celeb-db日本語
Photo of Richard Feynman

Photo: Copyright Tamiko Thiel 1984 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Richard Feynman

リチャード・P・ファインマン / りちゃーど・P・ふぁいんまん

American physicist

May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988 ・ Queens, New York, United States

  • New York
  • physicist
  • quantum physicist
  • inventor

My Take

Feynman is the rare genius I would recommend to people who do not care about physics. The Nobel-winning work on quantum electrodynamics secured his place in history, but his real gift was treating curiosity as a way of life — picking locks, playing bongos, refusing to pretend he understood things he did not. The Feynman Lectures still read like someone thinking out loud with total honesty, and his warning about cargo cult science gets more relevant every year. What I admire most is his allergy to prestige; he wanted understanding, not authority. Decades after his death in 1988, he remains the best argument that rigor and playfulness are the same trait.

Overview

Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Julian Schwinger and Shin'ichirō Tomonaga "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics (QED), with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles".

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English)
Richard Feynman
Name (Japanese)
リチャード・P・ファインマン
Reading
りちゃーど・P・ふぁいんまん
Born
May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
Taurus / Horse
Origin
Queens, New York, United States
Blood type
Private
Height
Private
Agency
Private
Occupation
physicist / quantum physicist / inventor / writer / university teacher

2. Background

Elementary school
Private
Junior high
Private
High school
Far Rockaway High School
University
Princeton University

Awards & achievements

  • 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics
  • 1972 Oersted Medal
  • 1973 Niels Bohr International Gold Medal
  • 1954 Albert Einstein Award
  • 1965 Foreign Member of the Royal Society
  • 1979 National Medal of Science
  • Fellow of the American Physical Society
  • 1962 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award

3. Relationships

Spouse
Private
Children
Private
Parents
Private
Siblings
Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

5. Works & records

CategoryTitleRoleYear
Notable work“Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!”
Notable workThe Feynman Lectures on Physics
Notable workFeynman diagram
Notable workFeynman–Kac formula
Notable workHellmann–Feynman theorem
Notable workCargo Cult Science

Physicist — see all → · More people from United States →

7. About this entry

Tags

  • New York
  • physicist
  • quantum physicist
  • inventor
Last updated
2026-06-11

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.