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    Feynman R.P. What Do You Care What Other People Think (COMPLETE) PDF

    Uploaded by

    Emanuele Costamagna

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 111
    ‘ans Hooks by Richa P Feynman ree tec e ane” “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” FURTHER ADVENTURES OF A ‘CURIOUS CHARACTER Richard PB. Feynman {5 Told fo Ralph Leighton UNANIMOUS PRAISE FOR THIS INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER “EXCEPTIONAL” —Minneapolio Star Tribune “Brings Feynman to life in all his wonderful and ple dimensions. Marvelows “Kirkus Reviews “[Feyumuan’s] tenacious futelligence, coulagious enthusiasm, humor, and offbeat atyle are moving. ... There ts nothing obtuse or difficult bent [this] hook. Indeed, Feynman's rendering of ‘such a potentially complex subject as the Challenger disaster is straightforward, lucid, and Sun Francisco Chronicle °A gentler book [than “Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman”), and for those interested in the ‘man, a more substantial one.” “Los Angeles Times ee. coi 9 gn oi eel sn aon nea ree eboney ata oe ge ae eateries i eae Bab Poston somone Und Se an Camas arte Bet Contents Preface vit PARTL ‘A CURIOUS CHARACTER The Making of a Scientist 1 “What Bo. You Care What ‘Other People Think?” 9 1s as simple as One, Two, Three... 36 Getting Ahead 41 Hotel Cay 43 Who the Hell Is Herman’? 48 Leners, Photos, and Drawings 99 PART 2 MR. FEYNMAN GOES TO WASHINGTON: Investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger Dizaster Preliminaries 77 Commining Suicide 79 The Cold Facts $1 (Cheek Sixt 111 Gumahoos 11S Fantastic Figures 130 ‘An Tnflamed Appendix 139 ‘The Tenth Recommendation 147 Meet the Press 157 ‘Amerthoughts 158 ‘Appendix F: Personal Observations on the Reliablliry of the Shuttle 165 EPILO rE Preface 181 “The Value of Science 182 loddex 189 Preface esau of the appearance of "Surety ou're Jing, Mr Feynman! 2 Tew things nocd to be explained here ist although the central charactor inthis book isthe same as before, the “vadventures of 4 curious character” here are disse tome ae Hab nt Some ee atmo of he oe So thesis fn fs Bok toate tne ose tha those in "Surely Yow re Joking..." where they were arranged ‘chronologically to give a semblance ot order. (hat Fesulled ‘Some readers gotting the mistaken idea that SJ isan autobiogra hv.) My modvation is simple: ever since heating my frst Feynman stores, T have hed the powerful desire to share cheat wil others Finally, most of these stories were aot tokd at drumming sessions, as Betore. I will claborata on this in the bee? outing ‘hat follows. "Pare, “A Curious Character," berins by describing the Intuence of dhose who most shaped Feynman's personaliy—his fer, Mel, an hi fire love Arlene The Tina sory we ‘Mince fn "The Pleasure of ding, Things Out” 5 BBC program produced by Chnstopher Sykes, The story of Arlene. from which the ttle of this book was taken, war painful for ‘Feynman fo recount. t was assembled over the past ten Years out Of piocer from Nt different sores. When ft was finally com- plete Feynman was especially fond oF this story, at apy Share fe wither "Tie wher Feynman stores in Part 1, although generally lighter im tone. are included here because there. won't be a Scoond volume of SEJ- Foynman was partlarly proud of It's { Simple as One, Two, Three,” which he occasionally ought ff iting up aa psvchology paper. The lewers in the last Shaper of Part 1 fave toon provided courtesy of Owenell Feynman, Freeman Dyno aaa! Henry Bethe Part, Nr Feynman Coos to Washington." is, unfortunatly, Feynman's last big adventure, The story 13 particularly tong vii “WHAT DO YOU CARE WILAT OTHER PEOPLE THK” ecause ts content all imely. (Shorer versions ave appeared im Engineering ond Science tal Physics Tokay ) Te wan tot Wished tonne ‘becanae, Feynmarr underwent his third and eusth major surgeres~plus radian, hyperthermia, and oer ‘tcatmentesines serving on the Rogers Commission "Feynman's decade long bale against cancer ended on Febru ary 13, 1088, two weoke afer he tpt hit lst class at Calc Teckied to inclade one of hr most sloquent and inpirti Speeches, The Valve af Science a nepal Raunt Lescnron ‘Macon 1988 “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” PARTE ‘A CURIOUS CHARACTER The Making of a Scientist [have 8 frend who's an ardst, and he sometimes takes 4 view ‘etc Idan agree sith, He'l holdup a lower and say, "Look ow bestia dee nod PM agen Bat hen hel ay, mist can sce how beautiful a ower is. Dut You, as & sciemist, {ke itall gpa and it becomes dull” I think he's kind of uty ust of all, he beauty that he sees Is available to other ‘people and to'me, 100, T believe, Although I might not be quite [SSveflned acsthedeally as he Is, 1 can appreciate the beauty Of & ower. But atthe same time, 1 tore ithe flower dan ences Team fomgine the calle ‘There's beauty not just at the ‘here's also beauty at a smaller Tere are the complicated actions of the cells, and otner processes. The fact thatthe colo in the Hower have evolved in Stder to acrace inects 10 pollinate i fnerescings that mean Insects ca ace the clere Tiea abe “tapes oes his sruthetic tenae we have alan ext in ler forme of fed There Se all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge ‘of selene, which only adds to the excitement and matory and ‘ave of a ower. It only ad. don't understand how i subtract "ve alwaye been very one-sided about sence, and when f war younger I concentrated almost all my effort oa i In those Saye T ait ve eel Tati Ive ch piece, earn ‘whi’ called the humanities, Even though there were humanities Courses. in the university thal you had 1 lake in order to [Erduato, | ted my best to avord them. Ite only afterwards, ‘Shen I've goten older and more relaxed, tat Te spread out & litle bi, ve leamed 10 swe and 1 read a tite bit, but Cm ‘ally mls sey ses person and {don’t know asreat deal Tice a United ineligence and I use i n'a parcular dire=ton Before L was bom, my faer tod my eater, “IF » oy he'd going tbe asolonat = When Tush just itl kids very Small n'a highchair: my taker bought home a lt of hile Bathroom ‘les-~sscondk-c ferent colors, We played with ‘emt ny fay seting them ap vertically on my highenate ke ‘Moninoc and T would push on cod 30 they Would all go dwn. "Then after a while, 1a help set them up. Prey sm, we setting thom up ina moro complicated way: two white ies and 8 Biue'fier two! white les anda blue tie. sed so on. When my frorher aw that she wail, “Leave the poor child alone. If he ‘Pans wo pitt biee te, et him put a Blue tle Thor wy father sade "Noy I want & ehos! him what paterns ae like and how interesting they are. 1's 4 ind of elementary ‘mathematics "So he stared very early © tell me abt the Soran now tres an "We nad ihe EneytopardinFriumnisa at home. was a small boy he une tos me om his tap and toad to me om the rtunnice We would be reading. s3-eboat dinosaurs. 1 would iaiting shout the Tyrannosaurus re. and Wt would £3 some- thing lke, “Ts dinoseur fe twenty ve fot high and is bea Fs Sh fest rose Bij fav would stop sewfing and say, Now: let's see what thar means ‘Ht wvnld ican that if he Stood in oUF front Yara, fic wou be tail enough to put his head through our window Up Nese" GWe were on the second floor) “But his head would be too wide to ht in the sandow,” Everything be read (0 the he ‘rou tarlate de ese he could tse ey Tt was very exciting and very, very imetestng to think dhere yore animals ufc wesitade—and that they all died out. ane {har matunty Koew why. F wasnt frightened that there would be ‘ne Coming. in my window aaa consequonce of thie. But T iGarmed trom mo Tater to translate: everyting Tread Tay 62 Figure out what Xt really means, what i's realy saying ‘We used {0 gow the Caaill Mountains, place where people from New York City woul go i the summer” The Ehers Stic rar eran, Fi. mo of is pees PROS OST Sa he ha would all tum to New York to work during the week, and ‘Some back only forthe weekend. On weekends, my Tether Would fake me for walks in the woods and he'd ell me about interesting ADinge that were ging su hw the soe. When the other mothers Sawthis. they thought I was wonderful and ttt the other fathers [Should take their sons for walks. They tied to work om seen Ie they didn't got anywhere at ist. They wanted my father take All to Hide, but he didn't want C0 because Re’ had a special {elationchip with me. So tended up thatthe other fathers had #2 ‘ake ther children for walks the next weekend “The neat Momsy, tee 1 said, "I haven't the slightest dca what kindof bird 11. He says, "It's a brown throated thrash. Your father dosen't teach you anything” ut wt the opposite. He hal slealy taught me: “See that 1 he aape nts Sires warbler” Cr hewitt now the real name.) “Well, in Taian, i's a Chuo Lapidia, In Portuguese. it's « Bom da Peida. In Chinese. it 4 Chung long tah and in Japancoe, Ws a Katano Tekeda. You can Kaw {he name of that bird in all the languages of the word, but When you're finshed, you'l know abrolwely nothing whatever sbovt ihe bird Yel nly Know stunt umes in ierem paces, and (that they all he Hist 'So fete lok atthe bid aad sd wht fs doing—~that's what counts.” (eared very carly the dilference between knowing the name of something and knowing something) “ie said, For example, look the bird peeks at eather’ All the time See ft walking around, pecking ati feathers? He sayy, oWiy sy yon eink ints peck a heir fears? Teds Well may they mest up thcie feathers whem they fy. 39 they're pecking them In order to stughten them out” “All ight" he save. lf that were the care. thes the) would peck a ot ust after mey've been tying. Then, after they ve Deen ‘Sn the ground 2 while, ey wouldn't peck so much any more ‘you koame wat Tmsua™™ Seah Tie says, “Let's look and sce if they peck more jut aftr they and. i eaen't hard to tel: there was not much difference between the birds tha bad been walling arovtd it wal shose that had jasc landed. Sot snd, “T'give up Why does a bird peek at 1 Eetiere?™ “Revause there ae lice bothering 1” he says. “The tice eat lakes of protin tha come off feathers. : He continued, “ach louse has some Waxy stall. on io ley, ‘and ile mates eat that. The mites don’t digest it perficty. hey emit from their rear ends a sugerlihewateral, in which ‘acter grow Finally he says, “St yo ace, everywhere there's a source of foun, teen we form of fe that Hinds i ‘isms I Enc that it may not have bean exactly a louse, that right not be exactly true thatthe Touse's legs have mitey. That Hog wae probably incorect In deva, bat what we was telling ‘me was ight In principle ‘Anceher times whi Twas oder, he picked a leat ott of @ twee! Thin Tea hnd'n Bw, thing we never look at much. The Ika wat sort of deteriorated: bad a bite brown tine in the ‘Shape of 2 C. starting somewhere in the middie of the leaf and {Pome out in a ourl to the ese “Fook at this Srown line," he says. “ls wantow at the ‘beginning and is wider mx fe gore tte elge” What this si Syn ble fy with yellow jes and green wings has come and EAT an og wn the lea Tn, who the ong hates to 2 pot caterpilla-like thing) it spends it whole ie eating SRE Era where ants food” Ae eats slong eves ‘hud ts brown tall of eaten leas Ar dhe agg puns, the {ful growe wider until he's grown to full size w te end of the Wt, ore het nt ny ey wt elon cs an fn wingy-—whw fies awa) and lays an cag 8 anoWer Ie Beef gnins T knew thatthe deals weren't proowely corect—it could have even been a beste~but the idea that he as ying 1 ‘plain to me wes the amusing part of life: the whole thing Jar reproduction, Nov mater how complicated the business i ‘he main point fs xo do 1 again! Riot having eaperieme wits oiay fathers, T didn’t salize hhow remark twa How did he learn the deep principles of| Siface and the love of it, whats behind it and way re oc Sing? Inver really ked hum, because T just arsumed that those were things that fathers knew "Mt father ugh ine to motor dings. One day, Twas playing with an “express wagon. hile sagen witha railing arouad it, Mt had ballin it, and when I pulled the wagon, I noticed Something about the way the ball moved. Tent tony thee and il, Say, Pp, { puniced something When T pull the wasn, {he ball woe tte wk vf the wegum- And when Tan pulling 1 tong and T suddenly stop. the Pall rolls uy the rome Of the ‘wagon. Why 1 that?” “That, nobody knows," he said. ““Ihe general principle is that things which are moving tend to keep on moving. and thing? ‘which are standing sll tod to rand sth, unless you push them Fan) tele is calles “neti, tat mboy knows why [ie trae" Now, thate a deep understanding, He just give me the mame, He went on to say. “If you look from the ide. you'll sce that 1s the back of the wagon shat you're pulling aginst the ball, ‘andthe ball stands stl'As 4 mater of fet, trom the fichon i Stare to move forwaad «ile bit ia relation to We grouna It et one back = Tran hack to the litle wagon and set the ball up again aul pulled the wagon. Looking sideways. 1 saw that indocd he was Paht Relative tothe sidewalk, W moved forward a ile it "Tnat's the Way I was educated BY my father, with those kinds cof examples and discussions: no pressure jus lovely, Inereting Ghctesioee, Ie hew mutivaed noe for the est of sy life and ‘Makes me interested in all the sciences” It just hayes’ Vat physics better) TTve been caught, 90 to speak—ike someone who was given something wonderful when he wat a 3 Tooking fort again. I'm always looking, Around that ime my cousin, who was three year older, wat fm high school. He was having conuderable aitculty with Bi algebra, so 2 ttor would como. Twas allowed to sit m a comer ‘while the tutor would ty to teach my cousin algebra, I'd heat him talking about said any conhin, “What are yes trying ta ‘Va tying flo qu what ri, like in Bae 7 = 18" Tay, "Wo mean 4" “Yeah. but You did it by arithmetic. you have to do it by algebra ‘eamed algebra, fortunately, not by going to ectool, but by Finding my aunt's old schootbook in the ate, and understonuting {at Ge whole idea was to find out whale nit sesn'e make Any diflerence now you doit Forte here was no suet hing 0 Soing ft by arihmetey" or deny "by algebra” "Doing by gto’? Grn a set uf rules which, it you followed diem Dilys vould pesince the anewee! aubtract 7 from both sides it you have a multipiee, divide bot sides by che mallplicy," med'So oma ‘sere of cepe by whieh You could yet he answer you didnt understand what you were tying todo. The cules fad been invented so thatthe sen who have to study algebra Rao ait pase i Aw) dhs why my cousin was never able €© do Saco “Tieve was a series of math books in our focal brary whic started out with Arthmeti for the Practical Man. Then came Algebra Yor the Practical Man. and. then Trigonometry forthe ‘Practical Man. (Teamed teigowonciyy fan that, but T S00 foonot t agai, becaupe Tid understand it very well.) When T ‘about tires the henry was going to eet Calculus for the Bracien! San. By this time 1 Knew, irom reading the eneyclope- ‘io thot calculus was an important and interesting subject, wal | ‘ought to lear te ‘When t fnaliy saw the calculus book at the brary, U was ‘very snetted. T went totic Myint check # out, But the Tooked at me and wait, ""You"ee just a child, What are you takin this book ot fond i wey tne ofthe few times 19 my life { was uncomfortable and Ved. Tsatd st wae Tor my fate, took the Book home and began to learn calcul fom i. 1 tought tas relatively simple tnd siraigufirward. My father Srarsd to fea Ty but fe fswnl it confining. and he coulda’ ‘Gnaersand ft So T(r te explain calculus to im. didnt KHOW be was so finite and it hhered me ale bie Te was the ft tie Pvealized that Thad learned more in some sense than be One of the things hat my father sagt re besides physics — whether Ite somber OF tot wne adisespet for certain Kinds of hinges For srampley whe Iwas a litle boy, and he would sl ine on his Lice "he'd show me sotogravurs in tie New York Tiered printed pictures which had just come Out in ‘Gace we were looking at 2 picture of the pune: and ‘everybody bowing infront of Bim My’ thes sid, "Now, Took at thene imnans. Hese’s one humane soating ere, and all thee ‘thers are bowing tn front of him, Now, what's the diference? This one 12 the pope" he acd e pope anyway. He said, ‘thus diference fe the bat ho't Wearing "Tit vasa genceal, it ‘war the paulo, It wae alwaye tho coemumey ihe unions the Posidon.)"Bur.” he suid. "ths man has the same probleme 3¢ esylnndy cle, he eat diame he guce tthe bathrooms Hare Frama being * (By the way. my father ‘was the unio Dasineas so be Knew ‘what the dillcrence is in a'man withthe Uniform off and the uniform on It was te came man Tor hn.) He was happy with me, 1 believe. Once, though, when I ‘came ac frm SIT (Vl tee there ese yess), esd ta me ENow hae you've ecome educate! about thew things, tees ‘one question I've always had that I've never understood ¥exy ool, {asked him what it was. He esid,""T understand that when an atom makes a transition ‘rom one tate to another, Hemi parcle of light called = photon "That right” nad He says. "Is the photon in the atom abcad of time?” "No, there's no photon beforehand.” “Welly he saysy "where docs it come from, then? How oes come Out?” i seo epi, to nha gaan muerte’ but T couldn't explain it very well Txaid, "10s Te the sound {ht I'm making now it wasn’ in me betore.” (Ls wot like my Ile bos, who suddenly anounced one day. when he wat very ‘Young, that he could no longer saya cern Word~the word Tumed! out fo be "cat"—heeause his "word bag had run out of (he word. There's mo word ug Unt makes you uve up werd Tey cae oni the Same ene, tite’ sp ap i stom.) Te was not saisied with me sm that respect. 1 was never able to expitun any of the things that he dida't understand. So he ae Uinguccessful: he sent moto all theve universities in ordot to find four tore things, and he never did ind out Althongh ny mother didn't know anything about science, she hada great induence oa me a2 wcll: fe pardculars she Rad = wonulesfal sense af humor, ak 1 learaet Grom tier Fighest forms of anderen ‘human compassion. we can ackieve are laughter and “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” When | was a young fella, about thirteen, I had somehow gotten nth 2 aroup of fuye iho were a hte older than I was: and ‘ore sophisticated. They knew a ft of diferent srl, and would te lay we were athe beach, smoot of he guys ad gone out on some Jexy with the gis Twas iene in articular gil a le Bi, and sort of thought out loud “Cee, T {fink a ke fo take Barbara to te movies "Tnat's all 1 had to say, and the Buy neni to me gets all ‘excited: He runs out onto the rocks and finds he. He pushes het back, ail the while saying’ in a loud voice, “Feynman hat he wate er aay te poy Barbra!” Me we mt ‘Sinbarrassng Pretty soon the guys are all standing around me. saying, “well ay Feynman!’ So Favited her to he movies. It was say fist date T'wemt home and told my mother about I. She gave me all kinds of advice on ow to-do this and that. For example if we take the ten, an sapped tr get ofthe nor rat ned ler Barbara my hand. ‘Or if we have to walk In the suect. I'm, Supposed to stalk on the ouside. She even told me shat kinds of {ug to 20y” She was hancing down a cultural tadiaon te: {he women wach seit sone how to teat the bext generation of ‘women wel "After dinner, yet ail slcked up and go to Bastara's hese to call foe her Tin parvoms, She sa tly of couse Ges aerays like dha so ber family has me wait for her inthe dining room. ‘whore they're cate with ineads-—a lot of people. They acy thugs tke, "isnt he cute!" and ail Kinds of ote sta. 1 id ¢ Feet cute: ix was absolutely terble! 1 remember everything about the dato. Ax we walk fm rata tot mest ft we hed abot ing th plano. fold her mow, sehen T wan younger, Fake neal pin fora wh Ha afer 3 moat fas Sl Phying Dane of the Daices, and couldn’ and any moe Gerek, Tune wowed about being sy, and to Be eck for secs playing "Dance ofthe Dass" was too much fr me, 50 Tqute [was So senstive about Ding a san thar ven ttle Tol nen my mother Set neo He market fy some sacks hicd Pepper Pen sn Tne nisin Ste sun the movie’ wl | walked her back to her home. compliment era the nice. prety gloves the wae wearing sit TT cay goodnight to he nid she says, “Thank You fOr & Iovely evening” Mem) dirt toch ule 20 tric. ‘When I said goodnight fo tho third sit T Cook out, she's got hee mouth open, ready 10 spe, and fay, "Thankyou for 8 ony lovely eveninat ‘She siyer “Thank you—uh—OW!—Yew—uh, I had a lovely evening, wo, Unk you (Ove time Twas at party with my beach crowd, and one of the older guys was in dhe lacten taching Us how kis, wig Ins gilinend to demonstrate: "You have to have your lis Te ths! at rant angles, #0 the noser don't collide," wal seo. So T {fo into the living room and fn vil Tm sling on the couch, ‘Shah my nr wrt hes practicing this new at, when suddenly there's all kind of excitement: “Arlene to coming! Arlene is ‘Shmine!"" T'don't know who Arlene i "Then someone says, "She's here! She's here!"” and every~ bhody stops what they're doing and Jumps Up to see tls queen. ‘Arlene. was very prety, and I could sce Why she had ll tis ‘Sdmiration We war well Seserved-—But T did't believe in this Sndemosracc business wf chorging wliat you're doing just Be cause the queen is ine ‘So, mile everybody's going over to sce Arfene, Wm etl sitting'there on the couch with my Buh (Arlene tld me later, aftr T had poten to know her, dat she rewenbere that pety with all the nice penple—except for ane i5ny who was ever i the comer on the couch sownettag with a fir. What she didn't know was dat two minutcs befor all the thers were doi’ it too!) “The fet time I ever sald anything wo Aslone was ata dance. ‘Se was very popula. and every ws ctng tn and dancing Shie bet Eveneuber thaking Va tke to dance with ber soos nt 'uying to decide when to cut in. [ always hal mie with that problem: frst ofall. when she's over on the other side of the ‘dance Hoor dancing with some guy Ws (00 complicalcd—s0 You ‘wait unt they come closer” Then when she't near You. You hin, "Welly no, this sent dhe Kind of tunic Tim good Sancing 102 Se yon wait foe souther tye i nniic Whey te ius Shanges to anmeting you tikes you ort of step forward at least you shink you step forward to cut when some other {2uy cuts tm jure in front of You. So now You have to wait a few fhinvtes because i's impolite to Cu in 100 soon after someone ‘ze hae. And by the Ume 2 few minutes have passed, they're ver atthe other side of the dance Deon mpi othe nae fe hanged in, wleatever "Afters cerain amount of thin stalling and fooling around. 1 finally mutcr something about wanting to dance with Arlene, One of the guys Iwas hanging around with overhears mo and fakes a big announcement 10 the other guys” Hey, listen to this: mys; Feynman wante ro dance with Adene!"" Scon ane of thera i dancing ws Arlene wn iy de ces tenon test ‘fas, Thebes push ne ut ono the dance Aer and T Bally “cut {h"You can ae the condition wat in by my first words fo her, ‘which were an honest question: “How docs I foe! tobe 30 pop lnrt"" We only danced a fow minutes before somebody ole cut ‘My frends and I had taken dancing lessons, although nove of tas would ever admits. In thoce dopraciion das, a find of my Imother sas trying to make a ving by teaching dagcing in the ‘ening, in an upsairs dance studio. There was a back Soar {he place, tnd abe arotuged it ao the young sion Could come op Mets te ack way without being Seen, Every once ia'a while there would be a social dance at this Jady's sfudioe I ddi’® have the nerve to test this analysis, but come to ms thatthe girs had a much harder time than the bos ‘dig. Im thoos days, gis couldn't ask to cut in and dance with Boye ann prey She ils who weren't ery ey 1 thoght, “The oys thve it easy” they're free cut in whenever they want § Bae i want any. Meare fie” bat You haven't gor the guts, of the sense, oF whatever it takes 10 felax and. ewyey dancing. Instad. ou. Ue yourself in knots ‘Worrying about cutie in or inviting ail to dance wath You ‘For example, if you #aw 4 git who war not dancing, who you dougie you'd like to dance with, you might think, “ood Row at fend Poe. gat a chance Bon iw aly. very Alifcale: often the gid weald ay. "*Noy thank you, Tm tired. {hink TH si tus one out.” So you go avay somewhat deleated— ‘but aot completely. because maybe she edly 1s red when Jou {umn around and some other guy comes up to her, and there she {Er daneing with him! Mavbe this puy is her boyfriend and she ‘iow he was coming over, or maybe she didn’t lke the way you look, oF mayte something cise Tv sow always wo complicate for ‘One tne I decided to invite Arlene to one of these dances, It was the frst time I took her out, MY best fends were also at the ances my mother ad invited them, to get more customers for her friend's dance studio. ‘These guys were contemporaries of fines guys any ce age from scnol, Harold Greta Ds Tet were lieray iypes, while Robbert Stapler see» acini ‘ype. We would tpend a lot of Gmc iagether afer school, going ‘Om walks and ciseussing tis and that “Anyway. my best fiends were atthe dance. and a6 soon a¢ ‘toy saw a with Atlone, they callod me imo the cloakroom and S2lg,""Now ttt, Feynman, we want you to Understand tha ie Sincrstand at Aslewe fs your gil tonight, sel we're mot one Fer yos wih her She's af wns fe, aa to Bi Before long. there war eating in and competition coming from precisely these. guys! I eared the meaning of Shakespeare's hace "Metniaks thou dost protest t90 much. "You must apprecate what Iwas like then: I was a very shy character always feeling uncomforable because everybody Wat Stronger lnm Ty ved always wlll 1 would kek lke sian Everpboey else played haschall,everyluny ele di ail Lich of tthletic things If there was a game somewhere, and a ball would ‘ome rolling across the Toad, I would be peuied tht maybe I'd hhave to pick f up and throw i back. because if tarew tit ‘would be about'a radian off the correct direction, “and aot “nywhere near te aistnce! And then everybody would laugh. It ov tre, nl Tw vey lappy ot ‘Ono time I was invited to a party at Arieno's house. Every body wat inere because Arlene was the mor poplar get around fhe was number one, the nicest gi. and everyboay liked her etl Ten siting ins bag avons wh 1S doy whe [Arie cies ve aod Sis on the arm of the chat talk to me: ‘Thar war the beginning of the fosling. “Oh. boy! The word ik just wonderful now! Somebody I like hus paid attention tO In hoe cays, in Far Rockaway there was 2 youth center for Jewish Kula atthe temple. Ie vas a big clob that hed: many tcivties, There was a wiers group that wrote stories and Would fad thera {9 cach ethers there was 2 drama group that pur 08 Pipe ras ene een, anda ae el frome in any subject except scence, fut Arlene wa inthe at froup, so fed it usr aggled with the art business [Esrniny tow io make plaster cass of dhe face und 30 on (hich 1 ach ater in fe at turned out) just £01 could be in the background ‘One dine, when Eways'ttheve, somebody nominated ane for present of ihe youth center. The elders Dogan geting NEIvOUS, Eine I mar an avowed atheist by thet me. ‘had been brought up im the Jewish reigion—my family ‘went to the temple every Friday was sent co what we Called "Sunday sehools” and T even stadied Hetwew for a while—but atthe came tine, my fatier wie telling we about the world ren Pweuld be eesti teil about some miracle such Dish whose leaves were shaking But tere wasnt any Wind, Stil ry fo fi the marae into the real world and explain iin {rms of natural phenomena. ‘ome miraclas were harder than others to understani) Tier ‘one about the leaves was eary. Wen Twas walking tr school, T ‘Boned lie noe: although the seal was haully neceable, the Teaver of bamis weve wiggling 2 litle bit because they Wore In jot he sight ponition to make a Kind of fesonance. And Ihowghe, Skhat This ts good explanation for Elijah’ vision of the quaking bush! But there were come miracles { never did figure ont Rw Instance, there wae 4 ory im which Moses dows town his stall uv int sake T couldn't figure out whar the witnesses {aw that made them think his taf wom ae 1 Thad thought back to when I was much younges the S ‘Ctaus story could have provided a clue for me. Buti didn't hit ‘me hard enough at the me to produce the possibility that 1 Should doabe te eth of stories that don't ft wih nace. When Town out dat Santa Claus wasn’t realy [wasn't upost rather, 1 twa telieweal tat ilee sow mach Simpler phenomencn ta [kplain how 20 many children all ver the wesid pot present on {Ge samme aight! The story had been getting prety complicated — was geting out of hand. ‘Santa Claus was a particular custom we celebrated in our family, and it wasn't vee) erious. But the miracles I wae hearing shout were connected with real things” there was the tmple, ‘store ‘people woul go every week: there wae the Sunday ool, where bis taught chin bent tates, ise nels More oft dramatic thing. Santa Claus didnt involve big institu {ons ike the temple. which I knew were rel "So all tho dame i was going to the Sunday school, L was ‘ving eveything and hating wouble puting osetia, Bt “The actual crisis caine whew T we clever or twelve. The rbot was telling us a story about the Spanish haga ‘which ‘the Jews. sufered tcmnble tortures” He told'us about a Particular individual whose name was Kuh. exactly what she ‘was suppored to have done, what the arguments were in Ret Trwor ait agaest her—the whole thing, at if 1 ad all been documented hy m cer seqenter Asal Iwas jut a noses dy listening to allthis tu and believing t wa re commentary, becauce the rabbi had never tadiated other ae ‘AC the end, the saber descnbed how Ruth was dying in prison: “And she thought, while tho wae ding” blah blah {a was a shook wo ma. ‘Afr the lesson was over ent Up 4 hia ad ly “How tl they know what she tought when she war dying?” * ‘me Fe siys. Well of cours, in order to explain mie vivialy how the Jes stlered, we made up the story of Ruth, Te wasn't « real individual “That was 160 much for me.I felt teribly deceived: I wanted the Sinight stort fixed up By romebody slee 20 T could cide Tor miysel? what it meant it i we Soul fOr tet sep wih wn, ALT could do net a my oe reer ae Tis sid? whats ne Te eae ae aig ta dene werk, wad oe eee, ofc te tae gina aS mbar canny ots ung ye ee oe, ch ce Sey Ring cate nee was eye ate Sg a rel wae ela a a Jeg reting emer emo an oa ao Site bet aad no eal, anes eh een Eee) ee cone eal cays make me dae ee ad ter tap ot eee ny re ea le Jens aver tee Poses And t's ut Sle Ce edna oft a! Te a arcs a icy hry, 2 PTR aries ane Sa eee, fe a ey a ae cnc i mun tery, a louries So Tally ct autre ehcp Seen ee ee ee oa cairn teens cst ns ns aa ee ee Seer ears pee ae ee gine ee ie ce cl eta es cc corse mca 0 waumatic for you, why do you ‘One day Arlene told me Jerome isn’t her boyfriend anymore Sin's mat tied op wilh hiss. Tht wee big excitement 6 ey the beginning of hnpet She ivited me over to ber house, a 134 ‘Westminster Avenue in nearby Cedarhort ‘When I went to her house that time, it was dark and the porch wen" lit, 1 couldn't eee the numbers” Not wanting 1 ‘tera anyone by asking if Irwae the right house, T crawled up, ‘qoiety, ae Tele the mums on the esr 13 Arlene was having rouble with her homework in philosophy class. "We've studying Descartes," she said. "He stats out th ‘Cogito, ergo sum’ L think, therefore am’ and ends up proving the erence of God let” T sald, without stopping to think chat T was doubing the prea Descancs Uc wes eacion T eared from thy father hate reapect wihatsormer fv anthony, forget whe sald it and instead look at what he stars with, where he ends up, fand ask yourself, “lo it reasonable”) I said. "How can 3oU ‘Seduce one from the other? don't Know. cho suid, ‘Weil, le look Ie over" I sald, “What's the argument?” Sale lok gue, a we! we hat iy Coit enge suse" ix vappaned tor mica that there ix ome thing ‘tat Se Be douluedh—aloube se. "Why doesn't he just sy tt Straight?" T complained. "Ile just means somehow oF ther that ‘he has one fact that he knows. “Then i goes. on and says things like, “I can only imagine Imperfect thoughis, but Imperfect can only be understood as relevent wth wifes! Herne the esi inl exist some Shere” (es workin’ hic way towate God om) “Not at all say. “In science you can talk about relaive “degrees of approximation without having perfect theory. 10% SEnow har iste all about. 1 think is a bunch of baloney.” “Ariane understood me. She undersiood, when she looked at 4, dit mo titer how imprersive and importante plilowoply Siu gos supposed ty ber col be taken lighlly—yent Cold {ist dhink about the words, inatead of worrying shout the fact that Deseartes said i" Well, guess i's okay fo ake the other Side” he said. ~My teacher keeps telling wt There aro fo sidot to every question, just ike there aze two see fo every place of paper Maher tera wo dha, ou," I ad “What de, you mea? I had read about the Mobius strip in the Britamiza, my wonderful ritannica! In those days. things like the Mobius stip Weren't so. Well known to evervoods. but they wore just. at Snderrandable ae they arv so kids toda). The existence of such 8 Sorface wats eal wasn’ a witywathy pola destion, those things was Tike being way fll n'a wowdesfol ser nobody knows about, and You'e geting a ick not oaly from the Selig of larg the staff ioe, be also fom making yourself ‘une. T Got a stip of paper, put half twist in it, and made I neo & foop. Avene was detighied "Tne next da in clase. che lay in watt for her temcher. Sure enough, he holds up a plese of paper and says, ""Uere are two Sides every, gstin, Jax Ike here are Wo elas fo evry fair ewist in t—and tay. "Sit! there are even we Ses © that ‘Question: there's paper with only onc side!” The tea las an the as got all excited, and Arlene got such a Kick out of showing {hem fhe Mobius strip that I think she paid more attention to me Shor tac on assount of I after Hen, Hal ew campetitn—ay gd send Harold Gast, Atiene was always making up er mind ome way or the other. When it came time for graduation, she went ith Harold to the senior prom, but sat ith my" parents for the -raduation ceremony. Twas the bes in science, the best in mathematis, the best a pitysica, snd the best in chery, 9 Is going up to the stage ad recaiving hones nung tunes at the cctcuntay, Howl ee the best in English and the best in history. and kd writen the {school play. 30 that was very impressive ‘Twas temble in Enzlsh. T'coulda't stand the subject. tt esemed to me ridiculous to worry about whether you Spe Something wrong ot not, becaute English spelling. fust Fan nent oe thing th wih amphing el iow narne: Any wow can te spate just ww well 8 Sliferent way. Twas impatient with all his English su “There eas a'serice of oxams called the Kogents, which the state of New York gave fo every high school student. A few ‘onthe befor, when we all were faking the Regents examination In Engliey, Harold and she oxher Uterry friend of mine, David Eee tio the ina epaperinked toe hich ‘with profound social implications by Sinclar Lewis, and Farid had picked some plagwnght. I sad I chose. Treasure Island Because we Rad that book in first year Eagish, and told them ‘hat I ote "They laughed. “Boy, are. you gonna funk, saying such simple Sia aust sich imple ‘There vas also 2 list of questions for an essay, The one 1 hose wx "The Traportance of Science im Aviation 1 thouht, What » damb question! Tae inyentapce of science in aviation ‘9 obvious Ta about o wit a simple theme about this dmb question vwne I remembered tht fay beta iends were always “towing the bull"™—building up their sentences to sound complex and tical decided 10 ry ly jut forthe ll of iT thou, Sif the Regents ate ws silly i to have a subject lke the importance of sicnce in aviation, Pu gens st "50.1 wrote sil ike, “Aeronautical science is extant jn tho analysis ofthe eddies. vortices, and whiripols formed in the aaunosphere behind the aircran..-""I knew that eddies, Yor es, and whirlpools are the same thing, but mentioning. them \taee diferent way sounds bener! That was the only thins 1 ‘would not hate irl dane on the test "The teacher who corrected iy exssrination mnt fae been impressed by eddies, vortices. and whirlpools. because Tpit 91 fon the exam —Whila my terary fends, who chose topics the English teachers could more cay take fague with, Doth go 88 “That year « new rile Came oUt if YOu Ror 90 oF bet on 8 Regents cxamination, you suteratically got honors ln that ub {ef at graduation! So while the playweht anl the ea School fewspaper had to stayin their seat tie Dysics student was called to go up to the stage once apa fa eceive honors in English “After the graduation ceremony, Arlone was in the hall with Darcals sit Haroit's parents when the ead of the oath Apartment came over He ‘wen vy strong Mae Was al tne schoo! diseipinarian-—a tall, doinisaing fellow Mrs. Gast faye to him, “Hello. De. Augsberry. I'm Harel Cats nnaher ‘And ts fe Mrs. Feynman ‘He completely iqnores Mis. Gast and immodiately tars to ‘iwi Mes. Feynman, T want to lipress upon vou that & {Young man like your sn comes long only very Faely The sate hould support a man of auch talents Sou must be sure that he foes to college, the best college jou tn allo He wat oncemed that ry parents might not be planning te seal nw 4 college, fr in those days lots of kids had Yo get a job immediate: Iy after graduation tO help tupport te Teal. “int in fat happened to my friend Robert, He had a lab, too. and taught ne all anout tenes snd peice (One day he had oa Wo oo YOU CaN WHAT OTHER MROMLE TRIKE 19 ‘ccideat in hie tab. He was opening casboic mid and the bowle Jotked, pling come acid‘ hie foes. He went to the dc ‘bud ‘bandages put on for 2 few Weeks, The funny thing, was, sche they took the bandages off hit skin was" smooth under: ‘eath, ‘nicer than it ha been tetine—shere were sey Ree blemishes. I've since found ont that tae wan, [oF a whi eee 4nd of « beauty teatment using carbolic mid in 8 more dilute form.) Robert's mother Was poor. and he had to gor work Hight vay to support her, s0 he couldn’ continue hie intrest i ee “Anyway, my mother resssured Dr. Augrbemy: “We're saving money ag Hest te ca, sil wee irying ts sent him to Columba ‘OFMIE" And Astene was latening to all hin, 1 sfc ta Twat tede bw ahead Arlene was a wonderful gil. She was the editor of the newspaper at Nassau County Lawrence High School; she played Pino Lewuliflly, sad was very arse. She made” 20mn8 SSecofations Tor ou house, Tike the fer om he iid of oF losct. As Une went on, and our family got to know es better She would go 10 Ihe woods to paint with my father, who had taken up painting is later fe af many People do. “Arlene and'T began to mold cach others personality, She live in Cally that was very polite, and wat Very senitive to ther prople' feclngs. She taygit te wo be more seneive 10 {Ghose Kinds of things. too. Ov th ater hane, her wily Tele hat Semi lea were okay. TTthouht one should have the atutude of “What do you care ‘what her people thnk!” T said, "We should listen to other people's opinions and take them inio aecount. Thoty Hf they don't ‘ke seme a we think they're wong, them that's that" "Arlene caught co tthe Shc ig steuy. wae enn 0 calle hr nto thinking that in our rel we at every es Sith each other and sty everything straight, with absolute frank: fess, Te worked very Well, and we became Very much in fovea ove kao other love that | now of “Alter dna summer I wene sway t0 college at MIT. (1 couldn't go ie Columban farsa of lle lewis von) 1 began geting Fences fem iy fiends that ns tte lke, “ou sao Sette sie evs need ape, how Arlene is going out with Harold," or She's doing this and she's doing that, while yout all ako p there in Bost ‘Well Iwas taking out gins in Boston, ut they dt wean a thing to me. and Ines the same was tric with Arlene "When summer cume, 1 stayed in Boston Tor a sumtocr 4b, ‘and worked ov measunag friction. The Chrysler Company had

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