Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! is one of my favorite books. We lost him much too soon.
It makes me so sad to read opinions like this.
Richard Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
61–70 of 284 posts
Re: Richard Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
"the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" is about Feynman being famous because of this book rather than because of his physics. The YouTuber, an obsessed physicist who had spent months reading all Feynman books, provides a critical analysis and explains the cultural impact of "Surely You're Joking, Mr.Feynman!" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc
It's easy to dunk on someone unable to defend themselves. Some basic sanity checks: Personally recruited onto the Manhattan Project by Oppenheimer in 1943. Feynman Diagrams, fundamental to QM and became popular in the early 50s. There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom lecture was given in 1959. The Feynman Lectures on Physics were recorded at Caltech between 1961-1964 and became famous throughout the field shortly after…
You should try actually watching the video before writing a manifesto.
Re: Richard Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
#63“Know how to solve every problem that has been solved.” That seems a reasonable goal.
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Re: Richard Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
#64There's something rather sad, maybe poignant about it. It stands there as a testimonial to our brevity on this planet, to all that we will not see, do, understand. So it goes, I guess.
I almost want to read it as satire. Especially juxtaposed against his death. Because the ideas of "What I cannot create, I do not understand." and "Know how to solve every problem that has been solved" seem profoundly unwise and endlessly futile.
Re: Richard Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't strike me as likely that Feynman would have written this with sarcasm behind it. Maybe someone knows the details better. Personally, I think it looks more like the sort of goal that you aim for even it's not literally possible. "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."
dhosek was being sarcastic, not Feynman
Neither of them were. The quote is saying "practice solving problems on solved problems as much as you can" and dhosek is saying "good idea".
Re: Richard Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
#66Richard Feynman having the quantum Hall effect on his "to learn" list is amazing. I mean, it makes sense, because less than three years before he died the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for its discovery. But it shows that even one of the greatest physicists of his generation had not fully grasped something that is now part of every undergraduate physics degree's standard curriculum and is arguably much less comp…
Being part of a course doesn't mean the students get enough time to delve as deep or have as deep an understanding of the phenomenon though.
Yeah, imagine if the undergrads had to write out the underlying proof. When I took physics classes the professors would do things for our exams like assume gravity is 10 ms to give people an easier time with the numbers, and of course the spherical frictionless cow.
Re: Richard Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
#67Feynman should not be celebrated.
Re: Richard Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
"the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" is about Feynman being famous because of this book rather than because of his physics. The YouTuber, an obsessed physicist who had spent months reading all Feynman books, provides a critical analysis and explains the cultural impact of "Surely You're Joking, Mr.Feynman!" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc
It's easy to dunk on someone unable to defend themselves. Some basic sanity checks: Personally recruited onto the Manhattan Project by Oppenheimer in 1943. Feynman Diagrams, fundamental to QM and became popular in the early 50s. There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom lecture was given in 1959. The Feynman Lectures on Physics were recorded at Caltech between 1961-1964 and became famous throughout the field shortly after…
He is known for being a bad ass scientists and super slick with the ladies.
Many decades later we say more accurately, he was a bad ass scientist who either sexually harassed or straight up raped most of his female mentees and was generally kinda racist (I mean, so was everyone back then. Still tho) and a general asshole.
I mean I don't really think there is any point in declaring anyone the best scientist ever. But he's firmly in whatever the top tier is when only considering scientific contributions.
Re: Richard Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
#69Feynman should not be celebrated.
Why? If I recall he was a womanizer but we can admonish his personal choices while celebrating his incredible scientific and pedagogical achievements.
Re: Richard Feynman's blackboard at the time of his death (1988)
#70Feynman should not be celebrated.
Why? If I recall he was a womanizer but we can admonish his personal choices while celebrating his incredible scientific and pedagogical achievements.
He was a top-tier scientists but kinda disgraceful in every other aspect of his life. Womanizer is a polite way of saying it, I would choose harsher words. He was also just generally a jerk to the people around him.
Think Edison, more than Tesla.