Richard Feynman is among the most famous and influential scientists of the 20th century. He has discovered many things in physics, especially quantum mechanics. His work in quantum mechanics is considered to be revolutionary which got him Nobel Prize in 1965.
Early Life
Richard Phillips Feynman was born in New York City in the year 1918, but his parents originally belonged to present time Belarus. During childhood, Feynman was not able to speak on time, but it took him around 3 years to speak a few words. From childhood, Feynman always loved to repair and build something from scratch, and later he built his home laboratory for experiments. After progressing through his early education, Feynman built a burglar alarm system and installed it in his home.
When Feynman became 15 years old, he started self-study before entering into a college and learned advanced algebra, calculus, and geometry. Feynman applied for the admission at Columbia University but was not able to secure a seat due to the limited quota for Jews. Later on, he got admission at MIT with a major in mathematics, but soon he turned towards electrical engineering and then physics. Feynman got his Ph.D. in 1942 from Princeton with the thesis “The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics”.
Richard Feynman also worked in Manhattan Project whose purpose was to build an atomic bomb. After the famous Manhattan Project, he also worked in other projects and developed the solutions to problems in the theory of quantum electrodynamics which got him Nobel Prize in 1965. Richard Feynman died in 1988 due to abdominal cancer.
Discoveries and Contributions
Richard Feynman had contributed many things to quantum physics and worked in many projects. Some of the most important contributions that he made are:
- Manhattan Project – During World War II, Richard Feynman was appointed in one of the teams of Manhattan Project whose job were to obtain weapon grade Uranium-235. He also became group leader of his team due to his hard work. Furthermore, he along with Bethe developed a formula, called Bethe-Feynman Formula, to determine how much yield the fission bomb will give.
- Quantum Electrodynamics – Richard Feynman worked on quantum electrodynamics and solved certain problems. His work on quantum electrodynamics also got him Noble Prize along with his two partners in 1965.
- Superfluidity – Lev D. Landau was a theoretical physicist who developed the theory of superfluidity based on the frictionless property of liquid helium at absolute zero. Richard Feynman provided Mr. Landau the explanation on superfluidity of helium.
Facts
- Sister of Richard Feynman also became a physicist after getting motivation from the brother.
- Feynman had a van whose number plate had been licensed to include word “quantum”.
- Feynman liked acting and performed a role in “Anti-Clock” movie.
