Dr. Richard P. Feynman Essay -- Physics Biography Biographies

The Early Life of Dr. Richard P. Feynman Richard Feynman was a modern Renaissance man. Hailed as a scientist, musician, Nobel Laureate, and teacher. He played in a street band in Rio de Janerio, deciphered Mayan hieroglyphics, a fundamental contributor to quantum electrodynamics, and one of two learned men of his time on Tanna Tuva, his experience and skill were of a broad range and applications. Born in 1918 in Far Rockaway, New York, Richard Feynman started working with and studying electronics at a young age. At eleven, he began to repair radio systems as a hobby, for hotels and homes alike. Because it was the Depression, and he worked for free, he received a good deal of demand. He wasn't trying to make a profit; he wanted to learn more about them, by repairing. His spare time was usually spent experimenting with various different electronics. He once crafted a radio that could pick up signals from Texas, and used it to "predict" radio shows, by listening to them a few hours before the local stations broadcast them. At seventeen, he attended MIT, studying physics and graduating after four years as a physics major. During this time he met Arlene, whom he married in 1941. She shared a vigor for life with Feynman, and served as a point of constancy in his life. He went on to study at Princeton after graduating from MIT in 1943. Here he had another experiment; if you take a S-shaped sprinkler, submerge it in water, and vacuum water into it, which direction does it turn, the same as if it were spraying water into air, or the opposite? The debate for this question went on long enough, that Feynman decided to go out and DO it. By placing such a sprinkler into a large water bottle, and pressurizing the water to push water int... ... light also brought about the discovery of Tuvan throat-singers, singers of a particular style that they can harmonize with themselves, something previously thought to be impossible. In 1985, Feynman published his book, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, an autobiography which relates his life and personal anecdotes, which was a national bestseller for 14 weeks. Posthumously, the sequel, What Do You Care What Other People Think?, was also published. In 1987, Feynman was discovered to have another cancerous tumor. Although this one was also remover, it left him greatly weakened. He was admitted to a hospital again in February 1988 for a gastrointestinal ulcer, which destroyed his other kidney. Although he could have extended his lifespan by using a dialysis machine, he declined that to accept a natural death. Dr. Richard P. Feynman died on February 15, 1988.