by James Gleick
Catskill Mountains (New York), 28
causality, 7, 40, 54, 70–72, 109, 112, 243, 365–66, 371
Cedarhurst (New York), 20–21, 23, 26, 45, 151
Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas, 278, 283–84
“Century of Progress” (1933 World’s Fair), 40–42
CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research), 381, 383
Challenger (space shuttle), 11, 145, 415–28
background, 425
investigating commission, 416–17
launch, 415–16
O-rings, 418–23, 427–28
risk assessment, 427–28
Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan, 316
chaos, 119, 182, 360, 430–31, 435–36
Character of Physical Law, 13, 364–71
Chaucer, 235
chemistry, 38–39, 67, 79, 86–90, 99, 264
quantum, 40, 87
Chicago, University of, 10, 41, 141, 146, 157–58, 161, 164, 282, 309, 386
honorary degree offer, 384
recruiting of Feynman, 294
Christian Century, 207
Citizen Kane (Welles), 236
City College of New York, 48, 215
clouds, 22, 80–81, 154
Cobb, Ty, 327
Cohn, David L., 192 n
Coleman, Sidney, 10 n, 323–24, 389, 405
color (light), 130, 131, 321, 357, 362
color (particle property), 229, 387, 390, 402–3, 432
Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School (New York), 307, 309
Columbia University, 49, 144, 180, 252, 267, 309, 334, 337, 384
Rabi at, 53, 91, 232, 234
Schwinger at, 215–16
Commerce, Department of, United States, 296
complementarity, 40, 54
Compton, Karl, 55, 94, 138
computing, 6, 175–82, 329, 348, 354–55, 435
analog, 137
ENIAC, 182
Condon, Edward, 54–55
consciousness, 68–69, 123–24, 243, 321, 431
continental drift, 321
Cook, Richard, 423–24
Coolidge, Albert Sprague, 85
Cooper, Leon, 303
Copyright Office, United States, 328
Coriolis force, 37
Cornell University, 3, 53, 123
Bethe at, 53, 80, 166, 225–27, 238, 277
Dyson at, 7, 238–39
Feynman at, 10, 204, 214–22, 225–27, 263, 277–78, 286, 288, 293–94, 365
postwar growth, 210–12, 221
women at, 212
cosmic rays, 81–82, 98, 114, 168, 215, 253, 304, 332
cosmology, 112–14, 123–26, 293, 353–54
Crease, Robert, 433–34 n
Crick, Francis, 349, 351, 382
current algebra, 328, 338, 393
Cutler, Monarch, 82–83
Cvitanović, Predrag, 279–80 n
cyclotron, 95–96, 107–8, 136, 160, 210–11, 305–6
Daghlian, Harry, 196
Darwin, Charles, 207
Dawes, Rufus C, 41
Day, Edmund Ezra, 210
Delbrück, Max, 293, 340, 349
Depression, 41, 46, 53, 55, 77, 281, 308
Descartes, René, 58–59, 67–68
diffusion, 79, 80, 171–75, 182, 249
and entropy, 119
in uranium separation, 139–40, 144
DiMaggio, Joe, 328
Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice
antimatter, 122, 253
at Cambridge, 53–54, 166, 236
Feynman and, 7, 184, 226, 228–29, 437
as genius, 43–44, 322
history of quantum mechanics, 72–73
Lagrangian in quantum mechanics, 128–29, 131–32, 226
parity and, 334
at Pocono, 5, 7, 255–58
The Principles of Quantum Mechanics, 56, 76, 99–100, 260
religion and, 58
renormalization and, 347–49
Schwinger and, 48–49
Slater and, 53–54
Dirac equation, 5, 73, 229–30, 234, 261–62, 336–38
discovery, 284, 313–14, 321
individual vs. multiple, 329
myths of, 279, 315, 380
DNA, 14, 293, 349–351, 355, 386
Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick), 156
Don Juan, 319
Double Helix, The (Watson), 386
DuBridge, Lee, 295, 415
Duff, William, 313
Dyson, Freeman J., 298
background, 235–38
at Cornell, 235, 238
Feynman and, 3–4, 7, 240–41, 244, 249–51, 262–66, 273, 323, 368, 424
genius and, 317, 320–21, 323, 328
Nobel Prize, 377–78
Oppenheimer and, 269–70
quantum electrodynamics, 239–40, 252, 259, 263, 266–72, 274, 279–80, 307, 309, 348, 367
Schwinger and, 261, 266–68, 271
Dyson, George, 235, 267
Dyson, Mildred, 235–36
Dyson graph, 269, 273
earthquake science, 281–82
Eastman, George, 55
Eddington, Arthur, 52, 75, 109, 433
Edgerton, Harold, 77
Edison, Thomas Alva, 40–44, 54–55, 319–20, 329
Einstein, Albert, 5, 9–10, 45, 54, 56, 70, 112, 120, 123, 129, 209, 244, 264, 281, 324, 386, 433–34
atomic bomb, 136
Bohr and, 40
brain, 311–12
ether, 18, 101–2
Feynman and, 98, 115, 117, 118–19, 257
legend, 41–44, 311–13, 320–22, 326
Nobel Prize, 375–77
photoelectric effect, 71, 377
on Princeton, 97
on quantum mechanics, 40, 45, 215, 243, 347
relativity, 42–43, 71, 72, 255, 329, 351–52, 365, 368, 375, 429–30
religion and, 58, 372
retirement, 118–19
Einstein Award, 295–96, 343, 378–79
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 296, 297, 340
electric light, 319, 329
electricity, 320
electron, 4, 5, 33, 71–73, 79, 86, 114, 122–23, 127, 231–32, 283, 306
-electron interaction, 48–49, 273
-neutron interaction, 270–71
-photon interaction, 241–42, 246
-positron interaction, 253–54
-proton interaction, 391–95
in beta decay, 335–37
magnetic moment, 251–52
reality of, 375
self-energy, 99–102, 109–12, 239–40, 251–52, 256, 273–75, 380
in solids, 88–90, 349
spin, 229–31, 239
two-slit experiment, 247–48, 250, 366
electron microscope, 38, 355
electroweak theory, 431
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 25, 38, 49, 286, 354–55
energy, 31, 38–39
conservation of, 60, 88, 139, 330, 360–61
force vs., 87–89, 226
gravity waves and, 352
infinite, 49, 99, 253
kinetic and potential, 60–61, 121
mass and, 4, 42
negative, 122, 253
quantum mechanics and, 71–72, 74, 127
textbooks and, 398
Engineering and Science, 355–56
ENIAC, 182
entropy, 355, 362–63, 435
Erhard, Werner, 405–6
Esalen Institute, 407
est Foundation, 405
ether, 18, 42, 48, 101
Ethical Culture School (New York), 24, 159
Euclid, 34, 41, 121
evolution, 31–32, 208, 332
exclusion principle, 6–7, 255, 258
explanation, 357, 364–75
Explorer satellites, 415–16
Far Rockaway (New York), 20–24, 45–49, 64, 98, 126, 191, 409
Temple Israel, 219, 296
Far Rockaway High School, 30–36, 60–61, 302
&
nbsp; Young People’s Socialist League, 296
Faraday, Michael, 101
Faulkner, William, 380
Faust (Goethe), 52, 66, 208, 236
Federal Bureau of Investigation, 296–97
Fermat, Pierre de, 57–58, 61, 250
Fermat’s last theorem, 267
Fermi, Enrico, 305, 309
calculating ability, 175
death, 294
Feynman and, 282–83
as genius, 322
“lightness of approach,” 166–67
nuclear reactor, 146, 157, 161
nuclear research, 79, 95, 173
at Pocono, 5, 255–57
Schwinger and, 216
at Trinity, 155, 203
Fermi-Dirac statistics, 399
Fermi interaction, see weak interaction
Feynman, Anne (paternal grandmother), 24
Feynman, Arline Greenbaum (first wife), 45–46, 64–65, 67, 69, 91, 116–17, 146, 184–88, 206, 212–14, 221–22, 264, 287, 289, 290, 343, 409–10
illness, 117, 126–27, 134–35, 149–51, 159–60, 170, 191–96, 200–202
marriage, 149–51
Feynman, Carl (son), 346, 378, 396–98, 405, 409, 435
Feynman, Gweneth Howarth (third wife), 340–47, 353, 378, 401–2, 405, 408, 426, 438
Feynman, Henry Phillips (brother), 25–26, 46, 221
Feynman, Joan (sister), 16, 19, 26–27, 30, 40–42, 46, 64, 135, 194–95, 202, 220–21, 335–36, 438
Feynman, Louis (paternal grandfather), 24
Feynman, Lucille (née Phillips, mother), 15, 19, 23, 24–26, 27–28, 32, 40–42, 46, 115, 149–51, 156, 159, 169, 182–83, 201, 213–14, 220–21, 263, 293, 346, 378–79, 397
Feynman, Mary Louise (second wife), see Bell,
Mary Louise
Feynman, Melville (father), 22, 24–26, 27–31, 40–42, 46, 68, 91, 126, 133, 149–51, 169, 176, 186, 214, 219–22, 242, 379, 388, 410
Feynman, Michelle (daughter), 346, 396–98, 401, 408, 437
Feynman, Richard Phillips
“aggressive dopiness,” 405
ambition, 34, 170, 265–66
atomic bomb and, 3, 6, 11, 15, 140, 153–205, 213, 216, 218, 224–25, 263–64, 417
awards, 295–96, 343, 375–86
beaches and, 21–22, 283–87, 339, 401
beauty and, 13, 373, 435
birth, 25
books, 11–13
The Character of Physical Law, 13, 364–71
The Feynman Lectures on Physics, 12, 21–22, 37–38, 145, 357–64, 407, 435–36
Photon-Hadron Interactions, 395
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, 13
Quantum Electrodynamics, 12
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!, 11, 409–11
Theory of Fundamental Processes, 12
What Do You Care What Other People Think?, 11
calculating ability, 9–10, 14–15, 33–36, 60, 175–78
California Institute of Technology and, 277–78, 282–83, 293–94, 311, 338, 340–41, 349, 398, 404, 406–7, 435, 437
Challenger and, 11, 145, 415–28
childhood, 17–49
children, 346, 378, 396–98, 401, 405, 408–9, 435, 437
college admission, 49
consulting, 223, 295, 406, 434
at Cornell, 3, 10, 204, 214–22, 225–27, 277–78, 286, 288, 293–94, 365
culture and, 14, 32, 65, 83, 185, 285–87, 292
diagrams and, 7–8, 11, 17, 104, 130–31
divorce, 293
draft status, 222–25, 297
dreams, 69–70
drugs and, 14, 406
education, 30–36, 55–56, 60–61
as educator, 12, 98, 216–18, 262, 278–79, 357–60, 397–401
examinations, 30, 49, 52, 65, 66, 83–84, 130
Gell-Mann and, 11, 310–11, 315, 332–39, 346–47, 354, 367, 387–89, 411, 434
graduation, 91–92, 148
honorary degrees, 148, 384
illness, 401–4, 408, 410, 417, 437–38
investigation of, 296–97
irresponsibility, 181, 200, 386, 388
lecturing, 114–15
marriages, 151, 292, 346
Mexico house, 379, 402
money and, 98, 192, 349, 406–7
Nobel Prize, 9, 49, 375–83
“Notebook of Things I Don’t Know About,”130
obituary, 437
parents and, 25–30, 91, 149–51, 215–16, 220–21
patents of, 15, 218
physical intuition, 131, 142, 243–45, 302–3, 325–26
poetry and, 7–8, 31–32, 69, 105, 244, 373–74, 412–13, 436–37
politics, 292, 297
psychiatry and, 223–25
radios and, 17–19, 46–47
rationality, 70, 115–16, 220–22
religion and, 22–23, 31–32, 65, 84–85, 115, 220–21, 372–73
reputation, 3, 9–12, 36, 51, 96, 129–31, 184
rhythmic sense, 16, 65, 78, 106, 191, 243, 277, 286
safecracking, 15, 189–90
scientific work computing, 6, 138, 175–82, 190–91, 198, 201, 329, 407–8, 414–15, 435
cosmic rays, 81–82, 215
electrodynamics (Wheeler-Feynman), 110–15, 117–29, 147, 215, 246, 253–54, 381
forces in molecules, 9, 86–90
genetics, 14, 349–51
gravitation, 9, 120, 316, 351–54, 434
partons, 9, 390–96
path integrals, 132, 174, 229–31, 246–51, 254–55, 275, 349, 354
predetonation, 6, 168–69
quantum electrodynamics, 6–9, 127–29, 146–48, 245–52, 258, 267–77
quantum mechanics, 74–76
superfluidity, 9, 298–303
tiny machines, 14, 354–56, 407
weak interactions, 9, 335–39
and the sixties, 405–7
socialization of, 26–27, 32, 45–46, 62–64, 97–98
sports and, 32, 63, 401
storytelling, 11, 25, 28–29, 46–47, 222–25
theses, 9, 86–90, 138–41, 146–48, 215, 229, 246, 249
war work, 137–38. See also isotron project; atomic bomb
women and, 3, 5, 32, 45–46, 63–64, 97, 192, 200, 212, 277, 286–93, 342–46, 411–12
Feynman diagrams, 7–8, 11, 270–76, 282, 303, 330, 335, 348, 352, 394, 437
acceptance of, 275–78
precursors, 104, 130–31
Schwinger and, 276–77
Feynman-Hellmann theorem, 89—90
Feynman Lectures on Physics, 12, 21–22, 37–38, 145, 357–64, 407, 435–36
Field, Richard, 402–3
field, 18–19,48–49, 121, 139, 260
derived from quantum mechanics, 368
Feynman’s aversion to, 100–101, 109–10, 146–47, 250, 380
gravitational, 74, 351–52
neutrino, 337
particles and, 102, 132, 275
parton, 391–95
paths of, 275
visualization of, 102, 242, 245–46
field theory, 48–49, 118, 146, 250, 256, 261–62, 275, 279–80, 326, 348, 381, 402
decline of, 330
fission, nuclear, 79, 95, 136, 146, 161–63, 168, 172–73
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 97
flavor (particle property), 229, 390, 403
Fleming, Alexander, 133, 329
Flexagons, 9, 103–4, 131
“The Flight of the Bumblebee,” 15
Fonda, Henry, 44
Ford, Henry, 40
Fort Knox, 164
Fowler, Willy, 316
Frankel, Stanley, 180
Frankford Arsenal (Philadelphia), 137–38
free will, 431
French, Bruce, 253–54
Freud, Sigmund, 318, 326
friction, 9, 29, 299–302, 356, 361, 398
Frisch, Otto, 154, 203
Fuchs, Klaus, 6, 185, 187, 190, 191, 201, 296–97
Gardner, Martin, 104
gauge invariance, 256
Gauss, Carl Friedrich, 311
Gell-Mann, Margaret, 346
Gell-Mann, Murray, 232, 348, 351, 382
background, 307–9
at Caltech, 311, 338, 340–41, 346–47, 402, 405, 407
Feynman and, 11, 310–11, 315, 332–39, 346–47, 354, 367, 387–89, 411, 434
Nobel Prize, 376–77, 396
parity, 332–35
quarks, 390–96
on Schwinger, 277, 308
on solid-state physics, 14
strangeness, 309–10, 360
SU(3), 387, 389–91
weak interactions, 335–39
Gelman, Benedict, 308
General Electric, 141, 223
general relativity, see relativity
genetics, 14, 133, 293, 349–51, 355, 358
Geneva, 339–40
genius, 8, 36, 311–29
American, 318–19
disappearance of, 312, 327–29
Edison as, 319–20
imagination in, 313, 324–25
literature of, 312–15
madness and, 314–19
as “magician,” 10–11, 312, 315–17, 324
mythologizing of, 10–11, 43–44, 315, 322
originality, 10, 324–26
physical basis of, 311–12
physicists’ view of, 8, 322–24
rationalization of, 315–16
Gerard, Alexander, 314
Germany, 22, 42, 77–78, 97, 128, 140, 167, 260, 414
Gershwin, George, 186
Gilbert, William, 68
Glashow, Sheldon, 405
God, 317, 318, 322, 372–73, 398
Feynman and, 31–32, 115, 220–21, 372–73
proofs of, 58–59, 67–68
scientists and, 58–60
Gödel, Kurt, 295, 429
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 66, 236
Goldberger, Marvin, 293, 404
Goodstein, David, 12 n, 363, 386–87
Gordon, Walter, 73
Gould, Stephen Jay, 327
Graduate Record Examination, 83–84
Graham, William R., 417–21
gravitation, 9, 42, 56, 74–75, 111, 115, 120, 309, 316, 351–54, 365
Groves, Leslie R., 143–44, 159–60
Grünewald, Matthias, 65–66
gyroscope, 362
hadron, 392–95
Hamiltonian method, 128, 226
Handler, Philip, 384
Hardy, Godfrey Harold, 236
Harvard University, 83, 85, 97, 141–42, 160, 182, 216, 276–77, 308, 378, 404
Harvey, Thomas S., 311–12
Harvey, William, 68
Hawking, Stephen, 322, 430–32
Heisenberg, Werner. See also uncertainty in quantum mechanics
atomic bomb and, 140
cosmic rays and, 82
Feynman and, 404
quantum mechanics, 72–73, 75, 88, 102, 232, 246, 269, 367, 391
