|Fey6NSE]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_3">[[#fn_3_back|Fey6NSE:]]</cite>-->
* ''Six Not So Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry and Space-Time''
<!-- <sup id="fn_4_back">[[#fn_4|Fey64a]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_4">[[#fn_4_back|Fey64a:]]</cite>-->
* ''[[The Feynman Lectures on Physics]]'' (with Leighton and Sands). 3 volumes [[1964]], [[1966]]. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 63-20717
<!-- <sup id="fn_5_back">[[#fn_5|FeyPL]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_5">[[#fn_5_back|FeyPL:]]</cite>-->
* ''The Character of Physical Law'' ISBN 0-262-56003-8
<!-- <sup id="fn_6_back">[[#fn_6|FeyQE]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_6">[[#fn_6_back|FeyQE:]]</cite>-->
* ''Quantum Electrodynamics'' ISBN 0-8053-2501-8
<!-- <sup id="fn_7_back">[[#fn_7|FeyLM]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_7">[[#fn_7_back|FeyLM:]]</cite>-->
* [[QED (book)|''QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter'']]
<!-- <sup id="fn_8_back">[[#fn_8|FeySM]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_8">[[#fn_8_back|FeySM:]]</cite>-->
* ''Statistical Mechanics'' ISBN 0-8053-2509-3
<!-- <sup id="fn_9_back">[[#fn_9|FeyFP]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_9">[[#fn_9_back|FeyFP:]]</cite>-->
* ''Theory of Fundamental Processes'' ISBN 0-8053-2507-7
<!-- <sup id="fn_10_back">[[#fn_10|FeyQM]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_10">[[#fn_10_back|FeyQM:]]</cite>-->
* ''Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals'' (with Albert Hibbs) ISBN 0-070-20650-3
<!-- <sup id="fn_11_back">[[#fn_11|FeyG]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_11">[[#fn_11_back|FeyG:]]</cite>-->
* ''Lectures on Gravitation'' [[1995]] ISBN 0-201-62734-5
<!-- <sup id="fn_12_back">[[#fn_12|FeyC]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_12">[[#fn_12_back|FeyC:]]</cite>-->
* ''Lectures on Computation'' ISBN 0201489910 
<!-- <sup id="fn_13_back">[[#fn_13|FeyLL]]</sup> 
<cite id="fn_13">[[#fn_13_back|FeyLL:]]</cite>-->* ''Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun''
<!-- <sup id="fn_14_back">[[#fn_14|FeyQC]]</sup> 
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* ''The Feynman Processor : Quantum Entanglement and the Computing Revolution'' ISBN 0-7382-0173-1

===Popular works by and about Feynman===

<!-- <sup id="fn_15_back">[[#fn_15|Fey99a]]</sup> 
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* Feynman, Richard Phillips. (1999). ''The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist''. Perseus Publishing. (Paperback Edition ISBN 0738201669)
<!-- <sup id="fn_16_back">[[#fn_16|FeyPF]]</sup> 
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* ''The Pleasure of Finding Things Out''
<!-- <sup id="fn_17_back">[[#fn_17|Fey85]]</sup> 
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* [[Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!]] ISBN 0-393-01921-7
<!-- <sup id="fn_18_back">[[#fn_18|Fey86]]</sup> 
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* [[What Do You Care What Other People Think?]]
<!-- <sup id="fn_19_back">[[#fn_19|Gle89]]</sup> 
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* ''Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman'' (by James Gleick)
<!-- <sup id="fn_20_back">[[#fn_20|Bro]]</sup> 
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* ''Most of the Good Stuff: Memories of Richard Feynman'' (edited by Laurie M. Brown and John S. Rigden)
<!-- <sup id="fn_21_back">[[#fn_21|Syk]]</sup> 
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* ''No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman'' (edited by Christopher Sykes)
<!-- <sup id="fn_22_back">[[#fn_22|Lei89]]</sup> 
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* ''Tuva Or Bust!'' (by Ralph Leighton)
<!-- <sup id="fn_23_back">[[#fn_23|Sch]]</sup> 
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* ''QED and the Men Who Made It: Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga (Princeton Series in Physics)'' (by Silvan S. Schweber)
<!-- <sup id="fn_24_back">[[#fn_24|Fer]]</sup> 
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* ''Selected Papers on Quantum Electrodynamics (Fermi, Jordan, Heisenberg, Dyson, Weisskopf, Lamb, Dirac, Oppenheimer, Retherford, Pauli, Bethe, Bloch, Klein, Schwinger, Tomonaga, Feynman, Wigner, and many others)'' (by Julian Schwinger (Editor))
<!-- <sup id="fn_25_back">[[#fn_25|Gri]]</sup> 
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* ''Richard Feynman: A Life in Science'' (by John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin)
<!-- <sup id="fn_26_back">[[#fn_26|Meh]]</sup> 
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* ''The Beat of a Different Drum: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman'' (by Jagdish Mehra)
<!-- <sup id="fn_27_back">[[#fn_27|Mlo]]</sup> 
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* ''Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life'' (by Leonard Mlodinow) ISBN 0-446-69251-4
* ''Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman'' - Edited by Michelle Feynman (Basic Books, ISBN 0-7382-0636-9, April 2005).

===Audio recordings===

* "Six Easy Pieces" (original lectures upon which the book is based)
* "Six Not So Easy Pieces" (original lectures upon which the book is based)
* The Feynman Lectures on Physics: The Complete Audio Collection
** Quantum Mechanics, Volume 1
** Advanced Quantum Mechanics, Volume 2
** From Crystal Structure to Magnetism, Volume 3
** Electrical and Magnetic Behavior, Volume 4
** Feynman on Fundamentals: Energy and Motion, Volume 5
** Feynman on Fundamentals: Kinetics and Heat, Volume 6
** Feynman on Science and Vision, Volume 7
** Feynman on Gravity, Relativity and Electromagnetism, Volume 8
** Basic Concepts in Classical Physics, Volume 9
** Basic Concepts in Quantum Physics, Volume 10

==Works about Feynman==

There are several documentaries with and about Feynman, all made in Britain for the [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]]'s ''[[Horizon]]'' programme, and shown in the United states by [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]'s ''[[Nova (series)|Nova]]'':
*"The Pleasure of Finding Things Out"
*"The Quest for Tannu Tuva" (re-titled 'Last Journey of a Genius' on ''Nova'')
*"No Ordinary Genius", Parts 1 and 2 (one-hour version re-titled "The Best Mind Since Einstein" on ''Nova'')

A movie was made about Feynman's life in [[1996]].  Called ''Infinity'' and starring [[Matthew Broderick]], the movie focused on Feynman's relationship with his first wife, Arline<!--not Arlene-->, with his work on the [[Manhattan Project]] serving as a backdrop for what was essentially a love story.  The film received mixed reviews, however, and did poorly at the box office.

Finally, the character of Feynman was portrayed by [[Alan Alda]] in a play called ''QED'' in [[2001]].  The play was essentially a one-man show, with only brief appearances by other characters, portraying Feynman in his office at Caltech and covering many of the stories and anecdotes included in ''Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'' and ''What Do You Care What Other People Think?''

==Quotations==
{{wikiquote}}
* "Dear Mrs. Chown, Ignore your son's attempts to teach you physics. Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is.  Best wishes, Richard Feynman."
* "Physics is to math what sex is to masturbation."
* "Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it."
* "Mathematics is not real, but it ''feels'' real. Where is this place?"
* "The same equations have the same solutions." (Thus when you have solved a mathematical problem, you can re-use the solution in another physical situation. Feynman was skilled in transforming a problem into one that he could solve.)
* "When you are solving a problem, ''don't worry''. Now, ''after'' you have solved the problem, then ''that's the time to worry''."
* "The wonderful thing about [[science]] is that it's ''alive''."
* "All [[fundamental]] [[process]]es are reversible."
* "What does it mean, to [[understanding|understand]]? ... I don't know."
* "What I cannot create, I do not understand."
* "But I don't ''have'' to know an answer.  I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose&mdash;which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly.  It doesn't frighten me."
* "To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature ... If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in"

==See also==
*[[Physics]]

==External links==
*[http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1965/feynman-lecture.html Richard P. Feynman - Nobel Lecture]
*[http://www.321books.co.uk/reviews/physics/feynman-lectures.htm Lectures: Physics, Nanotechnology, Essays: On High School Math Textbooks, On Teaching]
*[http://www.feynman.com Feynman Online!]
*[http://www.vega.org.uk/series/lectures/feynman/ Unique freeview videos of Feynman's lectures on QED courtesy of The Vega Science Trust and The University of Auckland]
*[http://lib-www.lanl.gov/infores/history/feynman.htm Los Alamos National Laboratory Richard Feynman page]
*[http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1965/ The Nobel Prize Winners in Physics 1965]
*[http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/richard_phillips_feynman.html About Richard Feynman]
*[http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html  Feynman's classic 1959 talk:''There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom'']
*[http://www.longnow.org/about/articles/ArtFeynman.html Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine]
*{{imdb title|id=0116635|title=Infinity}}
*[http://physicsweb.org/article/review/14/5/3 PhysicsWeb review of the play ''QED'']
*[http://www.sykes.easynet.co.uk/pofto.html BBC Horizon: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out &mdash; with Richard Feynman. A 50-minute documentary interview with Feynman recorded in 1981]
*[http://www.nobelprizes.com/nobel/physics/1965c.html Richard Feynman, Winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics]
*[http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/feynman/feynmanpub.htm Feynman's Scientific Publications]

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[[Category:1918 births|Feynman, Richard]]
[[Category:1988 deaths|Feynman, Richard]]
[[Category:Jewish American scientists|Feynman, Richard]]
[[Category:Manhattan Project|Feynman, Richard]]
[[Category:Nobel Prize in Physics winners|Feynman, Richard]]
[[Category:Physicists|Feynman, Richard]]