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| − | '''Richard Feynman''' (1918-1988) was an American [[physicist]].<ref>http://www.celebatheists.com/index.php?title=Richard_Feynman</ref> | + | '''Richard Feynman''' (1918-1988) was an American [[physicist]] and educator.<ref>http://www.celebatheists.com/index.php?title=Richard_Feynman</ref> He attracting a following for his lectures on physics, which he published, and for his iconoclastic personality. |
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| | After studying at [[M.I.T.]] and [[Princeton University]], he assisted in the development of the [[atomic bomb]] at [[Los Alamos]]. He credits his education in reading an encyclopedia when he was young, at the insistence of his father.<ref>Review of ''Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character, by R.P. Feynman'' by Robert Matthews [http://jnm.snmjournals.org/cgi/reprint/47/8/1391.pdf]</ref> | | After studying at [[M.I.T.]] and [[Princeton University]], he assisted in the development of the [[atomic bomb]] at [[Los Alamos]]. He credits his education in reading an encyclopedia when he was young, at the insistence of his father.<ref>Review of ''Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character, by R.P. Feynman'' by Robert Matthews [http://jnm.snmjournals.org/cgi/reprint/47/8/1391.pdf]</ref> |
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| | Feynman liked to tell a story about how when he was a little kid, he asked his father, "Why do things fall?" As an adult, he praised his father for answering, "Nobody knows why things fall. It's a deep mystery, and the smartest people in the world don't know the basic reason for it." Contrast that with the average person's off-the-cuff answer, "Oh, it's because of gravity." Feynman liked his father's answer, because his father realized that simply giving a name to something didn't mean that you understood it. <ref>Lectures in Physics: The Motion of Falling Objects. Lectures on Physics is based on the series by Benjamin Crowell, "Light and Matter". (This is a secondary source.) [http://www.vias.org/physics/bk1_05_01.html]</ref> | | Feynman liked to tell a story about how when he was a little kid, he asked his father, "Why do things fall?" As an adult, he praised his father for answering, "Nobody knows why things fall. It's a deep mystery, and the smartest people in the world don't know the basic reason for it." Contrast that with the average person's off-the-cuff answer, "Oh, it's because of gravity." Feynman liked his father's answer, because his father realized that simply giving a name to something didn't mean that you understood it. <ref>Lectures in Physics: The Motion of Falling Objects. Lectures on Physics is based on the series by Benjamin Crowell, "Light and Matter". (This is a secondary source.) [http://www.vias.org/physics/bk1_05_01.html]</ref> |
| | ==Challenger investigation== | | ==Challenger investigation== |
| − | He had a leading role in the investigation of the crash of the [[space shuttle]] Challenger <ref>Feynman ''What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character'' [http://www.amazon.com/What-Care-Other-People-Think/dp/0553347845]</ref>). | + | He had a much-publicized role in the investigation of the crash of the [[space shuttle]] Challenger.<ref>Feynman ''What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character''.[http://www.amazon.com/What-Care-Other-People-Think/dp/0553347845]</ref> |
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| | Feynman cut through the red tape and figured out what caused the [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Challenger disaster]]. | | Feynman cut through the red tape and figured out what caused the [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Challenger disaster]]. |