Richard P. Feynman
Richard P. Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynmanwas an American theoretical physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics for which he proposed the parton model. For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhysicist
Date of Birth11 May 1918
CountryUnited States of America
We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
Scientists are explorers. Philosophers are tourists.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
Teach principles not formulas.
No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
So I have just one wish for you – the good luck to be somewhere where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have described, and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain your position in the organization, or financial support, or so on, to lose your integrity. May you have that freedom.
Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter.
Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds.
One of the ways of stopping science would be only to do experiments in the region where you know the law. But experimenters search most diligently, and with the greatest effort, in exactly those places where it seems most likely that we can prove our theories wrong. In other words, we are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.
Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars - mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more?
I think I can safely say that nobody understands Quantum Mechanics.
There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made.
We need to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed. It's OK to say, "I don't know."
Einstein was a giant. His head was in the clouds, but his feet were on the ground. But those of us who are not that tall have to choose!