The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)
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Re: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)
#2Possibly my favorite biography.
Re: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)
#3[flagged]
Re: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)
#4Possibly my favorite biography.
Yes, it's all the way up there.
As these coincidenses will sometimes have it, I just dug out my old paperback copy from the basement a few days ago, and looking mightily forward to a reread.
Re: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)
#5[flagged]
I feel like his womanizing behavior was bad and that it was also somehow wrapped up in his attention seeking and other self promoting drives that made him so well known. I don't think it should be hidden.
Re: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)
#6[flagged]
How is "womanizing" a concept that makes sense, or has any meaning in modern times?
If I understand correctly, it describes a man that only has casual relationships with women. The implication being that all woman only want long term committed relationships, and any man doing this must be somehow exploiting or tricking the woman.
Nowadays, it is widely accepted that preferring casual relationships is within the range of normal preferences for both men and women- some people prefer it, others don't. If both women and men can choose and prefer consenting casual relationships, the concept that a man can be a "womanizer" seems to be paternalistic and infantizing to women. It also implies some sort of old fashioned 'duty' on the part of a man to essentially marry anyone he dates, even if they realize they are incompatible, and neither has a desire to stay together.
Re: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)
#7> He joined a fraternity, one of the two that took in Jews.
This was a surprising reminder that things were very different in 1935.
I wonder, is there any group like this today? “One of the two that took in X” for any X seems like an interesting formula for locating outliers, whether good or bad.
A lot of nasty examples come to mind, but it’s hard to know how Jews were regarded at the time. I wonder what the official justification was for denying access to Feynman.
(I’m half Jewish on my father’s side, and I only discovered this by accident a few years ago. So I’ve been trying to research my heritage wherever I can.)
Re: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)
#8> He joined a fraternity, one of the two that took in Jews. This was a surprising reminder that things were very different in 1935. I wonder, is there any group like this today? “One of the two that took in X” for any X seems like an interesting formula for locating outliers, whether good or bad. A lot of nasty examples come to mind, but it’s hard to know how Jews were regarded at the time. I wonder what the official…
And he only went to MIT as an undergraduate because his first choice Columbia had a "Jew quota" and they had already admitted all the Jews they wanted to for that year. Besides the antisemitism, it's also a reminder that in the 1930s MIT was seen as a good, but not particularly elite school and would be somebody's backup school.
Re: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)
#9> He joined a fraternity, one of the two that took in Jews. This was a surprising reminder that things were very different in 1935. I wonder, is there any group like this today? “One of the two that took in X” for any X seems like an interesting formula for locating outliers, whether good or bad. A lot of nasty examples come to mind, but it’s hard to know how Jews were regarded at the time. I wonder what the official…
And he only went to MIT as an undergraduate because his first choice Columbia had a "Jew quota" and they had already admitted all the Jews they wanted to for that year. Besides the antisemitism, it's also a reminder that in the 1930s MIT was seen as a good, but not particularly elite school and would be somebody's backup school.
Now that’s fascinating. Thank you. Both that Columbia was as regarded as MIT and that MIT hadn’t achieved its current fame.
It’s odd to realize that I’ve always thought of MIT as MIT, yet (obviously, now) it wasn’t always that way. I wonder what the tipping point was.
Re: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992)
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
And he only went to MIT as an undergraduate because his first choice Columbia had a "Jew quota" and they had already admitted all the Jews they wanted to for that year. Besides the antisemitism, it's also a reminder that in the 1930s MIT was seen as a good, but not particularly elite school and would be somebody's backup school.
Now that’s fascinating. Thank you. Both that Columbia was as regarded as MIT and that MIT hadn’t achieved its current fame. It’s odd to realize that I’ve always thought of MIT as MIT, yet (obviously, now) it wasn’t always that way. I wonder what the tipping point was.
Probably WWII, with the American radar research program (not as famous as the Manhattan Project but probably equally or more important) centered there.