Photo: Copyright Tamiko Thiel 1984 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
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.
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
- Occupation
- physicist / quantum physicist / inventor / writer / university teacher
2. Background
- 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
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | “Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!” | — | |
| Notable work | The Feynman Lectures on Physics | — | |
| Notable work | Feynman diagram | — | |
| Notable work | Feynman–Kac formula | — | |
| Notable work | Hellmann–Feynman theorem | — | |
| Notable work | Cargo Cult Science | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Richard Feynman born?
May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988.
Where is Richard Feynman from?
Richard Feynman is from Queens, New York, United States.
What does Richard Feynman do?
Richard Feynman works as physicist, quantum physicist, inventor, writer, university teacher.
What is Richard Feynman known for?
Notable works include “Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!”, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Feynman diagram.
Physicist — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.